Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
War & Peace
Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
September 21, 2004 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
—
| $9.95 | $8.16 |
DVD
November 2, 2009 "Please retry" | — | 5 |
—
| $23.91 | $21.99 |
DVD
October 12, 2018 "Please retry" | — | 6 |
—
| $36.04 | $34.83 |
DVD
July 1, 2016 "Please retry" | — | 5 |
—
| — | $33.99 |
Genre | Military & War |
Format | NTSC |
Contributor | John Davies, Sylvester Morand, Morag Hood, Joanna David, Alan Dobie, David Swift, Anthony Hopkins |
Language | English |
Runtime | 14 hours and 50 minutes |
Similar items that may ship from close to you
- War and Peace (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]Kira Ivanova-GolovkoDVDFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 3
- War & Peace (2016) - 3-DVD Set ( War and Peace ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - United Kingdom ]Greta ScacchiDVDFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 3Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
- War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection)HardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 3
- War and Peace (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)HardcoverFREE Shipping by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 3
- War and Peace (Penguin Classics, Deluxe Edition)PaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 3
Product Description
Product Description
Leo Tolstoys timeless masterpiece of love and loss is universally recognized as one of the greatest novels ever written. Focusing on the consequences faces by three Russian families during the Napoleonic Wars, this classic work is retold in twenty parts in this epic BBC production, complete with award-winning design and breathtaking battle sequences.
Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as the soul-searching Pierre Bezuhov (a role for which he won the 1972 Best Actor BAFTA); Morag Hood is the impulsive and beautiful Natasha Rostova; Alan Dobie is the dour but heroic Andrei Bolkonsky; and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for both the Rostov and Bolkonsky families.
Includes a 44-page booklet featuring production notes, episode summaries, character profiles and stunning behind the scenes photography.
Amazon.com
Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace towers over most novels. It isn't merely the length that impresses--over 1,200 pages--but the number of characters. This BBC/Time-Life serial spans the Napoleonic Wars (1805-20) and incorporates 52 principals and 110 supporting players (a 44-page booklet proves indispensable with identification). Chief among them is Pierre (a bespectacled Anthony Hopkins), an illegitimate idler who becomes Count Bezuhov upon his father's death. Pierre admires Napoleon (David Swift), and chooses not to fight. Cousins Nikolai Rostov (Sylvester Morand) and Andrei Bolkonsky (Alan Dobie) harbor no such reservations.
The Yugoslavia-filmed battle sequences convince with their cavalcade of extras, but the drawing-room scenes serve as the heart of the series. (The soft exteriors were shot on film; the crisp interiors on video.) In these sequences, the other Rostovs, Bolkonskys, and Bezuhovs--notably Nikolai's impetuous sister, Natasha (Morag Hood)--emerge as complex individuals. Occasional inner monologues distinguish them further. There's some overacting from a few cast members, like the splenetic Anthony Jacobs (Prince Bolkonsky), but Dobie, Angela Down (Andrei's sister, Maria), and especially BAFTA winner Hopkins, give three of the more nuanced performances. Dramatized by Jack Pulman (I, Claudius) and directed by TV veteran John Davies (Germinal), this 20-part series follows a black-and-white silent, a Hollywood production (with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn), and an Oscar-winning Russian epic. The British edition, however, stands as the most complete adaptation. As Pulman stated at the time, "Part of the novel's effect is achieved by its sheer weight of detail, the piling up of incident upon incident." After 15 increasingly compelling hours of marriages, affairs, births, duels, and deaths, it's hard not to feel a kinship with these fatefully entwined families. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches; 12.8 ounces
- Director : John Davies
- Media Format : NTSC
- Run time : 14 hours and 50 minutes
- Release date : October 23, 2007
- Actors : Anthony Hopkins, Alan Dobie, Morag Hood, Joanna David, Sylvester Morand
- Studio : Koch Vision
- ASIN : B000QGE86K
- Number of discs : 5
- Best Sellers Rank: #84,360 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,249 in Military & War (Movies & TV)
- #14,167 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
But the more intricate story involves both the activities and the peccadilloes of primarily three Russian families of nobility: The Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Bezukovs. The continual thorn of "The Antichrist," Napoleon, really just provides the wallpaper for this larger story of romance, riches, desolation, love, devastation, jealousy, hatred, retribution, nostalgia, joy, grief, naivety, stupidity, and so much more. Tolstoy has woven an incredibly intricate web that interconnects these noble families, the wars, and the common Russian people to a degree that would seem to most incomprehensible to achieve -- but Tolstoy perseveres with superb clarity and enormous insight into the human psyche. His characters are timeless and the reader of the book version of this magnificent story who has any social experience whatever will immediately connect with them all.
