Voyna i mir / War and Peace Part III: The Year 1812 (in 70 mm)

War and Peace. Vyacheslav Tikhonov as Andrei Bolkonsky.

War and Peace. Upwards tracking shots from a helicopter reveal the most magnificent battle scenes ever filmed. Photo: my screen shot from YouTube. Please click to enlarge.

Война и мир / Voina i mir / Sota ja rauha / Krig och fred.
    SU 1967. PC: Mosfilm. D: Sergei Bondarchuk. SC: Sergei Bondarchuk, Vasili Solovyov – based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy (1865–1869). DP (Sovcolor, shot simultaneously in 70 mm and 35 mm): Anatoli Petrisky – 1:2.2. AD: Mikhail Bogdanov, Gennadi Myasnikov. ED: Tatyana Lihachova. M: Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov. Opera: L'incoronazione di Poppea (1642) by Claudio Monteverdi. "Dies irae" theme in two sequences. Choreography: Vladimir Burmeyster. S: Yuri Mikhailov, Igor Urvantsev – 5+1-channel stereophonic sound. Cost: Mihail Chikovani. VFX: G. Ayzenberg. SFX: F. Krasnij, M. Semyonov. Pyrotechnics: Vladimir Likhachyov. Military advisor: General V. V. Kurasov.
    C: Lyudmila Savelyeva (Natasha Rostova), Sergei Bondarchuk (Pierre Bezuhov), Vyatsheslav Tikhonov (Andrei Bolkonsky), Viktor Stanitsyn (Ilya Andreyevich Rostov), Kira Golovko (Countess Rostova), Oleg Tabakov (Nikolai Rostov), Seryozha Yermilov (Petya Rostov), Irina Gubanova (Sonya), Anatoli Ktorov (Nikolai Andreyevitsh Bolkonsky), Antonina Shuranova (Princess Marya), Anastasia Vertinskaya (Liza Bolkonskaya), Boris Smirnov (Prince Vasili Kuragin), Irina Skobtseva (Hélène Kuragina / Bezuhova), Vasili Lanovoy (Anatole Kuragin), Boris Zakhava (Kutuzov), Gyuli Chohonelidze (Bagration), V. Murganov (Alexander I), Vladislav Strzhelchik (Napoleon Bonaparte), V. Sofronov (Emperor Franz).
    Original in Russian with passages in German and in French.
    Helsinki premiere 10.11.1967 Capitol, released by Kosmos Filmi.
    KAVI 70 mm print deposited by Kosmos Filmi.
    Screened was the 362 min Finnish cinema release version in 23 reels of ca 600 m, with electronic subtitles by Tuulia Lehtonen. Screening schedule: 14.00 Part I, 107 min, 16.15 Part II, 80 min, 18.00 Part III, 82 min, 19.45 Part IV, 94 min.
    Screened at Kino Regina (Film Heaven), 27 April 2019.
    In memoriam Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov (1936–2019).

I viewed our 70 mm print of War and Peace in extenso in our previous screening at Bio Rex seven years ago. I then found Part III (the Battle of Borodino) clearly superior to the rest. Examining information on the different versions I discovered that our Part III is the only one which has not been cut. The original version runs seven hours, and our print only six hours, but Part III is intact. This year I learned from Peter Bagrov that Anatoli Petrisky, the cinematographer, also preferred Part III when War and Peace was screened at the Belye Stolby Film Festival.

At Kino Regina the 70 mm projection is superior to Bio Rex. The proportions of our new cinema are perfect for 70 mm. The cinema does full justice to the masterful composition of this film. I focused now more on the cinematography and the mise-en-scène and was much more impressed by the visual experience.

Otherwise my observations remained the same. Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov has created an excellent, intriguing and highly moving score, different from mainstream epic film music.

A special feature is a mumbling approach to dialogue, probably as a counterweight to the inherent danger of bombasm. Thus the soundtrack (both music and dialogue) are based on understatement. There is an attempt to maintain dimension of intimacy in this history of the masses.

Part II ends with one of the finest scenes, Natasha and Pierre's encounter where they first recognize that they are special to each other. Part III has several outstanding scenes. The death of the old Count Bolkonsky (a great performance by Anatoli Ktorov). The meeting of Kutuzov and Andrei Bolkonsky (Tolstoy would have smiled approvingly to Boris Zakhava's earthy interpretation of Kutuzov). The holy procession with epic grandeur. The meeting of Pierre and Andrei on the eve of the battle. The battle of Borodino, perhaps the most formidable battle sequence ever filmed.

Andrei falls with mortal grenade wounds to his stomach. At the field hospital he is startled by cries of agony: a leg is being amputated on the adjoining bed. It is no one else but Anatoli Kuragin, his rival for Natasha's love. On the death bed values and proportions change. A quintessentially Tolstoyan moment, powerfully dramatized by Sergei Bondarchuk.

The Battle of Borodino on 7 September 1812 was the biggest and most disastrous of Napoleon's battles. Napoleon won, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, and from then on la Grande Armée was fatally injured. Half of the Russian army was destroyed, but Kutuzov, Field Marshal of the Russian Empire, saved its fighting spirit.

Our print is clean and intact and at Kino Regina it looks better than at Bio Rex. 2805 prints were struck of War and Peace, and due to the duplication processes there is a loss of fine detail and the image is often somewhat soft. The 70 mm experience is not perfect but this print is still worthy of screening.

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See also my September 2019 note on the complete version of War and Peace (Criterion Collection, 2017 restoration 2019 blu-ray).