War and Peace (1956)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

Leo Tolstoy (novel)
Bridget Boland (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 August 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The Greatest Novel Ever Written ... Now Magnificently Alive On The Screen!

Plot:

Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Inheritance | 19th Century | Love | Opening Monologue

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Audrey Hepburn	...	Natasha Rostova
Henry Fonda	...	Pierre Bezukhov
Mel Ferrer	...	Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Vittorio Gassman	...	Anatol Kuragin
Herbert Lom	...	Napoleon
Oskar Homolka	...	Field Marshal Kutuzov (as Oscar Homolka)
Anita Ekberg	...	Helene Kuragina
Helmut Dantine	...	Dolokhov
Tullio Carminati	...	Prince Vasili Kuragin
Barry Jones	...	Prince Mikhail Andreevich Rostov
Milly Vitale	...	Lisa Bolkonskaya
Lea Seidl	...	Countess Rostov
Anna-Maria Ferrero	...	Maria Bolkonskaya (as Anna Maria Ferrero)
Wilfrid Lawson	...	Prince Bolkonsky (as Wilfred Lawson)
May Britt	...	Sonia Rostova

Also Known As:

Guerra e pace (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated PG for violence.

Runtime:

208 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English | Italian | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System) | Perspecta Stereo

Certification:

Italy:T | Brazil:Livre | West Germany:12 (f) | Argentina:16 | Australia:G | Chile:18 | Finland:K-14 | Spain:18 | USA:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In the scene where the Rostovs invite Prince Andrei to go hunting with them, Jeremy Brett is the only actor never on a mechanical horse: in all his shots he is clearly on a live horse. Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Barry Jones and May Britt are all clearly on mechanical horses in their close shots.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Natasha is sitting next the dying Prince Andrei's bed, she leans her both hands on her legs. In the next shot, when Kolya enters in the room, her right hand is on the top of the bed pole.

Quotes:

Pierre Bezukhov: [Before the Battle of Borodino] Such an enormous event! All our lives will be different from now on because of what is going to happen here tomorrow.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Audrey Hepburn: Ein Star auf der Suche nach sich selbst (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Les roses de Novgorod

Decent Adaptation of Vast Novel but of its time

I've read the book and seen this version several times. The main drawback is of course time.

Thus, it must inevitably slight: a) many of the characters who bring joy to reading the novel - the princely father of the Kuragins, Sonja's story, Nicholas falling in love with Marya, the forgiveness by Bolkonsky (Ferrer) of Anatole Kuragin when his leg is amputated on a table beside which he is lain out, etc. and b) much of the philosophy contained in the book - whether about the masons or the purpose of life.

However, as a sort of highlights version of the novel, I thought it dealt well with the main lines of the plot.

It also is clearly 1950s film-making. There is little sense indoors of the lighting of the time, the sets look generally clean or deliberately destroyed (rather than mysterious and gloomy). In fact, the entire film appears all too clearly delineated - there is little of the kind of murkiness one would find in such a movie being made today - say, the way Schindler's List looks - or The Last Emperor looks.

The movie is also benefitted by having Audrey Hepburn, Anita Ekberg and John Mills - physically they are EXACTLY what I imagined of these characters - and I thought Mills and Hepburn were excellent. (And what Ekberg lacked in ability to convey emotion, she gained from her jaw-dropping embodiment of the buxom blonde!). The Henry Fonda choice for Bezuhov is an odd one - he's not the first person I think of when I think of a huge heavy awkward bear of a man. He did the best he could but was clearly miscast. Prince Bolkonsky (the father) and the Count and Countess Rostov were first rate - so were the choices for Napoleon, Homolka as Kutuzov, Kuragin, Dolokhov and the Rostov family. Mel Ferrer was ok - but imagine, say, the Terence Stamp of Far From the Madding Crowd and how he could have done.

All in all, this is clearly a movie of its time in cinematography, sets, the clearly drawn lines of the script - but it is entertaining and does about as well as possible in dramatizing in 3 1/2 hours a book of over 1000 pages.