War and Peace is a fictional, lengthy novel, based upon historical fact.
The Mini-series: This is a 1972 BBC production starring Anthony Hopkins (early on in his notable acting career), consisting of five DVDs and lasting for almost 15 hours! The aspect ratio is 4 x 3 (not letterbox) which is consistent with the dimensions of the traditional television screen. It looks just fine on a widescreen TV as well. The package includes an informative 44-page booklet with behind-the-scenes information about the production along with biographies of the key actors.
The first thought that came to my mind about this mini-series is that it is so very complex that most folks will have difficulty in grappling with the entirety of the story unless they have previously read Tolstoy's book: War and Peace (Vintage Classics) . It really doesn't matter much which translation that one reads (there are currently 12 English translations and the only divergent edition, in terms of what happens in the book, is this one: War and Peace: Original Version . I usually recommend the Briggs translation for first-timers to the work, although the mini-series is based upon the very similar Rosemary Edmonds translation: War and Peace Volume I. Translated by Rosemary Edmonds. Penguin Classics No L63 .
This mini-series is a great introduction to War and Peace in the video format because it includes most of the nuts and bolts of Tolstoy's original story; however, in terms of artistic achievement this version cannot hold up to Bondarchuk's 1968 masterpiece film (dubbed in English, in letterbox, with available English and other subtitles): War and Peace (Special Edition) . Director Bondarchuk's focus was more on Tolstoy's "magic" and less so on including each and every incident, albeit he corralled the most essential ones. I should also mention that the prospective buyer should not even consider acquiring the pathetic Hollywood film version starring Henry Fonda. It's one of the most lamentable book-to-film attempts I've ever seen: War and Peace .
Getting back to the BBC-Hopkins mini-series, the directors (Alan Dobie/John Davies) and other production folks unfortunately relented somewhat to their own egos and to that noxious little book-desecrator: "poetic license." In doing so, they told this magnificent tale much as a war historian might relate it, rather than seizing upon Tolstoy's meticulous, colorful, and powerful literary painting of the events. Make no mistake about it, this is an incredibly intricate and problematic story to render through the media of film. Allow me to now touch upon the mini-series' very few shortcomings and then I can subsequently summarize my considerable praise for this lengthy production in which the pros far outweigh the cons.
The casting was perhaps the most egregious aspect of this production. Ironically, Hopkins himself was a poor choice for the key character of Pierre Bezukhov. We detect, simply by looking at and listening to Hopkins in any environment, that he is incredibly intelligent, gifted, and articulate which is always going to leak through in any role that he plays - unfortunately, the character of Pierre is that of a portly, naïve, and bumbling fool. Hopkins simply makes him come off as way too articulate and worldly, despite numerous vain attempts to make him appear less so.
A second casting calamity was that of actress Morag Hood who plays the equally important role of Natasha Rostov. To be blunt, Tolstoy created Natasha (in her youth of 13 years old and even later) to manifest every pedophile's fantasy. She is an incongruent blend of vivaciousness, stunning in appearance, uncontained in demeanor, puerile, and a bulwark of beaming sunshine, additionally exuding an untamed spirit unmatchable by any of her female peers.
