"BBC'S 'War and Peace' " Topic

Toltoy's beloved saga … some pics for now.

The uniform looks good!

Amicalement
Armand

Won't be as good as the seventies version!

I thoroughly enjoyed the 70's version and have been an Anthony Hopkins fan ever since.

I remember being given the book itself and ploughing my way through it – an Allen and Unwin hardback version (which I still have), complete with a very helpful bookmark outlining all the family relationships.

I was mesmerised by the 1970s version …

Phil

I'm not so sure it will be good. Look at the clothes, so clean, as if they had only this minute bought them and put them on. The image showing the Russian troops looks a little more dusty and realistic, so I could be wrong, I hope.

Uniforms are wrong on first picture. There are line grenadiers with guard shakos, commanded by musketeer officer.
Guard officer on front wear line infantry gorget instead of guard one.

Ah well, it is a drama, so I guess, like virtually all historical dramas, the makers have not let the truth or accuracy get in the way of a good story.

But, you never know, it might still be entertaining, although we all know how it ends already. LOL

I hope it'll be good – it'll probably look better than the 70's version (no wobbly sets) – but will the acting be of such a high calibre ? Here's hoping.

Won't be as good as the seventies version!

The original Epic cost an estimated $100,000,000.00 USD (which is estimated in modern terms over 1 Billion) and took 5 years to make so that is going to be hard to beat…

I was mesmerised by the 1970s version …

And so was I….

Uniforms are wrong on first picture. There are line grenadiers with guard shakos, commanded by musketeer officer.Guard officer on front wear line infantry gorget instead of guard one.

Wow, it only took four posts from the original! Is that a TMP record? All based on one Photo too. Can't wait until we see the French!

Its easy – the Good Guys wear green and the Bad Guys wear Blue Joe Public can just about handle that.

> Wow, it only took four posts from the original! Is that a TMP record?

Naw, the record is on the first post.

Seven and a half hours worth of the Bondarchuk version overnight at the Bristol Odeon. The good guys definitely wore green. Mainly.

I'll defend Sho Boki. I know it is meant in good humour, but that does not always translate and it might be thought a criticism.

I know almost nothing about Napoleonic Russian uniforms despite watching Henry Fonda, Bonadarachuk and Hopkins doing the Pierre Buzuchov (forgive the spelling) thing…………but I am truly impressed when someone can spot such discrepancies and, if we are claiming to be trying to be specialists and experts, we can learn from every such titbit of information.

I thought French Light Inf did not have drummers, I thought British cavalry trumpeters rode greys, I thought Foot Guards wore white overalls at Waterloo etc etc. My Cossack escort to the Tsar had the wrong overall stripes (but I never was told how they were wrong!) I learn a lot here.

Seven and a half hours worth of the Bondarchuk version overnight at the Bristol Odeon.

Hey, I did that too – not in Bristol though.

It was OK until all those swooping tracking shoots during Borodino sequence when the motion sickness and alcohol content of my blood stream had a disagreement!

I'll defend Sho Boki. I know it is meant in good humour, but that does not always translate and it might be thought a criticism.

deadhead,

Not criticism but I will own up to a bit of gentle sarcasm. I think most of us have learned and will continue to learn from TMP.

Part of that learning, on whatever period boards you go to, is acceptance that its a rare occasion when anyone behind a camera gives a fig for the knowledge level displayed here rather than that of the public who will watch the production.

We know things are wrong and they don't.

I wonīt complain about uniforms, but the cast is a different story. I donīt think any of them look the part, especially Lily James as Natasha Rostova and Paul Dano as Pierre. I think Bondarchuk did the best job of casting, especially when he put himself as Pierre.

Still, this book has been my friend now for all of my adult reading life, and it is always fun to see how the different screen versions compare. Looking forward to it!

The shako and the medal are right? (smile)

What about the buttons? (smile)

I can see a wrong bricole far away of the picture! (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

Have to confess I wouldn't know any of the leading cast members if they bought me a beer but a lot of the supporting cast are well known.

Andrew Davies is a great writer too, although knocking this one out in six, one hour episodes, might be a squeeze.

I see for some reason non BBC viewers are getting eight times 45 min episodes. I assume that's to allow for adverts to be fitted in?

42flanker & Trajanus

'the good guys wore green'. Hah, you mean the French Dragoons and Chasseurs a Cheval. Yes, I agree. LOL

I like that Gazzola!

