War and Peace (1972 TV series)

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War and Peace
WarAndPeace dvd.jpg
DVD cover
Genre Historical drama
Created by David Conroy
Based on War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
Written by Jack Pulman
Directed by John Davies
Starring Anthony Hopkins
Alan Dobie
Morag Hood
Angela Down
Theme music composer Alexei Lvov
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes20
Production
Producer David Conroy
Production locationsUK:

Yugoslavia:

Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time44–45 minutes per episode
14 hours 50 minutes total
Production companies BBC
Time Life Television
Yugoslav Films Belgrade
Release
Original network BBC2
Picture format 576i (4:3 PAL)
Audio format Mono
Original release30 September 1972 (1972-09-30) –
8 February 1973 (1973-02-08)

War and Peace is a British television dramatisation of the 1869 Leo Tolstoy novel War and Peace . This 20-episode series began on 28 September 1972. The BBC dramatisation of Tolstoy's epic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as Pierre Bezukhov, Morag Hood is Natasha Rostova, Alan Dobie is Andrei Bolkonsky and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for each of them and their families.

Contents

The twenty-part serial was produced by David Conroy and directed by John Davies. Conroy's aim was to transfer the characters and plot from Tolstoy's novel to television drama to run for a duration of 15 hours. Scripted by Jack Pulman, this version of War and Peace contained battle sequences, which were filmed in Yugoslavia. The theme tune is the Russian imperial anthem, played by the band of the Welsh Guards. [1]

Hopkins received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance, and the production designer Don Homfray won a BAFTA for his work on the series. [2]

Production

War and Peace followed the success of such literary adaptations as The Forsyte Saga (BBC2, 1967). [3]

Charlie Knode designed the costumes. [4]

The production took three years (1969–72) and involved location filming in SR Serbia and at English stately homes. Soldiers of the Yugoslav Territorial Defense appeared as extras in battle scenes. [5]

Cast

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Name Day"30 September 1972 (1972-09-30)
1805. The Rostovs celebrate the name day of Natasha and Countess Rostova. The family of the dying Count Bezukhov fret over who will inherit.
2"Sounds of War"7 October 1972 (1972-10-07)
Pierre Bezukhov comes to terms with his large inheritance and life in high society. Andrei Bolkonsky leaves his pregnant wife and goes away to war
3"Skirmish at Schöngraben"14 October 1972 (1972-10-14)
Napoleon's armies make rapid progress across Europe, winning a victory at Schöngrabern.
4"A Letter and Two Proposals"21 October 1972 (1972-10-21)
The Rostov family receive news of war from Nikolai. Vasili Kuragin tries to marry his daughter to Pierre and his son to Maria Bolkonskaya.
5"Austerlitz"28 October 1972 (1972-10-28)
Preparations are take place for the Battle of Austerlitz.
6"Reunions"4 November 1972 (1972-11-04)
Nikolai Rostov returns home from war; Pierre struggles in his marriage.
7"New Beginnings"11 November 1972 (1972-11-11)
1807. Pierre suspects his wife of infidelity. France and Russia make peace at Tilsit.
8"A Beautiful Tale"18 November 1972 (1972-11-18)
Andrei visits the Rostovs. Tsar Alexander I attends a ball, and romance blossoms between Andrei and Natasha.
9"Leave of Absence"25 November 1972 (1972-11-25)
Andrei proposes to Natasha. Nikolai Rostov returns for extended leave.
10"Madness"2 December 1972 (1972-12-02)
Natasha Rostova pays a visit to the Bolkonskys.
11"Men of Destiny"9 December 1972 (1972-12-09)
1812: Napoleon invades Russia. Pierre cannot decide whether to join the army or not.
12"Fortunes of War"16 December 1972 (1972-12-16)
The French advance and the Russians retreat; Nikolai rescues Maria from a peasant uprising.
13"Borodino"23 December 1972 (1972-12-23)
The citizens of Moscow are forced to decide whether to abandon the city or not. At Borodino both sides take heavy losses.
14"Escape"30 December 1972 (1972-12-30)
The aftermath of Borodino. The Rostovs evacuate wounded soldiers from Moscow – Andrei among them.
15"Moscow!"6 January 1973 (1973-01-06)
Napoleon takes Moscow, but the war is not won yet. Pierre imagines that he is destined to kill the Emperor.
16"Two Meetings"13 January 1973 (1973-01-13)
Nikolai must decide between Maria and Sonya. Natasha nurses the dying Andrei.
17"Of Life and Death"20 January 1973 (1973-01-20)
Pierre is arrested; Sonya writes a letter releasing Nikolai.
18"The Retreat"27 January 1973 (1973-01-27)
Napoleon retreats from Moscow. Pierre is caught up in the trek with French soldiers and comes close to death.
19"The Road to Life"1 February 1973 (1973-02-01)
Maria tries to rouse Natasha out from her mourning. Pierre returns home.
20"An Epilogue"8 February 1973 (1973-02-08)
1820. Pierre and Natasha are married with children, while the Nikolai-Maria-Sonya triangle is resolved.