Unfortunately, Hood's virtues are in contrast with this role and she could only be considered beautiful (I hate to toss this bomb but I will anyway) by English standards of the term... Hood's beauty is clearly internal, yet another feature which the egocentric Natasha does not at all share with her. Specifically, Hood's face is too emaciated in its structure and, while she's not actually buck-toothed, she demonstrates an overbite so prominent as to rival that of Hilary Clinton's chompers. This singular and regrettable actuality detracts from the centrality of the story to the degree that we as viewers cannot understand why all the young men plummet at her mere appearance (and in fact, Natasha's prospective lovers do not seem to wish to do so as their roles require!) Particularly in Natasha's teen appearances, the image of Hood's bounding and skipping around the various venues, sporting a young girl's pigtails, simply appears absurd.
Boris Drubetskoy (played by Neil Stacy) and Nicolai Rostov (played by Sylvester Morand) were each also far too mature in age to play their teen roles early in the tale, although they were faultless in adulthood in the latter episodes of the story.
The tendency of film-makers to gloss over the more magical parts of Tolstoy's Magnum opus illustrates their lack of comprehensive understanding of the story and perhaps their additional inability to convey it with a high level of competence. Two of the moments I'm thinking of in particular include "the mummers' sleigh ride" and "Petya's dream," (just prior to the attack on the retreating French convoy.) Both of these important scenes were sadly excluded from the mini-series.
My final criticism is one regarding an historical ignominy: the scene at old Count Rostov's renowned banquet where Pierre challenges Dolokhov to a duel. I found it quite distracting from an historical perspective that the banquet was, in this instance, conducted in honor of old General Kutuzov instead of his much-revered assistant, General Bagration, as it should have been. No competent technical advisor in his right mind would have permitted this faux pas of a change from the book to transpire as, at that particular time, Kutuzov was pretty universally scorned by all within his social realm, owing to his disastrous defeat by Napoleon in Austria and elsewhere, (even though he had probably saved the Russian Army through his personally courageous strategies.)
And that last comment provides me with the perfect entry to remark upon what fine acting Frank Middlemass conveyed through his role as General Kutuzov, (even though he was misused in that single instance.) Middlemass performed equally memorably in his role as the scandalous and drunken Marmelodov in the terrific mini-series of Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment - The Complete Miniseries .
Other key actors deserve a slate of Kudos for their respective appearances in the War and Peace mini-series: David Swift as Napoleon; Anthony Jacobs as old Prince Bolkonsky; Donald Douglas as Tsar Alexander I; Colin Baker as Anatole Kuragin; Rupert Davies as old Count Rostov; Faith Brook as Countess Rostova; Angela Down as Maria Bolkonskya, and; Candita Fawsitt as Julia Karagina, (a comparatively brief but very important role.) The terrific work of all these talented folks added so very much to the overall ambiance and palatability of the film.
In total, 20 episodes make up this sprawling color epic and, while it drags just a little here and there, I think that overall it represents a remarkable achievement in film. There was a lot of location shooting of the film in Yugoslavia which yielded spectacular scenery. The outdoor scenes were shot on actual film while the indoor shots were rendered to videotape. Noting those minor flaws which I mentioned previously, I can say without reservation that they are completely overcome by the inclusive comprehensive excellence of this superb mini-series.
Highly recommended!
One of the great aspects of this BBC production is the degree to which the wide range of characters and scenes from the novel are depicted. In the 1968 Sergei Bondarchuk version, for example, Nikolai Rostov is almost totally ignored, so the story of his romance with Sonya, rescue and later marriage to Maria is noticeably missing. In addition, the acting in the 1972 BBC version is so strong, it more than makes up for not having the elaborate battle productions of the Bondarchuk version, (although that version's Battle of Borodino is probably the most sweeping battle scene of the Napoleonic Wars ever filmed, with extensive cast and re-enactments). The 1956 Hollywood version is perhaps the least compelling film depiction of the novel, in production values, being dated and in leaving so much out.
