War and Peace (Russia, 1967): Part 1 November 19, 2007

Newly restored 35mm print! There are epic films, and then there is 'War and Peace.' Winner of the 1968 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this mammoth production took five years to complete and employed over 100,000 extras. But this War and Peace is much more than statistics and spectacle. Adapting Leo Tolstoy's classic novel faithfully but dynamically, Sergei Bondarchuk balances the epic and the intimate, with vivid characterizations and powerful emotional climaxes. Sergei Bondarchuk himself plays the insecure intellectual Pierre, and Vyacheslav Tikhonov is a dashing Prince Andrei. As Natasha, the enchanting woman they both love against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, Lyudmila Savelyeva is not only a beautiful and talented actress but a trained ballerina whose exquisite grace contributes to the show-stopping ball sequence. The staggering Battle of Borodino sequence, utilizing a good chunk of the Red Army, has to be seen to be believed.