War and Peace (1968)

Interesting facts

• Budget: RUB 8.3M
• Based on: War and Peace
• Awards: 1 · Nominations: 3. Including: Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

War and Peace is a 1965–1967 Soviet epic war drama film co-written and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel. Released in four installments throughout 1965 and 1967, the film starred Bondarchuk in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, alongside Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Ludmila Savelyeva, who depicted Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova.

Production

In August 1959, King Vidor's American-Italian co-production War and Peace was released in the Soviet Union, attracting 31.4 million viewers and gaining wide acclaim. The impending 150th anniversary of the 1812 French Invasion, as well as the worldwide success of Vidor's adaptation of the Russian national epic – at a time when the USSR and the United States were competing for prestige – motivated the Soviet Minister of Culture Yekaterina Furtseva…

During 1960, several leading Soviet directors proposed themselves to head the project, including Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov. But soon, the only viable candidate remaining was Ivan Pyryev. As his selection to the position seemed secure, several officials in the Ministry of Culture offered it to forty-year-old Sergei Bondarchuk, who had completed his directorial debut, Fate of a Man, in 1959.

Fedor Razzakov wrote that the invitation of Bondarchuk was orchestrated by Pyryev's many enemies in the establishment, who were determined not to let him receive the lucrative project. In early February 1961, a letter endorsing Bondarchuk was sent to the Minister, signed by several prominent figures from the cinema industry. At first, Furtseva decreed that both candidates would each direct a pilot to be screened before a commission.

On 3 April 1961, Vladimir Surin, the director-general of the Mosfilm studios, sent Furtseva a letter requesting to approve the adaptation of a script for a film in three parts based on War and Peace, as well as to allocate 150,000 Rbls in funds. On 5 May the Minister replied, authorizing to begin writing the scenario and granting 30,000 Rbls. On that day, the work on the picture began.

Bondarchuk hired Vasily Solovyov, a playwright, as his assistant for composing the script. The two later changed the earlier premise and decided to make four parts instead of three. They chose to downplay or exclude completely several of Tolstoy's plotlines and themes, in order not to make the film too cumbersome: the episodes concerning Nikolai Rostov and Maria Bolkonskaya were reduced, and Anatole Kuragin received a slightly better treatment.

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