Original subtitles

[Music]

úáá

this is Kuragin whispered Shinchin his

moderate researcher's gait would have

seemed ridiculous if he had not been such a smart

guy and his handsome

face had not shown such a harmlessly contented

cheerful expression he walked up

to his sister put his hand

on the parapet of her box nodded to her in

greeting and asked her something pointing

at Natasha

he then obviously said something about

Natasha which she not only heard

but also read from his lips

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stop these were a law from

Leotolsu's novel War and Peace and

images from rehearsals for a scene from the

new Soviet monumental film wunder

i

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mir

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[Applause]

treuker winter

birch forests with a sleigh ride

to Moscow to the Rostovs' palace

today the House of the Writers' Union

begins the second already finished part

of the

film in the Mossfilm studios in Moscow

we were spectators at the shooting of

the third fourth

part at first glance it looks

and is like in all the studios in the

world when a historical monster film is

being shot on a so-called costume piece

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it smells of make-up and paint

glue and

cardboard it is hot and boring

waiting for something somewhere

maybe just a tiny

detail to finally be as it should be most of the

time that

seems to be available in unlimited quantities passes by

that is perhaps already a

special feature here a difference to the

production methods with us endless

patience the most meticulous care never have

or nervousness even though production is

months behind schedule

the shooting of the film has been going on for more than six years A

superb color but shine and costumes from an

old time do not seem to have lost the charm of the new

at least for the extras

the director Sergei Bondchck we

call him shy taciturn

and approachable we watched him

at work for a few weeks he

faces the enormous strain and

all the unforeseen difficulties of

this undertaking with thoughtfulness

constant energy and calm seriousness

with which he dominated the atmosphere in his

team

during a break in filming he found

time to answer a few questions about his film

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the principle of our The film adaptation of War

and Peace consists of expressing to the greatest

extent and with the greatest precision

what the great artist Tolst

wanted to express. Tolst used the entire range

of artistic means that were

available in the whole world at the time

in order to, thanks to his genius, manage the

diverse content that he combined in his

novel. Tolst's

novel, which he himself called Homeric

without false modesty, is like

the Iliad, is such a

concentration not only of material

but also of the most diverse

literary forms that the

idea can be frightening. All of this

had to be implemented in film exactly as it was originally intended.

The novel unfolds

a vividly monumental picture of the

period from 1805 to 1812. It contains a

huge number of characters whose character and

fate are described in detail.

Its epic, open form offers both

philosophical observation of history and

precise genre painting. Meticulous

descriptions of battles alongside lyrical

love stories. With an

incomparable array of extras,

equipment, technology and specialists,

the film aims to do justice to Tolsty's genius.

It is impossible to reproduce the idea of The

novel War and Peace can only be portrayed through

a few characters or just through a few more

important scenes. It is

impossible to manage them solely through the skills of the

director, the cameraman or the

actors. Only by

combining all forces and all

artistic components can the

author's deep thoughts

be expressed. Submission to the authority of

Tolst. Tolst is the consensus of all

members of the film collective team. The filmmaker

who worked on the script

and the film commented on this. We considered

any cinematic freedom to be unlawful.

Tolst and only Tolst did not do anything for us.

However, such restraint does

not apply to the camera work of the

34-year-old Petr. Shots taken by hand,

walking or rollerblading and from

helicopters and jet fighters. Any

means are acceptable if it serves

to express thoughts. There has

never been a real peasant

in literature. Said Lenin, and

since then Tolst has enjoyed unconditional reverence in the Soviet Union.

