War and Peace
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Movie Reviews of War and Peace
Movie Review: War and Peace Video
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a wonderfully procduced movie with seeing, particularly if you are intersted in Russian historyMovie Review: Third of Three
Summary: 3 Stars
Okay, maybe you need more time than this standard Hollywood blockbuster to do justice to Tolstoy.
But there are bigger problems with this movie than that. Begin with casting-granted, Audrey Hepburn is a very capable Natasha Rostova.
She looks like one imagines the character should, and does show some of the growth the character showed in the novel.
But Henry Fonda as Pierre Bezuhov??!!?? Henry Fonda is Mister Roberts. Henry Fonda is Tom Joad. He is not a somewhat bumbling, philosophical Russian noble.
And Mel Ferrer as Andrei Bolkonsky.... Supposedly he got the job because of his marraige/relationship (can't remember which) with Audrey Hepburn. Bolkonsky is supposed to be a
brave,philosophical (hence Pierre's friend), intelligent, good-looking Russian noble/officer. Ferrer does the good looking part ok. As for the rest, he displays the emotion and intelligence of a rock. So, for two of the three
crucial parts, this movie is stuck with actors either inept or inapt.
But there's also a sort of non-Russian feel to this. For example, Andrei's sister is Princess Maria Bolkonskaya in the BBC and Russian versions. Here she is Mary Bolkonsky. Princess Maria Bolkonskaya
is the Tolstoy character. Mary Bolkonsky is a dockworker's wife in Hoboken, New Jersey. The whole movie has that sort of 50s Hollywood blockbuster feel to it, and you never feel that any attempt to capture the smallest portion
of the novel is really being made. Not that it's awful-it's just blah.
There are two better versions. The best, if you can find it, is the late 60s/early 70s BBC version. Originally shown on Masterpiece Theatre in 12-13 parts (15-18 hours?) and starring a young & brilliant Anthony Hopkins as Pierre
Bezuhov, it is by far the best at making the characters come alive. You understand their motivations and actions almost as well as reading the book. Also, you're given wonderful characterizations of Napoleon, Kutuzov, and other leaders and can really understand the military
campaigns of 1805 and 1812. The one downside is that the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino and the burning of Moscow are not nearly the spectacles of the Hollywood version or the much more imposing 60s Russian version of director Sergei Bondarchuk.The battle scenes of this version
may be the most spectacular ever filmed as Bondarchuk was reportedly given tens of thousands of Red Army extras to use. I suppose, with computer graphics, nothing like this will ever happen again. Still, the Russian version, at least to my American eyes, can't match the depth and characterization of the BBC's version.
So, in my humble opinion:
1) BBC 70s- for depth, story and acting
2) Russian 60s-for grand spectacle
3) Hollywood 50s-for....I don't know...Audrey Hepburn?
Movie Review: Hepburn is of course wonderful
Summary: 3 Stars
I guess I am a purist when it comes to the classics. I like the movie script to follow the original work which I am sorry to say this movie does not. From the first scene in the movie, it is almost like they took extracts from all of the book's events and rearranged the entire timeline. Some of the scenes never happened, others did not happen as they were portrayed, there are many lines in the movie which never were uttered by any of Tolstoy's characters and to me the choices of actors for some of the roles were very misguided. Who in their right mind would choose Henry Fonda as Pierre (he sounds like he is from Kansas). Pierre was described all through Tolstoy's epic as being fat, slovenly, very large, etc., wide of girth. Though Henry Fonda was a very fine actor, they seemed to have missed their mark. There were many such misses.
Of course, the scenery and the action shots are also very dated. But if the script had followed Tolstoy's work, I would have been happy; but it did not.
The only saving grace was of course Audrey Hepburn who to me was a perfect Natasha. I wish that they had had a younger actress playing the younger Natasha who plays with dolls but they only used Miss Hepburn for the entire sequence of events.
Ms. Hepburn was wonderful in this role, beautiful and so full of life. I think that she and Mel Ferrer were the two (2) jewels of this film and at the time I believe they were actually married.
