War and Peace (1956 film)
Encyclopedia
War and Peace is the first English-language film version of the novel War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...

by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

. It is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

/Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 version, directed by King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...

 and produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...

 and Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti was an Italian film producer with over 140 production credits, and the husband of Italian movie star Sophia Loren.-Career:...

. The music score was by Nino Rota
Nino Rota
Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...

 and the cinematography by Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff, OBE, BSC was a British cinematographer, director and photographer.His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor to filmmaking in the 21st century...

. The film was made by Dino de Laurentiis Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

.

The film stars Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

, Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

, Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer
Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....

, Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...

, Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...

 and Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...

.

It was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film and it had Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nominations for Best Director (King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...

), Best Cinematography, Color (Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff, OBE, BSC was a British cinematographer, director and photographer.His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor to filmmaking in the 21st century...

) and Best Costume Design, Color (Maria De Matteis).

Differences from the novel

The film script had to condense the extensive original. It is primarily focused on Natasha, Pierre, and Andrei, their complex relationship and personal maturation on the backdrop of the historical events of the Napoleonic invasion. In Moscow, most of the scenes take place at the Rostov residence, and episodes at the country estates are curtailed, with some exceptions such as the hunt where Natasha first meets Andrei. There are no scenes from St. Petersburg. The relationship between Nikolas, Sonya and Mary is toned down. Historical figures that are retained are General Kutuzov and Napoleon. Minor battles are omitted, while Napoleon's crossing of the Berezina
Battle of Berezina
The Battle of Berezina took place November 26–29, 1812 between the French army of Napoleon, retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina , and the Russian armies under Mikhail Kutuzov, Peter Wittgenstein and Admiral Pavel Chichagov. The battle ended with a mixed outcome...

 is added. The concept of the inner dialogue is retained, notably in regard to Natasha, however, the extensive use of French is not retained in the movie. Events of the epilogue are not part of the movie, nor Tolstoy's discourses about history.

Cast

  • Audrey Hepburn
    Audrey Hepburn
    Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...

     as Natasha Rostova
  • Henry Fonda
    Henry Fonda
    Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

     as Count Pierre Bezukhov
  • Mel Ferrer
    Mel Ferrer
    Mel Ferrer was an American actor, film director and film producer.-Early life:Ferrer was born Melchor Gastón Ferrer in Elberon, New Jersey, of Catalan and Irish descent. His father, Dr. José María Ferrer , was born in Cuba, was an authority on pneumonia and served as chief of staff of St....

     as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
  • Vittorio Gassman
    Vittorio Gassman
    Vittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...

     as Anatole Kuragine
  • Herbert Lom
    Herbert Lom
    Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...

     as Napoleon
  • Oscar Homolka
    Oscar Homolka
    Oskar Homolka was an Austrian film and theatre actor. Homolka's strong accent, stocky appearance, bushy eyebrows and Slavic name led many to believe he was Eastern European or Russian, but he was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.- Career :After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War...

     as General Kutuzov
  • Anita Ekberg
    Anita Ekberg
    Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...

     as Helene
  • Helmut Dantine
    Helmut Dantine
    Helmut Dantine was a film actor remembered for playing many Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. The Vienna-born actor appeared uncredited in Casablanca early in his career .Dantine's father was the head of the Austrian railway system...

     as Dolokhov
  • Tullio Carminati
    Tullio Carminati
    Tullio Carminati was an Italian actor most famous for roles in The Cardinal, One Night of Love, and El Cid. He also appeared in the movie, Roman Holiday....

     as Prince Vasili Kuragine
  • Barry Jones
    Barry Jones (actor)
    Barry Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.-Biography:...

     as Count Rostov
  • Milly Vitale
    Milly Vitale
    Camilla "Milly" Vitale , daughter of conductor Riccardo Vitale and choreographer Natasha Shidlowski, was an Italian actress....

     as Lise
  • Lea Seidl as Countess Rostova
  • Anna-Maria Ferrero
    Anna-Maria Ferrero
    Anna-Maria Ferrero is an Italian actress.She was born Anna Maria Guerra changing her last name in honor of composer Willy Ferrero....

     as Mary Bolkonskya
  • Wilfrid Lawson
    Wilfrid Lawson (actor)
    Wilfrid Lawson was a British character actor of stage and screen.-Life and career:...

     as Prince Bolkonsky
  • May Britt
    May Britt
    May Britt is a Swedish actress who had a brief career in the 1950s in Italy and later in the United States. She retired from the screen after she married Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1960.-Career:...

     as Sonya Rostova
  • Jeremy Brett
    Jeremy Brett
    Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...

     as Nicholas Rostov
  • John Mills
    John Mills
    Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...

     as Platon Karataev
  • Patrick Crean as Denisov
  • Sean Barrett
    Sean Barrett
    Sean Barrett may refer to:*Sean Barrett , British actor whose credits include Z-Cars*Sean Barrett , Irish transport economist and Senator...

     as Petya Rostov
  • Alan Furlan
    Alan Furlan
    -Biography:Born Aleardo Furlan in Farla, in the North Friuli region of Italy, Furlan acted in films in Europe and the United States, on Broadway and in commercials....

     as Russian Officer

See also

  • War and Peace - 1965 film directed by Sergei Bondarchuk
    Sergei Bondarchuk
    Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...


External links

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