War and Peace
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Movie Reviews of War and Peace
Movie Review: War and Boredom
Summary: 2 Stars
King Vidor's rather contrived adaptation of Tolstoy's epic riddled with miscast actors, a boring script, and a hurried screenplay. In short, another one of those 50-year old films that have outlived their audience to slowly sink into Hollywood's vaults of oblivion.
The story follows the main characters of Tolstoy's novel such as Natasha (Audrey Hepburn), Prince Andrei (Mel Ferrer), and Pierre (Henry Fonda.) The film is too short for the novel and the acting stinks: particularly that of Henry Fonda as Pierre. Henry Fonda is as stiff as fossilized wood in this film; his pondering stare and preaching voice reminds me of a bad Charleton Heston film. As far as the battle scenes so greatly praised by the main reviewer, they are as sparse as they are realistic. All of the costumes and props in this film are horribly fake.
In short, the only thing that remains impressive about this film is the fact that Hollywood bothered to put it on DVD. Apart from that, the acting is as worthless as the contrived screenplay and shallow dialogue. Don't buy this film!
Movie Review: What a waste and disappointment.
Summary: 2 Stars
The production values here are very high, and this is exactly the kind of film I usually like, but this is so horribly cast it is just ruined.
Henry Fonda sounding like Abe Lincoln as a Russian with a french name. Audrey Hepburn trying desperately to bring life into the story, and consequently not one her best performances. Mel Ferrar comes off best of the bunch. He is well cast in historical drama and the charcter he plays is suited to his personal style. Anita Ekberg is also extremely well cast, but seems to be poorly dubbed. Her non verbals are excellent. The story is sweeping, the costumes beautiful.
Too bad so much time, money and energy was spent on such a "calvacade of stars" cast. The best scenes were thanks to the cinematographer & lighting. UGH. What a tremendous disappointment.
This is the kind of film I would usually watch over and over. I have watched this twice and could barely stand it the second time. AARGH.
Movie Review: Only Hollywood could screw up this story!
Summary: 2 Stars
I will say this up front: The casting in this film was spot-on. Audrey Hepburn fit her role beautifully and, while I've NEVER been a fan of Henry Fonda, I was pleasantly surprised as to how he shone as "Pierre". As for everything else, this version of War and Peace drifted far from Tolstoy's masterpiece -- this thing was just a bunch of Hollywood fluff. I held out some hope for the battle scenes but, again, disappointment.
If you want to see a brilliantly-done War And Peace DVD, watch the Russian one (subtitled) and forget this cumbersome Hollywood Juggernault of a film. Here it is:
War and Peace (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Tolstoy rolls over in his grave
Summary: 2 Stars
One has to wonder if the screenplay writers of this movie ever read the book? They turn this multi character epic into a Hollywood love story and completely miss the varied perspective that makes this story a great one. Watch the Sergei Bondarchuk version if you want to see this as it should be. The BBC version is closer to the book but I feel the Sergei Bondarchuk version makes a better movie while still staying true to the gist of the original story.
Shame on Hollywood for ruining this classic.