Out of Stock

War and Peace (DVD) Criterion

$69.95

At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet film industry set out to prove it could outdo Hollywood with a production that would dazzle the world: a titanic, awe-inspiring adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic tome in which the fates of three souls—the blundering, good-hearted Pierre; the heroically tragic Prince Andrei; and the radiant, tempestuous Natasha—collide amid the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars. Employing a cast of thousands and an array of innovative camera techniques, director Sergei Bondarchuk conjures a sweeping vision of grand balls that glitter with rococo beauty and breathtaking battles that overwhelm with their expressionistic power. As a statement of Soviet cinema’s might, War and Peace succeeded wildly, garnering the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and setting a new standard for epic moviemaking.

Out of stock

Special Features

New 2K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interviews with cinematographer Anatoly Petritsky and filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk, son of director Sergei Bondarchuk
Two documentaries, from 1966 and 1969, about the making of the film
Television program from 1967 on actor Ludmila Savelyeva, featuring Sergei Bondarchuk
New program with historian Denise J. Youngblood (Bondarchuk’s “War and Peace”: Literary Classic to Soviet Cinematic Epic) detailing the cultural and historical contexts for the film
Janus Films rerelease trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by critic Ella Taylor

Format

DVD

Label

Criterion