A star-studded historical record of the events surrounding the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where Napoleon made his last desperate bid for ultimate power and glory. Read more
| Starring | Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins |
|---|---|
| Director | Sergei Bondarchuk |
| Genres | Drama |
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A star-studded historical record of the events surrounding the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where Napoleon made his last desperate bid for ultimate power and glory.
| Starring | Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins, Virginia McKenna, Ian Ogilvy, Dan O'Herlihy, Rupert Davies, Michael Wilding |
|---|---|
| Director | Sergei Bondarchuk |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENT. UK |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 8 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 18 Apr 2005 Production year: 1970 |
| Format | DVD |
Rod Steiger gives a magnificent performance as Napoleon — all hot rages and cool calculation as he heads for his destiny in Belgium — in this epic history lesson from Ukrainian director Sergei Bondarchuk. Steiger even manages to upstage the thousands of Soviet soldiers recruited as extras for the battle scenes, yet he's nearly outshone by Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington, whose arrogance shows his contempt for lower-class cannon-fodder. Bondarchuk filmed in Italy and the Ukraine, and the result is a mightily credible reconstruction of events that changed the course of western history. It's the two major performances, though, that lift it out of the textbooks and give it humanity.
The battle forms the last hour of this historical charade, and looks both exciting and splendid, though confusion is not avoided. The rest is a mixed blessing.
Waterloo, as the title suggests, retells the famous last battle of Napolean against Wellington. Having been exiled, and returned and gathered an army of his devoit french followers Napolean was able to fight a final campaign, that should he have won would very likely have seen him emperor of Europe.
Though the film harks bark from nearly 30 years ago the performances are still fresh. The battle scenes may not have all the shocking and stark brutality of recent releases but the overall battles with hundreds of men, horses and artillery are no less stunning.
On the whole if you are into your war movies then you can't feel to appreciate the magnificent splendour, the magestic ways in which gentlemen do battle, and the stunning bravery in which men meet their impending doom that is encapsulated by the marvelous gem.
An old film but very good battle scenes. A slow start but the battles are worth waiting for.
Pierce Brosnan has said he enjoyed starring in the new Abba film musical Mamma Mia as it was such a departure from what he is known for. The 55-year-old stars alongside Colin Firth and Meryl Streep in the movie, which sees them take part in performances of Abba Classics such as Waterloo and SOS. "All of us put our neck out on the line for this," he told BBC Breakfast. "That was what was so much fun about it." Having made his name in four of the James bond film, the actor... Read more
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