Henry Fonda once made a telling comment about War And Peace. When asked about his thoughts on the film, he said: "when I first agreed to do it the screenplay by Irwin Shaw was fine, but what happened? King Vidor used to go home nights with his wife and rewrite it. All the genius of Tolstoy went out of the window." Fonda's assessment is harsh, but in many respects accurate. The genius of Tolstoy IS evidently lacking from this elephantine epic; the screenplay (credited to six separate scripters with no mention at all of Irwin Shaw) IS a sprawling mess. Perhaps Fonda ought to have taken some comfort in the fact that the film still emerges with commendable points in its favour. For example: brilliant battle scenes, (some) powerful performances and rousing music by Nino Rota.
1805-1812 the ambitious Napoleon (Herbert Lom) is sweeping across Europe, winning battle after battle, reshaping maps and boundaries. In Moscow, people think they are too far from Napoleon's forces to be troubled by him, even though they dimly acknowledge that one day his army may arrive at their city gates. Young, aristocratic lady Natasha Rostov (Audrey Hepburn) watches in naive excitement as Russian soldiers including her brother Nicholas (Jeremy Brett) march off to war, unable to comprehend the wider implications of what they are embarking upon. The older Pierre Bezukhov (Henry Fonda), heir to a great fortune and a self-centred intellectual, has a more realistic grasp of the situation, but expresses little interest in the fighting or the cause. His friend Prince Andrei Bolkonsky (Mel Ferrer) proudly heads off to Austria to fight against Napoleon, but witnesses much death, destruction and suffering. Worse is to follow when he gets home to witness his wife's death in childbirth. Andrei seeks comfort in the arms of Natasha and plans to marry her, but while he is away fighting again she is swayed into a relationship with a cruel scoundrel named Anatole Kuragin (Vittorio Gassmann). Fortunately, Pierre is on hand to make Natasha see the error of her judgement. The war eventually arrives on Russian soil, where Pierre finally is forced to drop his disinterested façade and acknowledge the immense cost of war and conquest.
Even at 208 minutes, this version of War And Peace feels under-nourished. It is too grand a story, so complex and intricately interwoven that it cannot be filmed satisfactorily at a sensible length. (The 1968 Sergei Bondarchuk version is far superior, though its 500 minute plus running time makes it strictly one for the purists!) However, in patches this 1956 version is better than its reputation suggests. Fonda is too old for the role of Pierre but plays it fairly well; Gassmann is totally believable as the libertine Kuragin; Lom's portrayal of Napoleon is excellent. The battle sequences are very good, with plenty of the then-astronomical $6,000,000 budget up there on the screen, all of it effectively captured by ace cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The key weakness is that when the film moves away from its moments of spectacle, and tries to concentrate on the human side of the story, it feels curiously lifeless. Still, this can be chalked down as a decent attempt to film an impossibly long and complex book.
1805-1812 the ambitious Napoleon (Herbert Lom) is sweeping across Europe, winning battle after battle, reshaping maps and boundaries. In Moscow, people think they are too far from Napoleon's forces to be troubled by him, even though they dimly acknowledge that one day his army may arrive at their city gates. Young, aristocratic lady Natasha Rostov (Audrey Hepburn) watches in naive excitement as Russian soldiers including her brother Nicholas (Jeremy Brett) march off to war, unable to comprehend the wider implications of what they are embarking upon. The older Pierre Bezukhov (Henry Fonda), heir to a great fortune and a self-centred intellectual, has a more realistic grasp of the situation, but expresses little interest in the fighting or the cause. His friend Prince Andrei Bolkonsky (Mel Ferrer) proudly heads off to Austria to fight against Napoleon, but witnesses much death, destruction and suffering. Worse is to follow when he gets home to witness his wife's death in childbirth. Andrei seeks comfort in the arms of Natasha and plans to marry her, but while he is away fighting again she is swayed into a relationship with a cruel scoundrel named Anatole Kuragin (Vittorio Gassmann). Fortunately, Pierre is on hand to make Natasha see the error of her judgement. The war eventually arrives on Russian soil, where Pierre finally is forced to drop his disinterested façade and acknowledge the immense cost of war and conquest.
Even at 208 minutes, this version of War And Peace feels under-nourished. It is too grand a story, so complex and intricately interwoven that it cannot be filmed satisfactorily at a sensible length. (The 1968 Sergei Bondarchuk version is far superior, though its 500 minute plus running time makes it strictly one for the purists!) However, in patches this 1956 version is better than its reputation suggests. Fonda is too old for the role of Pierre but plays it fairly well; Gassmann is totally believable as the libertine Kuragin; Lom's portrayal of Napoleon is excellent. The battle sequences are very good, with plenty of the then-astronomical $6,000,000 budget up there on the screen, all of it effectively captured by ace cinematographer Jack Cardiff. The key weakness is that when the film moves away from its moments of spectacle, and tries to concentrate on the human side of the story, it feels curiously lifeless. Still, this can be chalked down as a decent attempt to film an impossibly long and complex book.