War & Peace (1968)
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Anatoli Ktorov, Boris Zakhava, Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov Director: Sergei Bondarchuk Brand: Koch International Writer: Sergei Bondarchuk Cinematographer: Aleksandr Shelenkov Cinematographer: Anatoli Petritsky Cinematographer: Yu-Lan Chen Editor: Tatyana Likhachyova Writer: Leo Tolstoy Writer: Vasili Solovyov DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language); German (Original Language); Russian (Original Language) Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 427 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-03-13 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: Hurricane Int'l |
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Movie Reviews of War & Peace (1968)
Movie Review: World's Most Expensive Movie, and Worth it
Summary: 5 Stars
The Soviet Union's film of Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE is a massive work that is often called 'the world's most expensive movie.' This is no doubt true, even when not considering the 'hidden' costs of the film -- thousands of extras, with no union scale, of course, Use of palaces and gardens and countryside -- all no doubt 'free.' Consider too the relatively low salaries of the actors and director. There were no million-dollar actors in the USSR.
So, was all this work worth it? Yes. Surprisingly, with all this glitter and sometimes-gaudy decoration, Tolstoy's novel comes through, and perhaps partly because Tolstoy's book is also filled with glitter and decoration. A book of tremendous scope meets a film of tremendous scope, and the movie 'works.'
What about the production values of this DVD? Excellent. I had owned a VHS copy of the film, the only video medium available twenty years ago. It was dubbed (badly) and there was no way to change languages or add or delete subtitles. I don't know the intricacies of 'magic' that technologies perform these days, but this DVD matches the video quality of the film that appeared in theaters and, if you want, you can hear the actors speaking Russian (forgetting for a moment all the French language that permeates the Saint Petersburg scenes in the novel and in the film.
The sound on the VHS tape was muddled. Here it is crisp.
Who would have thought that a director would take on the challenge of adapting to film one of the world's longest and most complex novels? He did it, and he also played the role of Pierre.
Special thanks should be given to those who did the casting.