| War and Peace | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sergei Bondarchuk |
| Screenplay by | Sergei Bondarchuk Vasili Solovyov |
| Based on | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy |
| Starring | Ludmila Savelyeva Sergei Bondarchuk Vyacheslav Tikhonov |
| Music by | Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov |
| Studio | Mosfilm |
| Release date(s) | Parts 1 & 2: 18 June 1965 (premiere)[1] Part 1: 14 March 1966 (USSR)[1] Part 2: 20 July 1966 (USSR)[1] Part 3: 21 July 1967 (USSR)[2] Part 4: 4 November 1967 (USSR)[2] |
| Running time | Part 1: 147 minutes[3] Part 2: 100 minutes[3] Part 3: 84 minutes[3] Part 4: 100 minutes[3] |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian (with French & German) |
| Budget | 8,165,200 rubles (~US$9 million) US$29 million US$100 million |
| Box office | Part 1: 58 million admissions (USSR)[1] Part 2: 36.2 million (USSR)[1] Part 3: 21 million (USSR)[2] Part 4: 19.8 million (USSR)[2] Total: 58 million rubles (USSR)[3] |
War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, Voyna i mir) is a Soviet-produced film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Sergei Bondarchuk directed the film, co-wrote the screenplay and also acted in the lead role of Pierre. It was produced over a seven year period and released in four parts between 1965 and 1967.
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Pre-production started at Mosfilm in 1961, and filming commenced September 1962.[4] Due to escalating costs, in 1965, it was decided to finish production on the first two parts and enter them into the Moscow International Film Festival that year.[1] Filming for the third and fourth parts began August 1965, with filming on part three finishing December 1966, while continuing on part four up until August 1967.[2]
War and Peace was shot and released in 70 mm. The process was called Sovscope 70 in the USA and Europe, and was the Soviet version of Todd-AO, a large camera/presentation format with 6-channel stereophonic sound. There are many hand held shots in the film, which are difficult to achieve with a 70 mm camera. However, a special lightweight camera was devised for this film (which can be seen on the bonus DVD of the Ruscico release). The camera resembles a Bolex camera and its magazine takes up most of the camera body.
In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk made some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, its cast of 120,000 people is a record.[2] Many museums in the USSR contributed artifacts for the production design, making it one of the most elaborate films ever created. Some estimates put its production costs at around US$100 million, which would be equivalent to $700 million today taking inflation into account, making War and Peace the most expensive film production.[5] However, more conservative estimates put the cost at 8,165,200 rubles[1] (US$9 million)[nb 1] and US$29 million.[3][7]
In the Soviet Union, the film was released in four parts, with a combined running time of over seven hours:[3]
The first two parts were entered into competition at the 1965 Moscow Film Festival, and went on general release in 1966.[1] The third and fourth parts were released in 1967.[2]
For the US release, the film was shortened by more than an hour and shown in two parts: in some cities, part one was shown for one week and part two the next. However, the US screenings retained the four part structure by dividing part one into two chapters entitled Natasha and Andrei and The Battle of Austerlitz. Part two was similarly divided into chapters entitled Natasha and Pierre and The Burning of Moscow. The run time of part one was three and a half hours, and part two was three hours; both of these include fifteen minute intermissions between the named chapters. The film was dubbed into English with a linking narration, both of which were decried by some reviewers.
War and Peace was released initially on VHS in the truncated US cut, with dubbing and pan and scan. It has been released on DVD in its original length, language and aspect ratio by Ruscico, a Russian-Belgian company specializing in Russian cinema. The film is also available from Image Entertainment in the US.
The Ruscico release was made possible by a restoration in 1988 by Mosfilm studios. The original 70 mm film elements were unavailable at the time, stored somewhere in the Ukraine, their condition unknown due to a feud over Bondarchuk's legacy between post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine.[8] As a result, the restored film was derived from an anamorphically compressed 35 mm copy of the original negative.
The film holds 100% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Film critic Roger Ebert states:
“Considering its cost and the vast effort that went into its making, such a film can be made only once in our time. The wonder, indeed, is that it was made at all. ” [11]
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