War and Peace - 1956

I didn't make it through the book, but I did watch the epic series from 1966-1967. I was looking through my unwatched DVDs, and I have a couple of multi-set collections to get through. One of them is Audrey Hepburn, and I didn't realize she was in a version of this story.

Again, this story covers a lot of ground, but this particular movie focuses more on the characters of Natasha, Andrei and Pierre. The battle scenes were okay, but the scope was a bit smaller than the epic series (obviously). There were still some cringey moments when some of the horses fell, and later when the French were marching through the Russian winter, but it wasn't too bad.

Natasha wasn't near as irritating, but she still had her moments. Maybe it had something to do with it being Audrey. She always seems to bring such a light to every role she plays. Even when I've seen her in a black and white film, she just lights up the screen.

Pierre was a bit off in this one. He seemed a bit old, but I waited to look up anything until the film was over. I didn't think he was supposed to be older, and I was right. I'm not sure why they decided to use Henry Fonda (whom I normally enjoy as an actor), who was 50ish at the time of filming. Pierre is supposed to be 20-27 during the entire story. It was just a bit weird, and I didn't like the relationship between him and Natasha. Andrei was a cool character, and I was sad to see him die.

Overall, I did like this film. It was cool to see Herbert Lom (Pink Panther) in this. He's always a cool actor to watch. I'm going to have to give the battle scenes to the series and the characters to this movie. I realize the depth isn't present in this version, but sacrifices had to be made. Good Movie!