Here the

Tolst Museum is in a former noble palace in

Moscow. Official criticism ranks Tol

higher than Dostoyevsky. It calls him the

realistic observer, a guide

to freedom and clarity. of the spirit

the film can only try to emulate him

tolst studied his

historical material very carefully or wrote from his

own experience for example as an

artillery officer in the Crimean War he

drew his characters from close

observation or from historical

models this is his grandfather, Count

Rostof, in the novel and here that of the

film this portrait accuracy is what

the Soviet audience, for whom the

film is primarily made, expects every

schoolchild knows tolstoy's war and

peace and knows his life and his

social

work today tolstoy is no longer attacked as a born aristocrat as

in the years of struggle before the revolution

but

the social lessons are at the forefront of tolstoy's work at his

death in 1910 people of

all classes from all over Russia flocked

together not just the peasants of his

village of Jasna jaapolyana where he had implemented his

social programme with schools and

hospitals

Jasna jaapoliana 200 km south of

Moscow is now a national

pilgrimage site 136,000 visitors were

here in 1965 when we were there

the interiors were being renovated

and the museum was newly

furnished in this park he held

his regular

morning meditations and in these avenues

a character from his novel had the

old Prince Bolkonski, his grandfather,

stroll in his maternal love of music the general chief prince

Nikolai Andrejwi Bolkonski,

known in society as the King of Prussia,

lived on his estate KLE Berge since he was expelled

from the royal residences under Paul's reign

without ever

leaving this short film scene is

remarkable the orchestra of

serfs in reckokoivren was

deleted by Tolsus himself from his manuscript

the film was however able to use it

well as a setting it

also shows how a

speaker

leads through the film with Tolsus narrative texts this way one can also

show scenes that consist of more than just

plot and dialogue

the American-Italian

film adaptation left out such passages or

invented new

dialogues the Russians used famous illustrations which

Tolsus himself described as apt

as templates

for the production for the casting

of the roles or the design of the

mask of a main character in the novel in the

story he plays himself the PI book

plays the director himself he started out as an

actor and received the Lenin Prize

for his first film direction his wife

Irina Skopsova bears the title of Merited

Artist of the People she plays

Helen

Kuragin the Russians have fixed

ideas about the

characters the film must take this into account

deviations in favor of a more

modern or even western

taste are

not permitted the national character of the

novel must be preserved as well as the

historical one naturally shoots

at original locations which are restored

to their original state according to contemporary depictions

history is present everywhere or

preserved in

museums in the Historical Museum on Red

Square in Moscow there is a room dedicated solely to the

events of 1825

the burning of Moscow the retreat of the

French and the destruction of their

allied

army captured weapons uniforms trophies

documents battle plans maps

paintings Napoleon's sleigh all the

historical material that

was available the film was

made a huge

collection of reproductions in the studio so that

templates would be available at all times

suitable suggestions were

even incorporated into the screenplay here Pictures from a

German history of the

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Wars of Liberation every historical

figure, for example from Napoleon's numerous

general staff, was cast, masked and sculpted exactly according to

contemporary depictions

even if they only

appeared for a moment picturesque and military

journey from Willenberg in Prussia to

Moscow is the title of two

French copper engravers Napoleon

took them along on the journey as photo reporters to

glorify his deeds

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the film takes

the pathos

and

monumentality from the contemporary depictions but at the same time it is

drastically up close

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realistic men Soviet military

