War & Peace [VHS]
![War & Peace [VHS]](/images/War-Peace-VHS-B00004WGBW-L.jpg)
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Actor: Alan Dobie, Angela Down, Anthony Hopkins, Morag Hood, Sylvester MorandEdition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 751 minutes
Release Date: 2000-07-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: BBC Warner
Studio: BBC Warner
VHS Movie Reviews of War & Peace [VHS]
Movie Review: The Finest War & Peace
Summary: 5 Stars
This remains the best and most complete version of the novel made to date. These older BBC dramas have a certain timeless quality to them that seem lacking in the more polished versions today. I first saw this production when I was about 10 years old, and it made a lifelong impression on me. Too bad kids today can't get hooked on something like this.
Looking at this series is almost like reading whole chapters from the novel. Seldem does one find such a complete attempt to translate a book to television. Many scenes are done in their entirety from the novel. The acting is superb. A young Anthony Hopkins converys all the confusion and complexity of Pierre in the book. Morag Hood is an emotional and vulnerable Natasha. I certainly had a crush on her character when I was younger as did many others it seems! Prince Bolkonsky is dark and forebodding. Even minor characters get development in this production which is quite unique.
My version was taped directly off TV when it was shown for one of the last times in the 1980s. In addition to the fine scenes showing the characters in Russia, the additional scenes showing Napolean and the Austerlitz and 1812 Campaigns are also wonderful. Several noteworthy Napoleanic military historians were consulted for this production, and their fine imput is evident throughout. The battle scenes, while perhaps small scale compared to today, are finely crafted and reflect the tactics and formations of the time. I wonder where these scenes were shot, as the extras don't look English for the most part. The uniforms were researched by John Mollo, a noted historian for military costume.
The actor who plays Napolean is perhaps a bit tall, but his mannerisms seem quite accurate. He makes an impressive L'Empereur! All the actors were part of BBC stock at the time, and they appeared in many other productions. All of them were good. The wonderful Russian Imperial Anthem is played by the Band of the Welsh Guards under Major Desmond Walker. This band was quite popular with the BBC at the time and produced several LPs under their label. They also toured the USA with the Argylls around this time, and shall be returning to the USA in early 2006 with the Black Watch. This is perhaps one of the finest adaptations you will ever find for any classic novel. This is an example how fine Cinema can be in transcribing a novel to the screen. Too bad it is seldom done so well these days.
This series deserves to be brought back out on DVD where improved picture and sound qaulity can only enhance the brilliance of its production.
Summary of War & Peace [VHS]
Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace towers over most novels. It isn't merely the length that impresses--over 1,200 pages--but the number of characters. This BBC/Time-Life serial spans the Napoleonic Wars (1805-20) and incorporates 52 principals and 110 supporting players (a 44-page booklet proves indispensable with identification). Chief among them is Pierre (a bespectacled Anthony Hopkins), an illegitimate idler who becomes Count Bezuhov upon his father's death. Pierre admires Napoleon (David Swift), and chooses not to fight. Cousins Nikolai Rostov (Sylvester Morand) and Andrei Bolkonsky (Alan Dobie) harbor no such reservations.The Yugoslavia-filmed battle sequences convince with their cavalcade of extras, but the drawing-room scenes serve as the heart of the series. (The soft exteriors were shot on film; the crisp interiors on video.) In these sequences, the other Rostovs, Bolkonskys, and Bezuhovs--notably Nikolai's impetuous sister, Natasha (Morag Hood)--emerge as complex individuals. Occasional inner monologues distinguish them further. There's some overacting from a few cast members, like the splenetic Anthony Jacobs (Prince Bolkonsky), but Dobie, Angela Down (Andrei's sister, Maria), and especially BAFTA winner Hopkins, give three of the more nuanced performances. Dramatized by Jack Pulman (I, Claudius) and directed by TV veteran John Davies (Germinal), this 20-part series follows a black-and-white silent, a Hollywood production (with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn), and an Oscar-winning Russian epic. The British edition, however, stands as the most complete adaptation. As Pulman stated at the time, "Part of the novel's effect is achieved by its sheer weight of detail, the piling up of incident upon incident." After 15 increasingly compelling hours of marriages, affairs, births, duels, and deaths, it's hard not to feel a kinship with these fatefully entwined families. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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