Pierre Bezukhov

Voyna i mir III: 1812 god (1967)

Actors: Nikolay Grinko (actor), Sergey Nikonenko (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (writer), Vyacheslav Tikhonov (actor), Vladislav Strzhelchik (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (actor), Leo Tolstoy (writer), Sergey Bondarchuk (director), Irina Gubanova (actress), Georgiy Svetlani (actor), Pyotr Savin (actor), Giuli Chokhonelidze (actor), Antonina Shuranova (actress), Ivan Zhevago (actor), Boris Smirnov (actor),

Genres: Drama, History, War,

Voyna i mir IV: Pierre Bezukhov (1967)

Actors: Oleg Tabakov (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (actor), Vladislav Strzhelchik (actor), Georgiy Millyar (actor), Leo Tolstoy (writer), Irina Skobtseva (actress), Sergey Bondarchuk (writer), Vyacheslav Tikhonov (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (director), Daniil Netrebin (actor), Nikolai Rybnikov (actor), Irina Gubanova (actress), Lev Polyakov (actor), Anastasiya Vertinskaya (actress), Antonina Shuranova (actress),

Genres: Drama,

Voyna i mir (1966)

Actors: Nikolay Trofimov (actor), Vyacheslav Tikhonov (actor), Georgiy Millyar (actor), Aleksei Smirnov (actor), Oleg Tabakov (actor), Nikolay Smorchkov (actor), Nikita Mikhalkov (actor), Stanislav Chekan (actor), Sergey Nikonenko (actor), Nikolay Grinko (actor), Oleg Efremov (actor), Vladislav Strzhelchik (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (writer), Irina Skobtseva (actress),

Plot: Eight-hour epic based on the book of the same name by 'Leo Tolstoy' (qv). Two main story-lines are complex and intertwined. One is the love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov, who is unhappy in his marriage. Another is the "Great Patriotic War" of 1812 against the invading Napoleon's Armies. The people of Russia from all classes of society stand up united against the enemy. The 500,000 strong Napoleon's army moves through Russia and causes much destruction culminating in the battle of Borodino. The Russian army has to retreat. Moscow is occupied, looted and burned down, but soon Napoleon loses control and has to flee. Both sides suffer tremendous losses in the war, and Russian society is left irrevocably changed.

Keywords: 1810s, 19th-century, 70mm-film, admiration, amputation, aristocracy, ballerina, based-on-novel, battle, betrayal
Genres: Drama, History, Romance, War,

Quotes:

Narrator: On 12th June, 1812, the forces of western Europe crossed the frontiers of Russia and war began. In other words, an event took place that was contrary to all human reason and human nature.

[Prince Andrei is dying]::Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: Natasha... I love you too much. More than anything in the world.::Natasha Rostova: And I! But why too much?::Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: Why too much? Well, what do you think? What do you feel in your soul, deep in your soul? Shall I live? What do you think?::Natasha Rostova: I'm sure of it.::Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: How good that would be.

Narrator: And not for this day and hour alone were the mind and conscience of this man darkened, on whom the burden of events weighed more heavily than on all the others who took part in it. Never, to the end of his life, had he the least comprehension of goodness, of beauty or of truth, or of the significance of his actions, which were too contrary to goodness and truth, too remote from everything human for him ever to understand their meaning. He could not disavow his deeds, lauded as they were by half the world, and so he was obliged to renounce truth and goodness and all humanity.

[the Battle of Borodino drags on]::Narrator: Enough, enough, men. Stop, consider, what are you doing? Into the minds of tired and hungry men on both sides, a flicker of doubt began to creep. Were they to go on slaughtering one another? Kill whom you like, do what you like, but I've had enough. Yet some inexplicable, mysterious power continued to control them, and the terrible business went on, carried out not by the will of individual men.

Narrator: A moral victory which compels the enemy to recognize the moral superiority of his opponent and his own impotence was won by the Russians at Borodino. The direct consequence of the Battle of Borodino was Napoleon's flight from Moscow, the destruction of the invading army of 500,000 men, and the destruction of Napoleonic France, on which was laid for the first time, at Borodino, the hand of an opponent stronger in spirit!

Narrator: I want only to say that it is always the simplest ideas which lead to the greatest consequences. My idea, in its entirety, is that if vile people unite and constitute a force, then decent people are obliged to do likewise; just that.

Narrator: Thoughts that have important consequences are always simple.All my thinking could be summed up with these words: Since corrupt people unite among themselves to constitute a force,honest people must do the same.It's as simple as that.

Tushin: Uncertainty, that's what one fears most.

Narrator: According to a popular belief, the fewer people know about the suffering of a woman in labor the less is her suffering.

