Russian "War & Peace" ?

[billy bentley]

I met someone who was telling me about a Russian production of "War & Peace" that had to be shown over several days, to be seen in it's entirety. Can anyone tell me anything more about it ?

[wearysloth]

Voyna i mir I: Andrey Bolkonskiy (1965)

Voyna i mir II: Natasha Rostova (1966)

Voyna i mir III: 1812 god (1967)

Voyna i mir IV: Pierre Bezukhov (1967)



Sergei Bondarchuk's huge film version using the bulk of the Red Army for the battle scenes I believe.

Must have been stunning on the big screen, suffers on the small screen.

(I have to admit to finding it a bit of an ordeal to sit through and much prefer 1970's Waterloo from the same director)



Director Sergei Bondarchuk as Pierre Bezuhov in Part 1



The DVD produced by The Russian Cinema Council is outstanding.

[Hugo]

The full version of this film as released in Russia was about 8 hours long. For the US and European release it was cut down to 403 minutes and was shown in UK cinemas in two three-hour-plus parts; usually Part One for 7 days and then Part Two for the next 7 days. This is the version that is now available on DVD.

[billy bentley]

Thanks Hugo, so was it originally shown in the USSR over four years - as each part was completed ? Or did they wait until the entire film was finished ?

[theuofc]

name='wearysloth']



Sergei Bondarchuk's huge film version using the bulk of the Red Army for the battle scenes I believe.....





Director Sergei Bondarchuk as Pierre Bezuhov in Part 1



The DVD produced by The Russian Cinema Council is outstanding.

The Bondarchuk WAR AND PEACE is absolutely stunning on the big screen. The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago (and other theatres in the tour of the film) showed it in

four parts, 8 hours, and again later by popular demand. I

saw it both times with eyes glued to the screen taking in

the atmosphere, poetry, and sheer scope and brilliance of execution of the work, including the Battle of Borodino, which you will never, ever forget.



A brilliant film.



Barbara

[billy bentley]

Sounds like time for a big screen revival ! I wonder what condition the prints are in ? Has there been much preservation/restoration in Russia, since the fall of the USSR ? All the while I'm assuming the film and director are Russian, when perhaps they might be from elsewhere, "Soviet" perhaps ?

[AdrianTurner]

The two-part version was first shown in the UK at the wonderfully luxurious Curzon Cinema, Mayfair. It was dubbed into English and was shown in 70mm. It's important, I feel, to view this colossus as a major artefact of the Cold War - a sort of Russian answer to How The West Was Won. The current DVD version is magnificent, presenting a reasonably intact version which allows us to gasp at the incredible scale of the balls and battles and also yawn at the often creaking approach to dialogue and drama. It really is a Soviet Committee job and weakened further by the crude domestic 70mm system which lacked the sophisticated lenses and colour quality of, say, Panavision. Even so, one has to admire the herculean effort of Sergei Bondarchuk who not only marshalled the vast resources but takes the starring role. The actress who plays Natasha is also stunning.



I seem to recall the two-part version was revived at the Walter Reade Cinema in Brunswick Square (Reade owned and bowdlerised the picture for the UK and the US) and then it vanished from view. I tried very hard to get the original version for the NFT but failed on several occasions.

[will.15]

They ran that decades ago on American public television back in Russian, uncut, over several nights. I tried to watch it and gave up. I tried to read the novel in high school and couldn't get past page 35. Too many characters with tongue twisting, hard-to-remember Russian names.

[AdrianTurner]

name='will.15'] Too many characters with tongue twisting, hard-to-remember Russian names.

Pierre, Natasha, Andrei . . . I know what you mean.

[theuofc]

name='AdrianTurner']Pierre, Natasha, Andrei . . . I know what you mean.

:-) :-)



Cheers to all,



Barbara

[billy bentley]

Excuse my ignorance Adrian Turner,but can you explain "bowdlerised" ? I'm not familiar with that term.

[AdrianTurner]

name='billy bentley']Excuse my ignorance Adrian Turner,but can you explain "bowdlerised" ? I'm not familiar with that term.

Try this:



[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bowdler]Thomas Bowdler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[will.15]

name='AdrianTurner']Pierre, Natasha, Andrei . . . I know what you mean.

They all don't have simple first names and some are mainly referenced by their last names. I remember Pierre and Natasha.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/warand...haracters.html

[billy bentley]

Many thanks Adrian Turner. To save any others, who might be unfamiliar - it refers to censorship and revisionism.

[puptent]

I seem to remember BBC showing the Russian version over many nights in the early 80's.



As for those 'tricky' Russian names, the book itself has a character list at the front which you can refer you, should the going get tough. Mind you if you give up after page 35... I've read the book and found it fascinating.

[fluddite]

I remember this being screened in one go by our Uni FilmSoc in the late 70s - started at midnight and finished at 7-something in the morning - about 20 of us sat it out, battles, balls (!) and all....

[billy bentley]

How did you stay awake ? I've did a few late night double bills at the Electric and The Gate in Notting Hill, but until seven in the morning !!

[fluddite]

name='billy bentley']How did you stay awake ? I've did a few late night double bills at the Electric and The Gate in Notting Hill, but until seven in the morning !!

Sheer youthful high spirits and a determination not to be defeated by the combined forces of Leo Tolstoy and the entire Red Army - I'm sure that "substances" had nothing to do with it....



Alas, I arrived at Essex Uni the year after they had their legendary mindnight-to-8am screening of Warhol's Empire State Building. The story goes that by about 5am only a few hardy FilmSoc souls were still there to watch the lights going on and off in the Empire State windows, and one of them had dozed off - only to be woken by tumultuous cheering and applause from the others. On asking what had happened to provoke this response, he was told that "a bird flew past"....

[lemmycaution]

It actually won Best Foreign Language Oscar.