War and Peace Movie Review 1968

The massive Russian production of Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece, adapting the classic tome practically scene by scene. All of the production took place in the Soviet Union. So painstaking that it took more than five years to finish, no other adaptation can touch it. Hugely expensive ($100 million, claimed the Russians), wildly uneven production. Great scenes of battle and aristocratic life. Though this version is far from perfect, one asks: Is it humanly possible to do screen justice to such a novel? In Russian with English subtitles. On four tapes. (Beware the two-part, poorly dubbed version that was also released.)

Distribution

Tapeworm Video Distributors, 27833 Hopkins Ave., Unit 6, Valencia, CA 91355, Phone: (661)257-4904, Fax: (661)257-4820, Email: sales@tapeworm.com, URL: http://www.tapeworm.com

Available on VHS
Running time 373 minutes.
Originally from Russian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Drama, Russia/USSR, War, General, Peace, Big Battles, Period Piece: 19th Century, Books to Film: Leo Tolstoy

Cast

Lyudmila Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tihonor, Hira Ivanov-Golarko, Irina Gubanova, Antonina Shuranova

Cinematography

Jack Cardiff

Director

Sergei Bondarchuk

Producer

Mosfilm, Sergei Bondarchuk

Awards

Oscars 1968: Foreign Film; Golden Globes 1969: Foreign Film; N.Y. Film Critics 1968: Foreign Film.