were thrown into the film battles

Austrians Prussians Saxons Poles

Würtenberger Mecklenburgers Spaniards

Italians and Neapolitans for all those whom

Napoleon himself lists in his memoirs,

their own picturesque war

costumes were made by the hundreds

and with all the accessories

as well as parade or

dress uniforms for all ranks of

all possible

traditional tsarist regiments such as for the

theater scene in the third

part not a single piece of costume or

prop is from others Films are available in

the production archive War

and Peace is the first Soviet

film about the era of the early 19th

century and since the film depicts a

historical development over about 8

years one also had to follow the

changes in civilian and

military fashion and create new costumes for each

year for each extra and

for each

supporting role here are some costumes for

Anatol

Kuragin Wasil Semjonovic LOVO came from

the rental acting department of a car factory

he is now one of the top

Moscow

theater actors and is a

popular film and

television star his transformation into Anatol

Kuragin seems to have been a lengthy

process these old extras are not

in disguise but seem to have been brought out of a

forgotten time as if from a

hidden corner to

reawaken the way of life and attitude to life not only of a bygone era

but also of an outdated

and overcome form of society this

is only possible through meticulous

care in realistic detail as in

a scientific work as

any modernization or adaptation to

today's ideas is frowned upon

the only binding thing is in the

national it is about the Russian people's own

history the heroic deeds of the

Russian people in the portrayal of

their greatest national

poet so a romantic

evocation of the tsarist

past is allowed and it seems to be

fun for all involved

even when you

have to portray the society which, as

the script writer said, was

hostile to the people and to real life they valued

trinkets and tinsel above

all else but there were certainly good minds

interesting physiognomies were

chosen for this society

professors and officials unemployed

actors and students made themselves

available to meme the tsarist

apatens it wasn't the people who

were bad but

society was still them

and with the proverbial patience of the

Russian and the discipline of the

Soviet people they fulfilled their task

which mainly consists of sitting still and

waiting it

took several days to work on

this short

scene the audience should not only be able to follow the

important meeting between Natasha and

Anatole in the theater

but should have the illusion of

being there should be just as excited and

confused as Natasha who visits

her grandmother for the first time

after a long stay in

the country and in the serious mood in

the place where Natascha was found seemed

strange to her she could

not follow the course of the opera could not

even listen to the music she

only saw the painted cardboard walls and the

strangely dressed men and

women who

sang and moved in such strange languages ​​in the bright lighting

she knew that this was

supposed to be something but it was all so

learned, artificial and unnatural

that she was sometimes ashamed of the actors and

sometimes had to laugh at them

Anatol went to the front row, sat down

next to Dolchof, for whose favor everyone

else was so vying, and put his leg

against the

[music]

ramp in the studio of the

[music]

film architects 3 different

chandeliers designs for the redesign

of landscapes and entire

parts of town in the second act

gravestones were painted on the cardboard walls in the

back of the screen there was a hole that

represented the moon the lamps on the ramp

had been covered with umbrellas

soldiers of the Soviet

army are used as scenery shifters

[music]

a brigade of Soviet

cleaners puts the finishing touches and

brings the cardboard on

high gloss the moss film studio is the

largest of the 41 Sjetian

film studios and also the largest in

Europe more films

are produced every year several of the 13

studio halls are constantly occupied with sets for War

and Peace while

construction is taking place in one of them rehearsals or filming is taking place in the

other a small interlude

for the

[Music]

theater scene

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Lauch within the large

film collective the

film architects painters and costume designers form their

own collective it consists of

teachers from the Moscow Film School with

their assistants and

students the number

of paintings that

have been produced over the years runs into the thousands not only to

plan the locations in advance

but above all to try out color coordination

within the sets

in the sense of a conscious

color dramaturgy in which the costumes

are also included

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some reproductions from an

extensive collection of

female portraits of the time models not

only for hairstyles and make-up but

also for casting the roles

in order to find the right Natascha Rostoffer

has Bond Schuck did screen tests with over 200

young girls

there were plenty of candidates for the coveted role Natascha is

an idol of teenage girls in the

Soviet Union Tolst created his

ideal female figure in her a naive

creature of nature in the midst of the conventions

of society she unfolds in

grace and beauty like a flower

she is there only for herself and blossoms towards

her fulfillment as a bride and mother

the director decided

on a young Leningrad dancer

Ludmilla Savellua who, apart from

a small film role, had no previous

acting or film experience

[music]

further filming in the studio

is

Dollochow's apartment the two cronies Anatol and

Dolchof aristocratic adventurers and

daredevils playboys you would call them today

shortly before the planned kidnapping of

Natascha in Dolchof's own

study the walls of which were decorated up to the

ceiling with Persian carpets bear traps

and weapons Dollof himself was sitting in front of the

open desk on which a sheet of

paper and packets of banknotes lay.

