Russian WAR AND PEACE

Re: Russian WAR AND PEACE

I agree... this is one of the all time great films and pretty much unbeatable purely as spectacle. I was lucky enough to see a 70mm print of the Russian version at AFI in Silver Spring a few years back... this had subtitles and was longer than the official U.S. release which had horrible dubbing. The image quality varied but the sound was incredible. I know recently a "restored" 35mm version was making the rounds... it showed at the Film Forum in NYC last year... and it was said then that the original elements have yet to be found. The Russico dvd has some problems image wise, but again the sound was great... I have never heard such elaborate use of the surround tracks.

So---- add my vote for a new and improved dvd.

Re: Russian WAR AND PEACE

Here's the link to the Kultur films edition, but I don't know anything about it. I too have been searching for this film on DVD, but it seems a good edition is impossible to find.

http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Categories.bok

Re: Russian WAR AND PEACE

Per this story in Variety, next year's Berlin Film Festival will have a sidebar featuring screenings of 22 films in 70mm, including "War and Peace", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Ben Hur", and "Celopatra".

Berlin pays homage to 70 mm films - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

Re: Russian WAR AND PEACE

Do not buy the Kultur version... it is not letterboxed and is basically horrid. What you want is the Russico version which while not perfect is vastly better. Check this link to DVD BEAVER for comparisons:

"War and Peace (1967)" RusciCo vs Kultur

Re: Russian WAR AND PEACE

Avoid the NTSC Ruscico, too.

Basically, Ruscico has a policy of producing all their DVDs in PAL and then transfering (badly) to NTSC.

This is especially serious with War & Peace, given the frequent use of a sort of early steady-cam type contraption. (ie. lots and lots of ghosting) It's not evident in the comparison for some reason but, trust me, in motion, it looks terrible. (I bought it a few years ago for, all up, about $100 (without knowing about PAL>NTSC,) and I haven't bought a single Ruscico DVD since. That should give you some idea of my impressions)

Beyond the ghosting (an obvious transfer problem) it gets a little hard to say how much of the image-quality is director's intent and how much is an unfortunate side-effect of the loss of the original negative.
Certainly, the subdued colors are consistant with Bondarchuk's later 'Waterloo' (shot on completely different film-stock and without as many problems as Voina i Mir)

Some clues as to the sad state of Bondarchuk's epic are to be gleaned from the extra features on the RusCiCo discs. Basically, the view seems to be that the film is a Soviet era dinosaur made for prestige purposes and has little value other than for western audiences who remember the cut-down, 2-part version fondly from 1967. The interview with the head of RusCiCo projects this attitude; he looks as though his only interest is in finishing the interview and leaving the room. But he does point out some technical problems too, as for instance, that the factory producing the 70mm film did a terrible job, and that on some shots, film would delaminate as it was moving through the camera; that the stock was rated at a very low ISO, requiring massive lighting setups that melted the makeup off the actors faces, etc etc. As to the colour palette of the film, the RusCiCo discs exhibit wild variations in colour between scenes, with some shots of fields and forests being vibrant and saturated, while others are dull and pushed towards magenta. I can't believe this was the director's intention, and I recall the film being much more vivid when I saw in during its 1967 run, very saturated in fact. If the film is ever to look again as Bondarchuk wanted it to look, it would have to have a thorough overhaul, a frame-by-frame cleanup and colour adjustment, which would be enormously expensive. Not something RusCiCo is likely to do without funds from outside, as they would be hard-pressed to be able to recoup such an investment. 

 

Still and all, the RusCiCo discs are currently the best presentation you can find of the film, in its complete, 4-part version.