Reception

According to Dr. Lez Cooke in British Television Drama: A History (2003), War and Peace consolidated BBC2 as the channel responsible for 'quality' literary drama. [6]

In The New Yorker in 2016, Louis Menand wrote, "It drags in parts today, but in 1972 no one had seen television that grand or ambitious before. The length—almost fifteen hours—meant the series could include scenes, like the wolf hunt, or Denisov dancing the mazurka, that are dramatically superfluous but thematically vital. The acting is inspired, in part because the casting was inspired, from Anthony Hopkins, as Pierre, to David Swift, as a pint-sized, swaggering Napoleon. Everyone looks just the way he or she's supposed to look." [7]

Clive James criticised some performances: "I was cruel to Morag Hood when I said that her performance made me want to throw a tarpauline over her and peg down the corners. I should have blamed the director, who had obviously told her to bounce up and down at all times in order to convey exuberance. [...] In that same production, Alan Dobie as Andrei was grim enough to send you to sleep, but Anthony Hopkins was a perfect Pierre: a real tribute to his acting, because his default mode is to be in command." [8]

Paul Mavis (DVD Talk) awarded it 4 stars, saying, "It positively luxuriates in its expansive format, giving the viewer a remarkable chance to fully experience the various nuances of character and the myriad permutations of shifting relationships (as well as Tolstoy's numerous plot coincidences) that mark this mammoth work." He praised Alan Dobie as "uniformed in Byronic splendor [...] spot-on as the dour, heroic, closed-off Andrei Bolkonsky", also praising Angela Down (Maria) and Sylvester Morand (Nikolai). However, he criticised Hood's performance, saying, "the casting of Morag Hood (which, according to the production history included in this DVD set, was a desperate, last-minute decision) is a distressing misfire. [...] poor Hood can't begin to approach the character with even a modicum of believability. Natasha begins the story as a wild, impetuous girl of thirteen - an age and a temperament that Hood evidently felt needed to be delineated by having Natasha laugh insanely at everything while leaping about like a mad thing (Hood is also far too old to be a believable 13-year-old). As for later maturing into this bewitching, erotic little beauty whom all men adore, either an actress has that innate, inexplicable quality or they don't - you can't 'act' that powerful allure onto the screen. It has to come from within, and simply put, Hood doesn't have it." [9]

Andrew D. Kaufman, in his book Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times said that this version had "much to recommend", although he preferred the 1966–67 Soviet film. [10] James Monaco called it "easily the best adaptation [...] in any medium" in How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, Multimedia: Language, History, Theory (1977). [11]

DVD release

The series was released in a Region 2 4-DVD boxset by DD Home Entertainment in 2005. The set is accompanied by an illustrated booklet, written by Andy Priestner, which provides a detailed account of how the series was made. In 2009 Simply Home Entertainment released a 5-disc edition with 200 production stills.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>War and Peace</i> Novel by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published serially, then published in its entirety in 1869. It is regarded as Tolstoy's finest literary achievement and remains an internationally praised classic of world literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Rostova</span> Character from Leo Tolstoys War and Peace

Countess Natalya "Natasha" Ilyinichna Rostova is a central fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. She is the daughter of Ilya Rostov, a loving, kind, and generous nobleman. Natasha is based on both Tanya Behrs, Tolstoy's sister-in-law, and Sophia Tolstaya, Tolstoy's wife.

<i>War and Peace</i> (opera) Opera by Sergei Prokofiev

War and Peace is a 1946 230-minute opera in 13 scenes, plus an overture and an epigraph, by Sergei Prokofiev. Based on the 1869 novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, its Russian libretto was prepared by the composer and Mira Mendelson. The first seven scenes are devoted to peace, the latter six, after the epigraph, to war.

<i>War and Peace</i> (film series) 1967 film by Sergei Bondarchuk

War and Peace is a 1966–67 Soviet war drama film co-written and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. The film, released in four installments throughout 1966 and 1967, starred Bondarchuk in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, alongside Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Ludmila Savelyeva, who depicted Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova.

<i>War and Peace</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by King Vidor

War and Peace is a 1956 epic historical drama film based on Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel of the same name. It is directed and co-written by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha, Henry Fonda as Pierre, and Mel Ferrer as Andrei, along with Oskar Homolka, Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom, Jeremy Brett, John Mills and Anita Ekberg in one of her first breakthrough roles. The musical score was composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Franco Ferrara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morag Hood</span> Actress

Morag Hood was a British actress who featured in numerous television programmes, stage productions, and audio presentations in the UK from the 1960s up to the late 1990s.