travel skirt and

high

boots the scene is to

be shot in one take and it is

only to fill half of the

wide screen while on the

other half Natascha will

be seen in her maid's room as she reveals to

her cousin Sonja her

passionate decision to let herself

be

kidnapped the direction is initially strange tol would

perhaps say of this style of production

painted cardboard walls strangely

disguised men who

speak and move so strangely and it is

all so rehearsed artificial and

unnatural but it is

no less than to capture the pathos of the

time exactly according to tolst's instructions

and with his texts and to

reproduce the exuberance of the simpleton Anatol caricatured by tolst the actors seem to have to

overcome some inner resistance and a tendency towards more modern language and gestures

the actor who plays dollechof Oleg

nikolajwit jefem is the founder of the

very popular and modern Moscow

theatre of the time comrade he has

directed films himself in the end result the

actors manage to strike a balance

between fluffy pathos with charm and

to

find simple naturalness last rehearsal of the whole

scene give up the whole story there is still

time

but no

stupid things the devil knows what is wrong with you

really I am

serious the matter is dangerous and if you

look closely also

[Music]

stupid

good but that is it

[Music]

not I am telling you but nobody will

find out do

n't talk I am telling you give up you are tying

yourself down oh my dear she is a

goddess but if you

are broke Sergei Bondchukck now himself in

a scene from the first part as Pijer

Bisuchov together with Dolchov

his wife's lover challenge

to a

duel

we are only giving an abbreviated version of the lengthy

preparations for the duel

but the climax of the scene is

particularly suitable for showing the method of the

film adaptation we read about it great

ST Pierre had hurried forward at the word three

had

strayed from the beaten path and continued on in the

deep snow

he held the pistol in front of

him in his outstretched right hand

and was obviously afraid that he might

injure himself with it

as he

had not expected such a loud bang he flinched at the

shot but then smiled

at his shock and

stopped Pierre, who could hardly suppress a sob,

also ran

towards Dollchof and was about to cross the space that

separated the barriers when

Doll

called out to him at the

barrier then Pierre understood what he wanted

and stopped next to the sword

Dlich let his head sink into the snow,

smiled and took some of it in his mouth,

raised his head again, pulled his legs in

and sat down so that he could get

a firm hold for the weight of his body

he sucked in the cold snow and

swallowed it down his lips

trembled but he was

still smiling and his eyes flashed with

strain and hostility while he

gathered his last strength he picked

up his pistol and started to aim

[music]

the film almost seems to be a test of

whether Tols Toys' fictional

characters are realistically drawn and

vice versa whether the play can

fulfill the stage directions of the poem

all the ambition of the actors and the

direction of the drama seems to

lie in passing this mutual test

with the result of a

perfect

illusion the film is made in such a way that

the viewer feels like a participant in the

events that he

immediately empathizes with the situation of Tolsty's

heroes, with the atmosphere in which they

lived and acted

the immediacy of empathy, however,

has to be repeatedly canceled out when

the film moves on to the next scene

as if it were the next chapter

of the

book this change in the

means of expression makes the film

appear inconsistent but in the

eyes of the Russians it is the only possible,

authentic way of filming Tolsty

[Music]

[Music]

these were individual shots from

the ball scene that Bondard Schub is currently editing here at the

editing table with his

chief goddess she

received the Lenin Prize last year the

highest award and thus the

highest salary a Soviet

artist

can achieve there are now three different

edited versions of the finished

parts the first version shown at the Moscow Festival in the

summer of 1965 was

put together in a hurry

because the film was to cover a significant

part of the Soviet program

this also earned it

harsh criticism from the Soviet side

the American magazine Newsweek,

for example, said the hasty screening

of the film was so impossible that it was as

if the Italian government

chased Sophia Loren out of bed and put her on display

before she had time

to brush her teeth and comb her hair

version 2 is the now

combed and cleaned version of the

film for the Soviet audience

wuck's work output is astonishing

in addition to the filming as director and

actor in a leading role there is always

the tedious and tedious work in the

editing room and a huge number of

difficulties and worries about his work

with which he has been associated for years

now the third version intended for foreign countries is currently being

edited

parts 1 and 2 are being shortened to make a

three-hour film

certainly not a

pleasant

job scenes that were filmed years ago

that were already thought to be finished and

completed suddenly you

only have snippets in your hand again

[Music]

