War and Peace, parts 3 & 4
War and Peace / Война и мир, Parts 3&4, 1967, dir. Sergey Bondarchuk, starring Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergey Bondarchuk, Ludmila Savelieva
5 November 2010, 4pm
War and Peace is a Soviet-produced film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Sergei Bondarchuk directed the film, co-wrote the screenplay and also acted in the lead role of Pierre. It was produced over a seven year period and released in four parts between 1965 and 1967.
In relating Tolstoy's complex tale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Bondarchuk made some of the most graphic battle scenes ever seen, one of which runs nearly 45 minutes. According to the Guinness Book of Records, its cast of 120,000 people is a record. Many museums in the USSR contributed artifacts for the production design, making it one of the most elaborate films ever created.
In the Soviet Union, the film was released in four parts, with a combined running time of over seven hours:
Part 1 – Andrei Bolkonsky
Part 2 – Natasha Rostova
Part 3 – 1812
Part 4 – Pierre Bezukhov