CountPyotr "Pierre" Kirillovich Bezukhov is the fictional protagonist of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. He is the favourite out of several illegitimate sons of the wealthy nobleman Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, one of the richest people in the Russian Empire. Pierre is best friends with Andrei Bolkonsky. Tolstoy based Pierre, more than any other War and Peace character, on himself.

Prince Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. He is the son of famed Russian general Nikolai Bolkonsky, who raises Andrei and his sister Maria Bolkonskaya on a remote estate. Andrei is best friends with Pierre Bezukhov.

Sofya Alexandrovna "Sonya" is a character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, and in Sergey Prokofiev's 1955 opera War and Peace and Dave Malloy's 2012 musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 based on it. She is the orphaned niece of Count and Countess Rostov. Although sometimes called Sonya Rostova, it is not clear if that is her surname or not; the novel does not say. Alexandrovna is a patronymic.

Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov is a character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace.

PrincessMariaNikolaevna Bolkonskaya is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Dobie</span> English actor

Alan Russell Dobie is an English stage, television and film actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hélène Kuragina</span> Fictional character

Princess Yelena "Hélène" Vasilyevna Kuragina is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace and its various cinematic adaptations. She is played by Anita Ekberg in the 1956 film, by Amber Gray in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and by Tuppence Middleton in the 2016 BBC miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatole Kuragin</span> Fictional character

Anatole Vasilyevich Kuragin is a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, its various cinematic adaptations, and an operatic adaptation as well.

War and Peace is a 2007 French-Italian miniseries directed by Robert Dornhelm. It was broadcast in Italy, Belgium (RTBF), in France and in Russia in four parts during October and November 2007. It was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace, which also is divided into four parts. The actors are of different nationalities.

Living Pictures - "War and Peace" is a Russian-language musical composed by Russian film music composer Alexey Rybnikov based upon the eponymous novel by Leo Tolstoy. The musical has yet to be produced. Scenes from the forthcoming musical were presented by the Alexey Rybnikov Theatre Company in the musical show Hallelujah of Love on the stage of the Moscow International House of Music in September 2012.

<i>Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812</i> Musical adaptation of Leo Tolstoys War and Peace

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is a sung-through musical adaptation of a 70-page segment from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace written by composer/lyricist Dave Malloy and directed by Rachel Chavkin. It is based on Part 8 of Tolstoy's novel, focusing on Natasha's affair with Anatole and Pierre's search for meaning in his life.

<i>War & Peace</i> (2016 TV series) 2016 British television serial

War & Peace is an historical drama television serial first broadcast on BBC One on 3 January 2016, produced by BBC Cymru Wales, in association with The Weinstein Company, Lookout Point and BBC Worldwide. It is a six-part adaptation of the 1869 novel War and Peace by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, written by Andrew Davies and directed by Tom Harper. War & Peace aired on A&E, Lifetime and History Channel in the United States as four two-hour episodes, beginning on 18 January 2016. The serial stars Paul Dano, Lily James and James Norton in the leading roles.

<i>War and Peace</i> characters order by appearance

Characters listed in order of first appearance. Historical figures are indicated by birth and death dates. This list contains spoilers for the source materials.

References

  1. ↑ "War and Peace 28 September 1972, History of the BBC". BBC.
  2. ↑ Gill Ducker Other Lives: Don Homfray, The Guardian, 23 March 2012
  3. ↑ Leggott, James; Taddeo, Julie (11 December 2014). Upstairs and Downstairs: British Costume Drama Television from The Forsyte Saga to Downton Abbey. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781442244832.
  4. ↑ Larsen, Darl (6 March 2015). A Book about the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail: All the References from African Swallows to Zoot. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781442245549.
  5. ↑ Giddings, Robert; Selby, Keith (14 February 2001). The Classic Serial on Television and Radio. Springer. ISBN   9780230596290.
  6. ↑ Cooke, Lez (9 April 2015). British Television Drama: A History. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781844578962.
  7. ↑ Menand, Louis (19 January 2016). "What Do We Love About "War and Peace"?" – via www.newyorker.com.
  8. ↑ James, Clive (13 February 2016). "Clive James: how did the BBC's War And Peace measure up?" – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. ↑ "War & Peace (1972)". DVD Talk.
  10. ↑ Kaufman, Andrew D. (10 February 2015). Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9781451644715.
  11. ↑ Monaco, James (13 November 2017). How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, and Multimedia : Language, History, Theory. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195038699.
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