MovieChat Forums > Waterloo (1970) Discussion > Comparison with War and Peace - help?

Comparison with War and Peace - help?

posted 19 years ago by zatetic
8 replies | jump to latest

I bought Waterloo on instinct (as I have something of a small obsession with the Napoleonic wars amongst other things), and it turned out to be the most impressive I have ever seen. The cutting of the clearly shortened film is tantalising in places, some of the battles seemed slightly disjointed - but the absolutely incredible production value of the film is clear. I hear talk on this board of 'remakes,' but in my humble opinion I doubt that any filmmaker could surpass Bondarchuk. CGI is simply too tempting to the director. A shortcut that is now all too often taken. The very idea that each one of those tiny moving dots in the film is a person, equipt with period costume and drilled to perform is simply infinitely more spectacular than any copied-and-pasted CGI soldier could ever be.

I am thrilled that the film was made when it was. Late enough to utilise seemingly contemporary technologies (wide-angle shots, excellent sound and picture quality etc,), but early enough not to have the option of resorting to the intrusive and annoyingly bad computer effects that would have been available within ten years.

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Anyway. That's my praise out of the way. I am interested in getting hold of a copy of War and Peace, but it will be quite hard for me to do so, and it is fairly expensive. The panoramic shots, impressive period pieces and huge-scale battle were what impressed me most about Waterloo.

How does War and Peace compare?

[–] OttoVonB 19 years ago

If you absolutely loved this and really liked the impressive battle scenes, then you should just about blind buy the great 5DVD set of War and Peace. I guess one indicator of whether you'd like it is:

a) You like David Lean's films.
b) You liked Dr. Zhivago (though it is more corny than War and Peace)
c) you don't mind watching a seven hour film in Russian with subtitles (there is an English audio track but I do not recommend it)

If you can answer yes to all the above questions, War and Peace might become not just a gerat experience for you, but one of your favourite films of all time...

[–] zatetic 19 years ago

I'm ordering as soon as possible. Is the RusCiCo one (the brown boxed one) the better of the two editions? I really don't want a rubbishy pan&scan with etched in subtitles.

Thank you for the time you spent replying, and for your help.

[–] OttoVonB 19 years ago

Yeah, it's sort of beige and dark purple with Pierre on the ledt and Natasha on the right and a battlefield in between (5DVDs). It's widescreen anamorphic all right! Happy viewing.

No problem, always a pelasure to introduce someone to this wonderful film!

[–] teacher_tom516 19 years ago

"How does War and Peace compare? "

What would you think about seeing the mythic 4 hour version of Waterloo? ;)

THAT's what you're getting in War and Peace! The whole unadulterated literary/visual epic that the Tolstoy novel deserves - not that ridiculous SHLOCK that Fonda and Hepburn (Audrey) had the signal misfortune to appear in.

Tom516

[–] zatetic 19 years ago

Oh it sounds absolutely fantastic.

Thank goodness I have friends who are actually interested enough in the Napoleonic Wars to sit through and watch it with me. I don't suppose many other 16 year-olds would jump on the chance to watch an obscure 6-hour-long historical adaptation of a thousand-page novel based on a neglectic and unduly obscure period of history. (Did you know that 75% of the British population cannot name a single war from the English civil war, and that 90% cannot name more than two from the Napoleonic wars?! My local 'Borders' didn't even have a single book about them!)

I have ordered the beigy box one off Amazon, and hopefully it will arrive soon. I have located tiny 100x100 snippets of the film online on a 'virtual battle of Borodino' website, but shockingly all of the clips were uncredited. I have a right mind to e-mail the University to which the website belongs and demand that they credit Bondarchuk!

Anyway. Thank you. I shall post my reply as soon as I've watched the epic. I have a good feeling that it'll easily surpass Waterloo as my favourite film of all time!

[–] teacher_tom516 19 years ago

That's very sad - I'm from Asia and I can name more than a few of the ECW, a lot from the Napoleonic period and I can sing a passable Killiecrankie (well I've been an Anglophile for a while so...)

Well I think that you can enjoy the two like white wine and fine cheese. Waterloo is easily its equal in scale if not length and both have that very Bondarchuk touch of epic grandeur mixed with tragedy and an underlying anti-war philosophy.

My old set is dubbed in English so it's not too much trouble reading subtitles but sadly it's for the old VHS players and my last VHS died some time ago. I really need to locate a new one/second hand one or get mine fixed otherwise my entire collection including many IMPOSSIBLE to get classics is lost forever.

Enjoy your Tolstoy/Bondarchuk!

Sigh,
Tom516

[–] zatetic 19 years ago

To be honest, I prefer the Marseillaise actually. The British anthems are all very well, but any national anthem that has a line about "quickly rushing to your manly accents so that your expiring enemies can witness your victory and glory" beats the rest hands down.

Plus the tune is excellent.

The Ruscico copy arrived today. The quality is very good, the features comprehensive and the choice of dubbing and subtitling astounding. I cannot wait to watch the whole thing! The 'making of' featurette was enough to whet my appetite.

Thanks.

[–] Clive-Candy 19 years ago

I did post this on the war and peace 1968 film board the film is coming out in a 3 disc edition and 5 disc edition the 3 disc edition comes out on 4th september 2006 and the 3 disc edition i think comes out in November