War and Peace (1967)
- Starring:
- Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk, (more)
- Director(s):
- Sergei Bondarchuk
- Format(s):
- DVD
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Synopsis of War and Peace
Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk's epic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (Voyna i Mir) was the most expensive European film ever made for many years. It certainly had one of the longest gestation periods, with Bondarchuk spending seven years filming the project (the actors noticeably age from scene to scene). In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk helmed some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. So many horses were killed in these sequences that the film was loudly boycotted in some American cities by the ASPCA. While Bondarchuk is slavish to the source material, he does make a few Hollywood-like concessions to popular appeal; his leading lady Lyudmila Savelyeva looks exactly like Audrey Hepburn, the star of King Vidor's 1956 filmization of the Tolstoy novel. Originally clocking in at 507 minutes, War and Peace was pared down to 373 minutes for American consumption. It became a surprise theatrical hit, and a ratings bonanza when it was telecast on the ABC network in four parts from August 12 through 15, 1972. A big film, to be sure -- but few modern critics consider Bondarchuk's War and Peace a great film, citing its many deadly dull passages and its sappy, operatic finale. The dubbed American version is narrated by Norman Rose. The full Russian-language version with English subtitles is now available on video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 403 mins
Complete Cast of War and Peace
- Lyudmila Savelyeva - Natasha Rostova
- Vyacheslav Tikhonov - Andrei Bolkonsky
- Oleg Tabakov - Nikolai Rostov
- Seryozha Yermilov - Petya Rostov as a Boy
- Irina Gubanova - Sonya
- Antonina Shuranova - Princess Maria
- Anastasia Vertinskaya - Princess Liza Bolkonskaya
- Vasiliy Lanovoy - Anatole Kuragin
- Boris Zakhava - Gen. Kutuzov
- Yelena Tyapkina - Marya Akhrosimova
- Alexander F. Borisov - Uncle Mikhail
- Nickolay Trofimov - Tushin
- N. Tolkachyov - Count Bezukhov
- Klavdiya Polovikova - Princess Anna Drubetskaya
- Nonna Mordyukova - Anisya Fyodorovna
- Norman Rose - English Narrator
- Sergei Bondarchuk - Pierre Bezukhov
- Viktor Stanitsyn - Count Ilya Rostov
- Kira Ivanova-Golovko - Countess Rostova
- Nikoly Kodin - Petya Rostov
- Anatoly Ktorov - Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky
- A. Stepanova - Anna Scherer
- Irina Skobtseva - Helene Kuragin
- Boris Smirnov - Prince Vasiliy Kuragin
- Oleg N. Yefremov - Dolokhov
- Eduard Martsevich - Drubetskoy
- Vladislav Strzhelchik - Napoleon Bonaparte
- Nikolai Rybnikov - Denisov
- Andrei Smirnov - Staff Officer
- Georgiy Millyar - Morel
- Pyotr Savin - Timokhin
- Yuri Chekulaev - Nesvitskiy
- Director(s):
- Sergei Bondarchuk
- Writer(s):
- Sergei Bondarchuk
- Producer(s):
- Sergei Bondarchuk
- 1968 - Golden Globe - Best Foreign Film - Foreign Language
- 1968 - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Foreign Film - Foreign Language
- 1965 - Moscow International Film Festival - Grand Prize
- 1968 - National Board of Review - Best Foreign Film
- 1968 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Foreign Film
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BY MAIL