Re-shoots of the Battle of

Austerlitz in the studio a stool has to

replace the horse because it is only a

close-up an enlargement from

the old film negative helps

to capture the same expression again after years

the 37-year-old Vateslav Wasiljewit

Tikhonov plays the second

male lead, Prince Andrej, alongside Bondchu

bolkonski one of the most interesting

characters an ideal male figure and

at the same time an anti-hero

sceptical without faith sharp intelligence and a

strict sense of responsibility proud shy and

lonely

when

synchronizing with the image on the

screen the actor speaks

his lines in the studio afterwards this

achieves better

sound quality this is also a

possibility for making later changes or

corrections even if the film was

previously precisely planned down to every word

and sketched out for each

individual shot

[music]

are shots from the end of the

Battle of Austerlitz Andree's almost

[music]

heroic death the composer working

on the music for the Battle of

Borodino the 29-year-old veslav ofinikov

is known for the music to the film

Ivan's Childhood

his very idiosyncratic and

inventive music which incorporates many

classical motifs of the time and Russian

folk tunes plays an

important role in the film whole

passages are based in their flow

on the rhythm of his composition

in a similar way to the image design is based on

the drawings of the

set designers who offer

different variants in sketches for each shot

in

October5 the Russian troops under

the Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov the

villages and towns of the Archduchy of

Austria and still new

regiments came from Russia to

unite with the army of General ma

[Applause]

probably

the words matched the

mouth movements exactly and the

actors have their

richonr bonduk is

[Music]

satisfied since Serge Eisenstein tried out his

film scenes in his own drawings beforehand

this procedure has become a

tradition in Soviet film

[Music]

[Music] a

case from the Schl v

öerich the famous counterattack of the

sixth

[Music]

[Music]

jäger regiment

[Music]

according to old exorcism regulations the

12,000 men of the Soviet army were

drilled for weeks until they had completely mastered the

formations and steps that were usual at the time

120 steps a

minute the French 75 the

Russians during outdoor shots in the

Caucasus Soviet generals help as

advisors and direct the

battles Napoleon has time

to read Pravda he is demoted to an extra

[Music] the

Cannons are not

dummies they were built like in the old days

and museums asked them to make them available after the

recordings were made they

were better than their own

historical ones

[Music]

Captain Tushin's battery on the

evening of the Battle of Schöngrabern

Tolsty himself an artillery officer in the

Crimean War portrayed this scene with great

knowledge and detail

[Music]

[Music]

here is a recording of the beginning of the

battle the tiny Captain Tushin

with his pipe the small but

real hero without pathos or poses but with

touching tragicomic a representative of the

people

[Music]

