War and Peace, a New Restoration (1 Viewer)

[Ed Lachmann]

Here's some really good news for the fans of Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace. The first article is from the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/movies/war-and-peace-bondarchuk-lincoln-center.html) and the second is from our friends over at The Digital Bits (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/021819-1300). Looks like a Criterion blu-ray is on the horizon. Hooray!

 

[Mark McSherry]

Janus Films has some WAR AND PEACE downloads, including trailer, stills, and press book.

 

[trajan007]

I saw WAR AND PEACE in New York City when it first came out. I thought the dubbing in that version was excellent. I found subtitles on the dvd distracting. I hope they include the dubbed version when it comes out on bluray.

 

[JQuintana]

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/war-and-peace-1966.360874/#post-4704186

 

[Alan Tully]

Reading on various sites, this is a 2K scan from 35mm dupes, the 65mm original negatives being locked away somewhere in the Ukraine. I'm sure it will still look very nice, stunning maybe. I've never seen it, but I'll buy it, it'll be a real event looking at it.

 

[Douglas R]

Reading on various sites, this is a 2K scan from 35mm dupes, the 65mm original negatives being locked away somewhere in the Ukraine. I'm sure it will still look very nice, stunning maybe. I've never seen it, but I'll buy it, it'll be a real event looking at it.

The Janus Films link above explains that:
"...when Mosfilm decided to restore War and Peace, executives there discovered that neither the studio nor Gosfilmofond, the Russian Federation’s state film archive, possessed a complete 70 mm negative of the film in its original 2.20:1 aspect ratio. An extensive search in the archives of the former Soviet republics also failed to yield a complete 70 mm negative. The restoration was therefore achieved by assembling parts of negatives from various archives, with the complete positive copy held by Sovexportfilm, which had distributed War and Peace abroad, used for reference. Hence, this 35 mm restoration with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio is the closest possible approximation of the original film’s visual quality."
Judging from the trailer, the restoration looks fabulous.

 

[Michel_Hafner]

If they used 70mm sources it's stupid not to restore in 4K.

 

[Alan Tully]

If they used 70mm sources it's stupid not to restore in 4K.

Yes, but if you read above, they didn't, they couldn't (calling Indiana Jones: find them 65mm negs!).

There's a post over at blu-ray.com from someone who saw the Janus showing in New York & was very impressed - "It's eye-poppingly effective (especially on the big screen); Part 3 ("The Year 1812") with its staggering, sweeping yet intense scenes of the Battle of Borodino left the sold-out audience stunned into momentary silence at the end credits." - From what I read, the DVD looked a bit ropey, so fans will have to buy the Blu-ray, whenever it's released, Criterion haven't announced it yet...I wonder who's going to release it in the UK?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Never heard anything about Ukraine. I DID read something about the 65mm negatives being irrevocably deteriorated (and presumably disposed of) in 1999.

 

[PMF]

Never heard anything about Ukraine. I DID read something about the 65mm negatives being irrevocably deteriorated (and presumably disposed of) in 1999.

Disposed in 1999? What on earth were they thinking? That was after the first and wildly successful 70mm restorations of "Lawrence of Arabia", "Spartacus" and the nearly irrevocably deteriorated "My Fair Lady". Obviously, the Ukrainians weren't using their craniums; I mean, really, didn't they know of a man named Harris?