War and Peace

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a "Must Have", but waiting for DVD
Review: Like Spartacus? Braveheart? Gone with the Wind? Lawrence of Arabia? This is **so** much more intense, and is very true to Tolstoy's novel. The Hollywood version, by comparrison, is a pathetic excuse for a movie... This is a MUST HAVE movie. I am eagerly waiting for the DVD, and the magic of multi-language selections, including the original Russian (don't forget the scenes in French!). Do not pass on the chance to own this one!

Rating:
Summary: war and peace
Review: Not many people can deny any great film like this epic film. But whoever want to order those great SPECIAL classic movies. They'd love to have the original screen aspect ratio, high quality sound and picture. They link to their past.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Fiction and History
Review: Ok, it is over six hours long but would you want it any other way. Hollywood tried to bring Tolstoy's epic to the screen in 1956 and produced one of the worst translations from novel to film in history. This is a Russian story as big as the nation itself. Only a Russian as brilliant as Sergei Bondarchuk could understand the complexities of the struggle of the Russian people against a tyrant. We see history unfold through the eyes of a naive Pierre, and as he experiences the torments of war and class struggle, he changes. So will you when you watch this film.
The visuals of battle have never been matched. Private Ryan is as close as an American film has come to depicting the beauty and horror of battle. The music creates the perfect undercurrent of romance and adventure. The acting is both strong and sincere. It is the Russian Gone with the Wind. Buy it and it will absorbed you. This is one of the greatest films ever made. If Kubrick had made Napoleon, it would have looked like this.

Rating:
Summary: The "Director's Cut"; 6 Stars!
Review: Perhaps one of the greatest films ever attempted

A friend said, "You have to be Russian to like THAT film." Well, I am NOT Russian, but I sure FELT Russian when I watched it. I saw the film in the theater when it was shown originally in the USA - - two weeks of part one, and for those who could stand it, two weeks of part two. This was 1968, before the Cineplex and 30-second attention spans of the Sesame Street generation.

Oh, but what a film!

And that was the version dubbed in English.

Now for the Russian version with subtitles; breathtaking.

Indeed, like the other reviewers state, this is a LONG film, but so is Seven Samurai, considered one of the greatest films ever made. Length alone does not make a good film, but it should not in and of itself be a turn-off.

My Russian is very sketchy, yet with the help of the subtitles I was able to get to the economy of the language - - and no, you do not need to have taken any Russian, and even if the only words in Russian you know are "dah" and "nyet," the Russian version is well worth it. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with the dubbed-in-English version, the Russian telling has edges. Texture, if you will.

Some of the greatest scenes in film are in this movie for it is Tolstoy.

So many Russian edges in this version versus the dubbed in English version and the Russian version cut differently with "additional footage." The characters have an edge to them that never ceases to satisfy.

I realize I am making a wild boast that this film is worth it, but to this day I cannot feel anything but utterly moved as Pierre stands before Dolokov, who after falling wounded in the pistol duel with Pierre, takes a bite of snow, fires, and mutters, "missed" And then Pierre, unharmed, runs away from the duel as the camera looks down through the trees and the snow and Pierre repeats over and over, "stupid, stupid, stupid."

And, in the Russian version, and not the English, the Russian lullaby before Borodino, where the soldiers bathe in the creek, sings so very sadly for so many mothers the following day will lose their sons. It is a heart wrenching moment for those of us who know that haunting Russian lullaby for the son she rocked in the cradle, who as an adult and soldier runs to the creek with his fellows, will fall in the next day in battle. I am haunted by this moment like the soldiers of the Massachusetts 54th ready to go into the battle in the more recent film "Glory."

Lost, perhaps, to cold war politics and a basic lack of understanding Russian sensibilities, this version of War and Peace is a gem that is alas not given it's due. As I said, maybe it is not on of the greatest films ever, but it is one of the greatest films ever attempted and those who do not at least stand witness to the attempt are truly missing out.

Rating:
Summary: Why not widescreen
Review: Possibly one of the greatest films ever made, in it original version it swept half way round the cinema and was a truly majestic spectacle. Its release in standard format is really lacking in the total experience.Why not release it in widescreen and hopefully later in DVD. I 'll be there again dollars in hand.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Superb! Tolstoy would have approved.
Review: Rarely does a film version of a book--especially one so voluminous as Tolstoy's "War & Peace"--come close to the feelings, ideas or intentions of the author. Bondarchuk's stunning and richly filmed 1968 version is as epic and wonderful as the very novel it so faithfully seeks to portray. With a cast of thousands, costumes to rival all films, and battle scenes so engrossing you begin to feel like you're at Austerlitz with Andrei and Rostov, this film should be seen by people the world over.