the Battle of Borodino is all about national heroism in which

the Russians achieved a draw against Napoleon for the first time

this was the beginning of his

downfall is one of the great

deeds of glory of the Russian people

comparable to

Stalingrad this panoramic painting from

the 19th century which shows the battle at

its climax all around the horizon

could have inspired the film

the painting was restored and

given a new building in 1962

for the 150th anniversary of the Victory over

Napoleon it was celebrated with military parades,

with Krushov presenting the

events of the celebrated year as a

warning to all potential aggressors

of today's Russia

thousands of visitors pass

through the new rotunda on

Kutuzovsky Prospekt every day named after Kutuzov,

the commander-in-chief of the Russian

army his hesitant retreat tactics

are no longer seen as fatalism

but as wise submission to the

laws of history and the people

the film is ideologically correct in

line with the revision of the

personality cult behind the panorama there is

a modest monument to Kutuzov in front of

a replica of the hut in which he secured

the surrender of Moscow in the war council

napoleon had reached the destination of his

journey he took possession of the deserted Moscow

he resided in the Kremlin

established his rule but there

was no one he could have ruled over

tolst

writes at the sight of this

peculiar city with the never-before-

seen forms of alien

architecture Napoleon felt something like

envy and that restless curiosity which all

people feel at the sight of

strange, unknown forms of life every

Russian who looks at Moscow feels the

motherly quality that lies in this city

every foreigner who looks at the city

must, even if he

cannot understand its motherly significance,

still bring out the feminine character of

this city and

Napoleon also had this feeling

having taken control of this city excited

him and frightened

him the city had opened up to him

but had not surrendered contemptuously it had

given itself over to him and worn him down and

ruined him and his entire army that

I dissolved in the city became slovenly

and

degenerated and even with draconian

measures Napoleon could not stop this

self-destructive neglect of the

city into which his army was drawn

the scene of the shooting of

alleged arsonists it was

filmed on the original location at the walls of the Virgin's Monastery in Moscow

Pierre is among the condemned

but is saved because the

first five executions are enough

[music]

Pierre was the sixth suddenly

drum rolls rang out on both sides

and Pierre felt how this sound was tearing his

soul to pieces he was no longer

able to think and consider he

could only hear and

see he looked around at his

fellow sufferers and observed them

the two first in line were

convicts with shaved heads

one tall and gaunt the other a

black, stocky, muscular man with a

broad

[music]

nose Pierre only had one

wish that the terrible thing that

had to happen would happen very soon

I am a soldier from the ab

reg I almost died of fever

we have no

idea there you are here eat

here the potatoes are

great the figure of the farmer in the

film is also seen in accordance with the

dominant ideology which

can certainly be based on he should

no longer be so

shabby but should embody the wisdom

and inner resilience of the

Russian people who, to use Holz TEU, did

not salute

according to all the rules of the art like the French did in 1813

and gracefully hand over their sword to a

magnanimous victor but

in the moment of trial grabbed

the first club they found with simplicity and harmlessness

and with he

thrashed him until I had dissolved the feeling of

bitterness and revenge in his soul into

contempt and pity

these drawings come from the

private diary of a Russian

officer in their naive simplicity an

interesting parallel to the copper engravings of Napoleon's photojournalists, which were executed according to all the

rules of the art

they found picturesque motifs

even in their defeat, which the

infamous Russian winter turned into a

disaster a similar thing happened to

the German Wehrmacht in the last war

the memory of this second Great

Patriotic War of the Russians comes

to mind in view of the film War and

Peace and here in Moscow that the

Germans also wanted to conquer

but the parallel lies only in the fact that

in both cases the Russian people

successfully stood up to conquerors

who arrogated to themselves the right to

dominate foreign peoples and cultures an arrogance that

seems outrageous when you experience

this foreign world as a peaceful visitor

and in the nature of this arrogance

and the reaction of those affected lies

the difference between the two

wars which the Russians rightly

want to see preserved Napoleon believed after all that he

could in the name of civilisation, to

eliminate the despotism of the Zahren

while Hitler wanted to

conquer living space for his master race at the expense of the Russians

the last war cannot be

viewed in a romantic light not only because the memory

is still too fresh a train station model for

a film about Hitler's war and here

props from the war and peace film

junk from history on the

film site

and in turn traces of recent

history in the representative

facades of the studio halls that Stalin

had built after the last war

this too is a way of celebrating a victory a

different one to before, of course, when

aristocrats celebrated one of their own among themselves

Prince Mararon the

hero of

Schöngrabern

[Music]

[Music]

я

[Music]

ни успокольша

[Music]

краждано слуго все вои

дела

слько с приятно

you are on

[music]

успокои