WAR AND PEACE (1956) C widescreen 208m dir: King Vidor

w/Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman, Anita Ekberg, Oscar Homolka, Herbert Lom, John Mills, Helmut Dantine, Milly Vitale, Barry Jones, Lea Seidl, Wilfred Lawson, Tullio Carminati, Jeremy Brett, Sean Barrett, Anna Maria Ferrero, May Britt, Patrick Crean, Gertrude Flynn

From Variety's contemporary review of the film: "Hollywood and Italian know-how, some $6 million capital investment, and between 5,000 and 6,000 Italian troops doubling as celluloid soldiers, have produced a visual epic.

"The classic Tolstoy novel which requires weeks and, more often, months to read is digested into three-and-a-half hours of vivid cinematic magic.

"The wonder of the production is that it has maintained cohesiveness and fluidity of story and also has given fullest accent to the size and sweep of Bonaparte's armies at Austerlitz and Borodino. Life among the Russian aristocracy with its passion for good living and innate respect for the church in time of stress is brought into sharp focus.

"Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of wholesome young love under benevolent aristocratic rearing. Henry Fonda, the confused young liberal who apes the French as so many Russians did, is perhaps sometimes too literally the confused character.

"Other than the above and the moody but compelling performance by Mel Ferrer, the rest are lesser roles but almost wholly effective.

"The film's scripting credits are a strangely multiple thing in light of Irwin Shaw's request to remove his billing when director Vidor reportedly rewrote so many scenes on his own."

From King Vidor by John Baxter: "For a man who had in his time been offered both Ben Hur and Gone With the Wind Vidor made few real epics, but in the fifties he accepted two of the then-fashionable exercises in the contrast between men and nature. [The second of these epics is Vidor's final Hollywood film, SOLOMON AND SHEBA.] War and Peace (1956), produced by Dino De Laurentis and shot on location in Italy, boiled down Tolstoy into four hours, though in most places the film was cut to less than three, mutilating what was already a condensed and simplified version of his canvas. Audrey Hepburn as Natasha considerably outdistanced Henry Fonda's languid, puzzled Pierre and Mel Ferrer's neutral Andrei; he was then married to Miss Hepburn. 'Someone once asked me if I would rather direct a battle scene with six thousand soldiers or a love scene with two important stars,' Vidor said. 'Without hesitating I answer, "the battle scene."' Vidor was referring to the problems of motivating actors, but he obviously reflects a general interest in spectacle and the exteriorizing of emotions which is typical of his work. The battles of War and Peace are spectacular enough, particularly the crossing of the river by the fleeing French, but the film's intimate moments suffer from Vidor's lack of interest in conventional characterization. Most interiors are well-lit arrangements of antiques, the actors included, and Vidor discards even the most alluring opportunities for personal drama. Natasha's appearance at the ball passes in a series of routine set-ups, even her soliloquies about the disappointment of having no partner being thrown away in a voice-over. British cinematographer Jack Cardiff photographs the film with a golden tone reminiscent of his work on Michael Powell's Black Narcissus, and is largely responsible for the film's most memorable scene, the duel in the snow between Pierre and Kuragin, with the sun a red disc low on the horizon and the snow gleaming sickly with yellow light. The direction, mainly in long shot, takes advantage of the wide screen, and its impact is all the more remarkable for the fact that the whole scene is shot on a sound stage, the sun a reflection of a masked spotlight in a piece of glass placed only a few inches from the lens."

WAR AND PEACE was nominated for three Oscars: Best Director, Color Cinematography (Jack Cardiff), and Color Costume Design (Marie De Mattesi).