Incredible the means made available to film Leon Tolstoy’s great novel WAR AND PEACE, published in 1866. It took director Sergey Bondarchuk seven years to complete his sequel of four films. WAR AND PEACE was the most expensive production in cinema history. It was awarded the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1969. WAR AND PEACE is a stunning epic dealing with the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, heroism, fame and deterioration in Russia in the early years of the nineteenth century. It includes Napoleon’s Russian campaign, causing the Russian nobility great problems. Napoleons invasion causes enormous chaos. The army has no other choice but the retreat and scorched earth tactics. Insufficient rations and a lack of provisions contribute to the devestation of Napoleon’s troops during the bitterly cold Russian winter. In spite of the war and its misery a love affair develops and finally Pierre (played by Bondarchuk) and Natasha can embrace each other.


Disc 3: 1812

Original title: VOYNA I MIR
Script: Sergey Bondarchuk and Vasily Solovyov after Leon Tolstoy’s novel.
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk
Camera: Anatoli Petritsky
Editing: Tatiana Ligacheva
Music: Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov
Sound: Mikhail Bogdanov
Costumes: Mikhail Chikovani
USSR, Mosfilm, 1965-1967

Cast includes: Sergey Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Lyudmilla Savelyeva, Boris Zakhava, Viktor Stanitsyn, Kira Golovko, Sergey Yermilov, Irina Gubanova, Anatoli Ktorov, Antonina Shuranova, Boris Smirnov, Giuli Chokhonelidze, Viktor Murganov, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Helmut Zommer.

Awards include: Academy Award 1969, Golden Globe 1969

5DVD / R2 / 16:9 anamorph / colour
Sound: Dolby 5.1
Duration: 403 Minutes
Russian spoken. Optional: English / French spoken.
Optional subtitling: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish