Sergei Bondarchuks version of War and Peace is a film like no other, made at the height of the Soviet film industry with the full backing of the USSR. This Goliath of a film was made to show the world that the Soviets could make a film on par, if not better than anything the west could hope to produce.
Chapters-
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Stalin and the death of Soviet cinema
2:22 Khrushchev and the revival of Soviet cinema
3:16 1956 War and Peace
4:42 Origins of the production
5:57 How Sergei Bondarchuk came to direct War and Peace
8:06 Writing the script
10:56 Props
13:17 Costumes
15:31 Casting
18:05 Extras
19:00 Makeup
19:31 Locations
23:59 Battle of Borodino and other battle sequences
27:38 Soviet Red Army Extras
30:35 Budget
31:23 Complications when filming
34:28 Conclusion
Footage used from:
War and Peace (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJM9dWPxd_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Djpq5PpLDI
The Fall of Berlin (1950)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clIrbitQLI0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQE2amAs2-U
Les Sovietiques (18th November, 1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpxsNqAYXB8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a0DDy99rrE
War and Peace (1956)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zqeFOuaEU
Woina I Mir (1966)
Making War and Peace (1969)
Fate of a Man (1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ9gYkIAPi8
Additional information used from:
Woina I Mir (1966)
Making War and Peace (1969)
Les Sovietiques (1968)
Interview with Anatoliy Petritsky (2019)
Interview with Fedor Bondarchuk (2019)
Cold War Classic (2019)
Essay on War and Peace by Ella Taylor
Catalogue of when films were released in the USSR (Russian) https://www.kino-teatr.ru/box/history/sov/y1960/
Interview on War and Peace (Russian) https://www.mk.ru/culture/2011/09/20/625328-tovarisch-kutuzov-chtoto-stalo-holodat.html
Music used in order of appearance:
Symphony No.38 in D Major
Soviet March Reprise – Red Alert 3 Soundtrack
Propaganda Tune – Metro 2033 Soundtrack
1812 Overture
1812 Overture – Short version
source
Excellent essay.
Well done.
Thank you.
I have a few ideas for a list
Lawrence of Arabia
Bridge on the River Kwai
Ghandi
Saving Private Ryan
Magnificent video and thank you for pointing me toward the Mosfilm channel on YT.
I shall finally be able to see the entire masterpiece as intended.
You deserve so many more views than you are getting this is great work.
Awesome film, I remember seeing it in 1970, I was ten years old. Many years later I saw it in a one day showing at The Barbican, and later The Royal Festival Hall. It is a mesmerising film, as intimately moving as it is breathtakingly awe inspiring. Bondarchuk is still my favourite Pierre Bezukhov. To think he followed this masterpiece with "Waterloo" my favourite film ever. What a talent, and what an achievement. You have done a great job in both your profiles of his two epics, many thanks.
Having watched waterloo multiple times and needing that itch scratched, I'll watch the 4 parts of war and peace after seeing this video.
The ussr was the enemy…Russia today is the enemy…a film will not magically make it all better.
this content is so underrated…
And a couple of enourmous series
Young Indiana Jones
Winds of War
War and Redemption
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's score is amazing.
He scored some of Tarkovsky's films.
Great composer, rest in peace.
Finally an essay about this masterpiece
Really great stuff man! Learned and saw a lot of new stuff about Bondarchuk and about the productions! Despite the errors and trails [like the mosin error which made me laugh] they are still masterpieces.
It was way better than Ridley Scott's Napoleon…