Having just read "War & Peace" for the second time, I was thrilled to find the Russian VHS version (English subtitles essential) at a local library. While the film displays a few psychedelic tendencies which betray the era in which it was made, it nonetheless captures the essence of the book, unequivocally. Every character depiction is laudable-it's as if Count Tolstoy had had these actors in mind when he penned his novel. Pierre, played with measured stoicism by the film's director, Sergei Bondarchuk, is just as you would imagine him, i.e. a little fat, always pensive and aloof but a solid man of pure heart. The actors who play Natasha and Prince Andrei do a more than remarkable job as well. Just as in the book, Natasha grows from a spoiled princess to majestic woman full of grace, intellect and a deeply mystical charm. Beware: you will fall in love with her (in the film) just as Pierre, Andrei, Anatole, Boris--and I--did.

This film is magic. You will shed many a tear.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Superb! Tolstoy would have approved.
Review: Rarely does a film version of a book--especially one so voluminous as Tolstoy's "War & Peace"--come close to the feelings, ideas or intentions of the author. Bondarchuk's stunning and richly filmed 1968 version is as epic and wonderful as the very novel it so faithfully seeks to portray. With a cast of thousands, costumes to rival all films, and battle scenes so engrossing you begin to feel like you're at Austerlitz with Andrei and Rostov, this film should be seen by people the world over.

Having just read "War & Peace" for the second time, I was thrilled to find the Russian VHS version (English subtitles essential) at a local library. While the film displays a few psychedelic tendencies which betray the era in which it was made, it nonetheless captures the essence of the book, unequivocally. Every character depiction is laudable-it's as if Count Tolstoy had had these actors in mind when he penned his novel. Pierre, played with measured stoicism by the film's director, Sergei Bondarchuk, is just as you would imagine him, i.e. a little fat, always pensive and aloof but a solid man of pure heart. The actors who play Natasha and Prince Andrei do a more than remarkable job as well. Just as in the book, Natasha grows from a spoiled princess to majestic woman full of grace, intellect and a deeply mystical charm. Beware: you will fall in love with her (in the film) just as Pierre, Andrei, Anatole, Boris--and I--did.

This film is magic. You will shed many a tear.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting this film on DVD
Review: Reviewer:Dr.Hassan Saber
This film is one from the top ten movies in the history of the cinema,there is no comparison at all between this film and the American version of this story although Audrey Hepburn was and will be my favourite actress.I hope to see this film on DVD very soon and to be on DTS sound Quality,with subtitles on all languages including Arabic language.

Rating:
Summary: One of the world's greatest films
Review: Sergei Bondarchuk, as director and central actor, creats a masterpiece that not only renders the heart and soul of the book, but tells it in purely cinematic terms that takes the movie way beyond any normal book to film translation. This is, literally, a beautiful film, amazing to watch. The acting is so finely cast and etched, you remember all the characters sharply in your memory. What seems at times to be merely conventional quickly shifts into almost surreal flowing imagery, thrusting you inside the characters, seeing and feeling as they do in the story. And on top of this, Tolstoy's great theme of the common man versus the makers of history in war and peace is carefully and effortlessly laid out from Napoleon, General Kutusov, the four central families, down to the servants. The soul and courage of the Russian people in the face of impending disaster is quietly and forcefully portrayed. The sacking of Moscow by the French makes "Gone With The Wind"'s Atlanta appear like a tacky backyard marshmellow roast in comparison. The destruction of the French army by the Russian winter in their retreat from Moscow brings one of history's great military failures vividly to life. Think of it: the French went into Russia with 500,000 men and came out with less than 20,000. Anyone who thinks they have seen all the great films, but not this one, especially in the Russian version, has missed a seminal work.

Rating:
Summary: Even Tolstoy Would Have Been Bored
Review: Sure this movie is pretty to look at, but otherwise, it's pretty lousy. Why? Terrible character development. You can watch this thing for 90 minutes and still not see any meaningful character interaction. It may be true to the novel, but then novels don't exactly translate well into cinema.

Also, the dubbing is ridiculous. The film switches arbitrarily between English, Russian, and French. You can sort of get through it by having the subtitles on as well as the dubbing, but seriously, this albatross is not worth the effort.