MovieChat Forums > Voyna i mir (1968) Discussion > 4 disc special edition director's cut (5...

4 disc special edition director's cut (507 min)

posted 21 years ago by gamerudy
14 replies | jump to latest

The 3 disc set has recently been released on DVD. Does anyone know anything about the 4 disc director's cut being released (rumoured) in July 2003?

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] teaber 20 years ago

I have just watched the 5-disc edition of this movie from www.ruscico.com.
What a wonderful edition. The sound options are Russian, English, French in Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in 14 languages. The first 4 discs contain the film plus bonus materials and the 5th is a bonus disc containing "Making the film", documentaries about Leo Tolstoy and the director S. Bondarchuk and interviews. Highly recommended.
Sincerely, Terje

[–] aspalex 20 years ago

There is no such thing as 507 minutes director's cut in existence. Since all materials not used in the Russian release version including outtakes, answer prints, clothing, props and jewellery have been scrapped or stolen years ago. What's more, Mosfilm Studios and Russian state archives don't even have in their possession the original negative. It was sent to Kiev, Ukraine in early 90's for restoration work, since the only lab in the former USSR that could deal with 70 mm film was located there. Then came disintegration of USSR, and the work was abandoned. The remaining 70mm machinery was sold to France in 1998, and was used to restore Jacques Tati's original 70mm version of "Playtime".
The original negative of "War and Peace" is still stored somewhere in Ukraine, its condition unknown, but it is probably slowly fading away and disintegrating. So far all attempts to bring it back to Moscow were unsuccesseful, and it seems that now the situation could only be resolved on the highest Russian/Ukrainin level.
The version of the film presented on RUSCICO DVD release was mastered from surviving 35mm Mosfilm print which was far from pristine condition and suffered from slight vinegar syndrome. On professional video monitor you can see scratches and dirth in all their glory. Fortunately the 6-channel sound tracks was still in Moscow, and new Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix was prepared from it.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] tsanev 19 years ago

Well, that will be a very wishful thinking for 99% of the average Joe and Mary in the USA.
This book is going to be impossible task for them, even though it is one of the greatest book in history of mankind and a “must read” for every person calling himself half intelligent.
The film is marvelous /Academy award for foreign film in 69/ and close to the book anyone could make.
It was directed with a big Russian heart, only Bondarchuk could do /see some of his other masterpiece like “Sudba cheloveka” or “Povest o nastoyashchem cheloveke”/
I could recommend to the first poster from Sidney to READ the book…!
Then he could realize that the American version of “War and Peace” is so far away from truth as if the Russians try to do a movie about the Civil War in the States.
I am not a Russian, though I read the book in Russian when I was 14, and I am thankful to my mother pushing me to do it.

Yes, you who read those lines, READ the book, it will open your mind, and it will make you more knowledgeable about the Russian soul, which is big as the fields of Siberia, knowledgeable of an important period of European history.

[–] preppy-3 19 years ago

I agree--you usually should read the book BUT I've tried three times to read this. The length doesn't bother me (I've read "Gone With the Wind", "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" multiple times) but the names were torture. Every character has about three or four names which are used seemingly at random throughout the book. I actually tried to keep a little list at the back of the book but even THAT didn't help. I agree--it was a great book (what I read of it) but all the names totally lost me.

[–] Gordon-M 19 years ago

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/dc0be3500822cf60802566c8004decd1?OpenDocument

46,000 feet equals 511 minutes and 11 seconds. The film was shown in two parts. So that version was 108 minutes longer than the 35mm reduction print that was used for the 5-disc DVD edition. The original 65mm camera negative is probably longer than this, but there were could have been more than one intermission on the 511 version. Four intermissions amounting to 108 minutes seems excessive, though.

All of this could simply be down to a typing error or miscount.

Pulverizing film. There is no other like it. Bondarchuk's, Destiny of a Man is more personal and intimate, but is also a landmark in Russian Cinema.

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent." - Ludwig Wittgenstein

[–] mac_alain 19 years ago

...but is also a landmark in Russian Cinema.

Even a landmark in (world) cinema, no? A film such as this could just not be made today.

Takes your breath away...

10/10, of course

[–] aspalex 18 years ago

The film lenght listed on BBFC site probably references 70mm prints. It does not specify what kind of print was submitted for review.

In any case 70mm print would be longer than 35mm print by about 25 percen, and so the difference counts for 108 "missing" minutes

[–] MathewM-2 18 years ago

A 507 min. 70mm print was apparently shown at the American Cinematheque in L.A. back in 1999.

From their website:

Sunday, November 21, 1999

The Sunday, November 21st program begins at 12:00 Noon with a Mega-Rare All-Day Screening of the Oscar-Winning Soviet Epic, WAR AND PEACE (1968, 507 min.), featuring Ludmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tihonov and Hira Ivanov-Golovko. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, director (and actor) Sergei Bondarchuk’s majestic, heartstopping version of the Tolstoy novel is one of the most powerful and indelible experiences in film, from its awesome, windswept battle scenes to its tragic portraits of 19th century Russian nobility. Rarely shown because of its 8-hour plus running time, WAR AND PEACE is screened here in its entirety, in a once-in-a-decade event!! (The film will be screened in 5 parts, with an intermission between each.)

[–] OzTovarishch 18 years ago

Sorry to ask a really basic question, but why would a 70mm print be 25 per cent longer than the 35mm? That seems a lot. Does that mean it would run that much slower? Surely that would be very noticeable, wouldn't it?

[–] aspalex 18 years ago

Simply because 70mm frame has 5 perforations as opposed to 4 perforations of 35mm film. Or 19mm frame height (35mm)as opposed to 22.65mm frame height (70mm). So the print would be longer, but not the running time.

[–] OzTovarishch 18 years ago

I see ... so it's not really 108 missing minutes at all then? Then how is it that it is still promoted as 507 minutes, when that's not it's actual running time? Could they be adding in time for intervals, or something of that ilk?

[–] aspalex 18 years ago

Because nobody bothers to check the actual numbers. It is so easy to look at one of the databases and just copy/paste.