Posted on 02/06/2016 1:36:18 AM PST by goldstategop
In her disappointment, Kristina was driven to watch the 1967 Soviet epic that won director Sergei Bondarchuk an Oscar.
"The interiors, the decor, the Moscow winter and the war scenes especially are ideal there," she told the BBC. "Of course Field Marshal Kutuzov and all the fighting were shot with such expense you wouldn't expect any flaws."
No effort and no expense were spared in providing the Soviet film-makers with what they needed.
3,000 Soviet soldiers were drafted for one battle scene 57 museums donated exhibits for the shoots More than 40 state firms were enlisted to produce replica weapons and costumes It took seven years to make and cost millions of roubles, at the time an astonishing sum
This was because the Soviet film had not only cinematic, but political importance.
The authorities in Moscow were anxious that Hollywood had got there first, with the 1956 film featuring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.
Such an important task could not be entrusted to young actors, so Soviet film-goers saw 20-year-old Pierre Bezukhov played by Sergei Bondarchuk himself, then 47. And Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who played Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, was nearly 40.
At 25, the Soviet Natasha, actress Ludmila Savelyeva, came close to the age Leo Tolstoy imagined her to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Being homeschooled, I’m familiar with W&P. Version, you name it — book, video, audio book, several films, liquid, gel-cap, and intravenous.
Never could understand one fundamental thing: why should I care about these people?
Loved Dostoyevsky. Bros. K, C&P, wonderful novels. Tolstoy...feh.
I loved that Russian movie. I went to see it three times. Especially loved the scene where the camera flies across the moonlit country side.
save
***the Soviet classic.***
Get the Russian Cinema Council release in Widescreen. The Kultur version, of the same movie was chopped up for TV and is not in wide screen, colors on the Kultur version are faded.
While you are at it, get the movie WATERLOO (Rod Steiger, Chrisopher Plumber) with battle scenes filmed by Bondarchuk.
Forget the Henry Fonda version as it is a beautifully filmed version of Cliff’s Notes.
5.56mm
Saw the commercials for the BBC production and thought I’d give it a pass but after reading this article I think I’d like to take a look at the “Soviet epic”.
Well, the cinematography is 1960’s (no HD slickness) but it’s a Russian epic made in lavish style by honest to God Russians speaking Russian (and French - the polite language spoken in Russian salons among the nobility). Filmed over six years and released in four parts it won the Oscar in 1968 for best foreign language film, which considering that was the height of the Cold War (Vietnam and Czechoslovakia invasion) was sort of amazing. Over the years I’ve just been a little amused at how films have made us think the Romans and Tolstoy’s Russians all spoke in English with Oxbridge accents.
Saw the Anthony Hopkins version. Only War and Peace DVD I can find are English subtitle. I just don’t do that...
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