Voyna i mir (1967)

Director:

Sergei Bondarchuk

Writers:

Sergei Bondarchuk (writer)
Vasili Solovyov (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Plot:

War and Peace (1968) is an eight-hour epic film based on the eponymous book by Leo Tolstoy. Two main story-lines are complex and intertwined...

Plot Keywords:

Coming Of Age | Heroism | Fire | Peace | Marriage

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Sergei Bondarchuk	...	Pierre Bezukhov
Lyudmila Savelyeva	...	Natasha Rostova
Vyacheslav Tikhonov	...	Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Boris Zakhava	...	Field Marshal Kutuzov
Anatoli Ktorov	...	Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky
Anastasiya Vertinskaya	...	Pricess Lisa Bolkonskaya
Antonina Shuranova	...	Princess Maria Bolkonskaya
Oleg Tabakov	...	Nikolai Rostov
Viktor Stanitsyn	...	Ilya Andreyevich Rostov
Irina Skobtseva	...	Hélène Bezukhova
Boris Smirnov	...	Prince Vasili Kuragin
Vasili Lanovoy	...	Anatol Kuragin
Kira Golovko	...	Countess Rostova
Irina Gubanova	...	Sonia
Aleksandr Borisov	...	Uncle Rostov

Also Known As:

Война и мир (Soviet Union: Russian title)
War and Peace (USA)

Runtime:

USA:414 min (4 parts) | Soviet Union:427 min | Italy:263 min (2 parts) | UK:401 min (video version)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Restored version) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (RCA Sound System) (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Arkhangelskoe, Moscow, Russia

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

The "first dance" by Natasha Rostova and Anderi Bolkonsky was filmed in twenty five takes with over 150 actors, musicians and stunts involved.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the battle of Borodino sequence, as the camera pans down the lines of Russian troops sitting in reserve, a soldier can be clearly seen wearing a modern wristwatch.

Quotes:

[the Battle of Borodino drags on]
Narrator: Enough, enough, men. Stop, consider, what are you doing? Into the minds of tired and hungry men on both sides, a flicker of doubt began to creep. Were they to go on slaughtering one another? Kill whom you like, do what you like, but I've had enough. Yet some inexplicable, mysterious power continued to control them, and the terrible business went on, carried out not by the will of individual men.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Voyna i mir III: 1812 god (1967)

butchered classic

Do not watch the US video release, it's a disgrace; a bit like cutting off a bird's wings and forcing it to bark like a dog. The original is breathless in scope and profoundly moving - it is in four parts and runs close to seven hours, and there are good reasons for its length as any can guess who have read the book. If only someone had the conviction and decency to prevent this kind of mangling. I wonder how Tolstoy would have felt if they had told him 'War and Peace', the 'US version', would only be published as cliffnotes.