I think as a true depiction and adaptation of Tolstoy's masterpiece this movie production failed. But as an entertaining and whimsical portrayal of extracts of this fine book and as pure entertainment with some very fine actors even if it was sadly a broad detour from the book itself, I would give it three stars for the efforts of Ferrer and Hepburn alone.
Be forewarned if you are counting on an accurate depiction of the book. It is just the Hollywood version with all of its literary liberties fully exploited. But at least enjoy the beauty of Hepburn and her wonderful charisma.
Bentley/2007
War and Peace
Movie Review: Solid film... but wait until you see the Russian version!
Summary: 3 Stars
I was 16 went I saw the original theatrical release of Paramount's 1956 version of War & Peace. I was enthralled... but then in those days I was enthralled with every wide-screen, stereo sound movie I saw. I even enjoyed Beneath The 12 Mile Reef !!! Since those heady days I have tried to watch this Hollywood version of Tolstoy's epic novel on TV and VHS, but was always panned-and-scaned into numbness. With the Dec. 3rd , 2002, release, after nearly a half-century of missing its left and right sides, this solid, and beautifully mounted film emerges once again in its wide screen glory.Of course condensing a 1000 page novel into three hours eliminates many of Tolstoy's details, but the basic story remains very much in tact. What is stellar here is the cast. In 1956 Audrey Hepburn was peaking, both as an actress and a beauty. Henry Fonda played a sympathetic Pierre with considerable grace, and Mel Ferrer did admirably with the difficult role of the moody Andrei. Most impressive is Oscar (Mr. Eyebrows) Holmolka as General Katuzov, and Herbert Lom makes a believable brooding Napoleon. You even get Anita Ekberg! Then when you add John Mills, Vittorio Gassman and a number of other accomplished performers, this becomes a film well worth watching. It is also notable because it was the last major directing effort by silent film master, King Vidor.
But hang on! Also in December the eminently preferable, 1968 Sergi Bondarchuk Mosfilm six-hour version of War & Peace also comes out on DVD. Paramount put together a "cast of thousands," but Mosfilm appears to have assembled a "cast of millions" To portray the vast French and Russian forces, Bondarchuk did not need "digital clones" for he had the services of the entire Red Army. In 1956 I was very impressed with Vidor's Battle of Bordino sequence, but compared the action Bondarchuk puts on the screen during the defense of Moscow, it almost seems quaint.
Paramount's version is fine, but wait until Bondarchuk takes you on a ride across the battle field by hitching his camera to a cannonball.
Clark Santee
Movie Review: Tedious but Decorative
Summary: 3 Stars
This film does have some good points. Audrey Hepburn is always worth watching. The Napoleonic era costumes are gorgeous and the splendors of the Romanov court are a fine spectacle. These points do not make up for the lack of interest, however. The plot plods along and there is very little excitement or drama.
The story takes place in Russia. Napoleon is defeating everyone who stands against him. Some, including some in Russia, see him as the wave of things to come. He is an enlightened ruler and the truth, that he is concerned with little other than his own power, is slow to sink in.
Pierre, a Russian noble played by Henry Fonda, begins as one of Napoleon's fans. He is not caught up in the militarism of the court but is interested in great affairs. Natasha, played by Hepburn, is a long time friend of his. She is a bright and cheerful young lady, taken in with the exploits of the men around here. She falls for another Russian noble but his family is not eager for the match. They agree to delay things for a while.
Things get more complicated when Bonaparte invades Russia. Natasha's beaux heads to war. In the meantime a womanizer back home manages to capture the naïve Natasha's affections. She thinks he loves her but he is only interested into getting into her bloomers. Pierre warns him off and saves her virtue but her fiancé finds out about it and they become estranged...until he is wounded at Borodino. By this time, though, the French Army is on its way to Moscow and the place has to be evacuated. Pierre is captured there and learns what Bonaparte is really like.
In the end, lots of people die, hearts get broken and the Russian winter does what the Russian army cannot. Everyone ends up dead or with the spouse they should have had to begin with.
The plot is much more complex than outlined here but the movie cannot do it justice. Still, Audrey kept my attention and the costumes were nice also.