Tom

Just spotted that the film will be shot on location in Russia, Latvia and Lithuania. I guess that means Putin will definitely be demanding a part. He can't play Kutuzov though because Brian Cox has that part. But I notice that the actor to play Napoleon has not yet been named. I wonder? LOL

"Uniforms are wrong on first picture. There are line grenadiers with guard shakos, commanded by musketeer officer.
Guard officer on front wear line infantry gorget instead of guard one."

Good to see that at least one is looking for quality ;-)).

At least he is wearing a neck stock.

But he is an officer! Surely officers did not…………..etc

I just pray he does not stare at that spinning shell and say how much he does not want to die, whilst not stepping to one side. I do not want to see a cloud again as long as I live. I have nothing against Sergei Bondarachuk and would not wish him in the lowest levels of hell inhabited by Dante's Brutus, Cassius and Judus. One level higher would be reasonable………he deserves it after his W & P let alone his Waterloo

"I remember being given the book itself and ploughing my way through it"

The first third of the book is a ripping good Napoleonic yarn, with lots of great anecdotes and insights. After that, it deteriorates into a looong, plodding Russian philosophical meandering about the human condition…

One thing more.. the officers weared British cavalry sashes. ;-)

When Sho Boki pronounces, we must listen.

Gazzola, as ong as Putin's role remains inside Russia that is fine. I do not want my two 20 or one 34 year old sons to have to fly Spitfires (actually a Boston, but it does not sound as cool), as their Grandad did

Von W, you have been quiet recently. Summer break?

Tuscaloosa……..try any Russian "Classical" novel. Your description is unbeatable. "Quiet Flows the Don" was bad enough before Bondarachuk filmed it. "The Cossacks" is worse.

As for Russian poetry, forget Pushkin.

Who knows this one?

"There was young man from Tashkent………."

Who knows this one?

"There was young man from Tashkent…

When I was at school in Ashford, our version was "There was a young fellow from Kent", but he practiced the same form of birth control. ;>

Cheers,
Phil

Gazzola

But I notice that the actor to play Napoleon has not yet been named. I wonder? LOL

First picture of Napoleon.

When interviewed she said that she "will play Napoleon just this once but I will not play him again because I do not want to be type-casted. Anyway! I find it bloody hard to ride a horse and the snow makes my belly cold"

Paul :)

There is also a French mini-series from 2007

link

The Borodino segment is here

YouTube link

Won't be as good as the seventies version!

I have that version and was bored silly with just the first part of it.

Cannot bring myself to watch any more of it.

I'm with Legatus, I don't think they'll come as close to the spirit of the book as the 1970s BBC version, which, for achieving that thoughtful dimension (and much more besides), is my preferred version.

Bondarchuk's rendition is a real oddity, sometimes terrific (actually us wargamers ought, I think, to at least enjoy the battle scenes in that) but often awful. The version I watched was also spoiled by an inconsistent mix of various language dubs and occasional/partial subtitles.

As Mike above mentions, there was also a European production, out in 2007, which was a kind of clean cut soap-opera version, completely soulless and generally (but especially intellectually) neutered… awful, in my opinion!

The BBC of the late '60s and early '70s gave us things like K Clark's Civilisation, and the Life series by Attenborough, etc. Judging by current output I'm not holding my breath for kerwality on this one… but it'd be pleasant to be wrong!

PS – Anybody else think the duelling Bezukhov (I presume it's Bezukhoz… like the Bondarchuk version he's got round specs and looks rather wet) looks disturbingly Harry Potter-esque?

PhilinYuma, did your chap have physical deformity? In the trade it is known as chordee….looks a bit odd……

Interesting point,(LOL!) Deadhead. I have never seen chordee on a gen. surg. floor, but a number of hypospadias corrections when I was in England. I never saw a case of hypospadias in the US, though. Maybe the victims are told that it is divine punishment for lustful thoughts in the womb?

Cheers,
Phil

Could be worth a look.

I guess we should all stop complaining and taking the micky and be grateful that something Napoleonic is going to be aired for us all to see, and no doubt make comments about. And it could have been worse, had a suitable literary masterpiece been available, they could have come up with a series based on the Waterloo campaign. LOL. As I say, we should all be thankful for small mercies, or is that small production budgets?