The fourth film version I've seen of War and Peace is the 2007 Italian TV series production with audio completely in English and directed by Robert Dornhelm. That may be my second choice to the BBC version. It would very much appeal to modern audiences in terms of its visual appeal, high quality production values and drama. Many of the scenes were filmed in Russia and Lithuania with an international cast. This version also depicts many key characters (e.g., Nikolai). However, this version seems to add a range of scenes that were never in the novel with a focus on Helene and Anatole's scheming to deceive Natasha. For example, it creates a scene in which Andrei in Poland instigates Anatole's marriage to a Polish peasant, which is the reason he couldn't have married Natasha when he seduced her. Also, it depicts Nikolai and Natasha going to Helene and Pierre prior to his duel with Dolohov to discourage Pierre from fighting, and Nikolai supports Pierre and serves as his second in the duel. In contrast, Nikolai was actually DOLOHOV's second in the novel. However, to someone who has not read the novel, these added or modified scenes add considerably to the drama, making the Italian version a very compelling and satisfying version to view. I found myself rereading the novel to find out which scenes were changed or new scenes added but also appreciating that these changes positively added to the drama. In addition, the bewitching Violante Placido provides the best portrayal of a wicked Helene and Malcolm McDowell is superb as Andrei's father. Unfortunately, this Italian version appears to no longer be available for sale. Mine was a Russian version all-region DVD, but this is not a problem to view in English, since the dialogue is very well done in English and does not appear to be dubbed. Hopefully, this Italian production will be re-introduced in the future for American audiences, especially because the dialogue is all in English, and because this 6 and a half hour, fast-paced version may appeal to modern audiences who may not have read the novel.
Yet, of the four film versions of War and Peace, it is the 1972 BBC version that I find to be the best, in terms of acting quality and depth of depicting the Tolstoy classic. From a historic context, the BBC version provides more historic context on Napoleon's invasion with scenes with him (nicely portrayed by David Swift) strategizing with his generals and advisors. Like the Bondarchuk version, Kutuzov is also portrayed well (by Frank Middlemass in the BBC version). The BBC version also fully develops characters such as Pierre's transformation with a wide range of scenes (e.g., freemasonry, marriage and family life with Natasha following the war) that are not shown in the other versions. This is the only version to actually conclude the novel as Tolstoy did with the epilogue showing Pierre and Natasha and Nikolai and Maria happily raising their families some eight years after the war. Likewise, a range of supporting characters (e.g., Boris Drubetskoy) are only shown in this splendid production thanks to the depth of the 20 episodes. Character develop and historic perspective is best portrayed through these episodes. Since they occur in episodes and are accompanied by the richly illustrated viewer guide with background on the original production, it is a very pleasant experience to view the BBC series in episodes as television series like Masterpiece Theater years ago provided extended TV series for richer development of novels. This is important given the sweeping extent of Tolstoy's novel.
Lastly, it is great to see Anthony Hopkins in one of his earlier masterpieces portraying Pierre. Morag Hood and Joanna David as Natasha and Sonya are good as well. The other actors, such as Sylvester Morand (Nikolai) and Alan Dobie (Andrei) are also good. Given the strong acting, depth of portraying the novel and its characters, and accuracy to Tolstoy's storyline, I would suggest if you had to pick one version, the 1972 BBC DVD version (note - many scenes were deleted in the VHS version) would be my first choice. Although if you love the novel and have reread it like I have, the 2007 Italian version and the 1968 Bondarchuk version are definitely worth a look too.
Top reviews from other countries
Die Länge stört nicht, gehört dazu, weil es zum Nachenken anregt.
Versione molto lunga, che tratta in modo soddisfacente tutti i diversi aspetti del romanzo (l'aspetto storico, l'aspetto psicologico, l'aspetto etico, romantico, ecc.). La recitazione è ottima, e la regia molto buona.
Nel 2016 è uscita in DVD anche un'altra versione prodotta dalla BBC, un po' più corta, che all'inizio sembra insoddisfacente ma poiu "decolla" e diventa anch'essa molto buona (sebbene un poco meno buona della precedente).