Prince Andrei Bolkonsky: How can you be sure what will do harm to another man?. Personally, I know of only two real evils in life: Remorse and sickness.And happiness is the absence of those two evils.

Voyna i mir II: Natasha Rostova (1966)

Actors: Irina Skobtseva (actress), Leo Tolstoy (writer), Oleg Tabakov (actor), Vyacheslav Tikhonov (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (writer), Sergey Bondarchuk (actor), Oleg Efremov (actor), Sergey Bondarchuk (director), Vasili Lanovoy (actor), Nonna Mordyukova (actress), Irina Gubanova (actress), Aleksandr Borisov (actor), Anastasiya Vertinskaya (actress), Antonina Shuranova (actress), Vasili Solovyov (writer),

Genres: Drama,

War and Peace (1956)

Actors: Vittorio Gassman (actor), Wilfrid Lawson (actor), Henry Fonda (actor), Charles Fawcett (actor), Sean Barrett (actor), Oskar Homolka (actor), Mel Ferrer (actor), Giuseppe Addobbati (actor), Vincent Barbi (actor), Mino Doro (actor), Geoffrey Copleston (actor), Tullio Carminati (actor), Guido Celano (actor), Richard McNamara (actor), Herbert Lom (actor),

Plot: By 1812, Napoleon's forces controlled much of Europe. Russia, one of the few countries still unconquered, prepares to face Napoleon's troops together with Austria. Among the Russian soldiers are Count Nicholas Rostov and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Count Pierre Bezukhov, a friend of Andrei's and self-styled intellectual who is not interested in fighting. Pierre's life changes when his father dies, leaving him a vast inheritance. He is attracted to Natasha Rostov, Nicholas's sister, but she is too young, so he gives in to baser desires and marries the shallow, manipulative Princess Helene. The marriage ends when Pierre discovers his wife's true nature. Andrei is captured and later released by the French, and returns home only to watch his wife die in childbirth. Months later, Pierre and Andrei meet again. Andrei sees Natasha and falls in love, but his father will only permit the marriage if they postpone it for one year until Natasha turns 17. While Andrei is away on a military mission, Natasha is drawn to Anatole Kuragin, a womanizer. Pierre saves Natasha by telling her of Anatole's past before she can elope with him. Napoleon invades Russia. Pierre visits Andrei on the eve of the battle, and observes the battle that follows. Traumatized by the carnage, he vows to kill Napoleon himself.

Keywords: 19th-century, alcoholic, army, artillery-fire, assassination, based-on-novel, battle, battlefield, bayonet, blockbuster
Genres: Drama, Romance, War,
Taglines: The Greatest Novel Ever Written ... Now Magnificently Alive On The Screen! "TOWERS OVER ALL MOVIE GREATS!"--New York Mirror (original print ad - mostly caps) "A TRULY GREAT PICTURE!"--Los Angeles Enquirer "A SPECTACULAR MOVIE!"--Life Magazine (Original print ad - many caps) "BRILLIANT!"--New York Times Three unforgettable love stories, told against the background of a world war. Three hours and twenty-eight minutes of incomparable entertainment...you'll wish there were more! "A SPECTACULAR MOVIE." -- Life (original print ad - mostly caps) WORLD'S GREATEST NOVEL NOW ON THE SCREEN! (original print ad - all caps) Conflicts, Loves, Passions, Drama, You Live Through a Supreme Experience as "War and Peace" Comes Alive On The Screen!

Quotes:

Pierre Bezukhov: [opens the bedroom drapes, while his spoiled wife sleeps on] Come on, Helene! We've got lots to do if we want to leave for the country.::Helene Kuragina: [very sleepy] Oh Pierre, it's so early! [he kisses her, and she gets a crafty look on her face] Besides, it's so boring in the country.::Pierre Bezukhov: [Seriously] I'm sorry, my dear, but I promised those peasants I'd come and see them. They need a new hospital, and a new school, and many other things besides.::Helene Kuragina: [very spoiled] Well they can starve just as well without a school, and they can die just as well without a hospital! [catches herself, changes her tune] Pierre, why don't you go on without me? You can do what you have to do, and I'll come visit you in a few months time. [Slyly] You'll appreciate me so much more after a few months of sleeping alone.

Natasha Rostov: When I finally say I love you to any man and really mean it, it will be like a defeated general who's lost all his troops, surrendering and handing his sword to the enemy.

Natasha Rostov: Did you notice he almost never smiles? While I was singing, I turned around suddenly and caught him looking at me and he was smiling then. And I felt - but it's almost impossible to describe - I felt as if someone had given me the most enormous, beautiful present.

Natasha Rostov: Nicholas.::Nicholas Rostov: Yes?::Natasha Rostov: The expression on my face.::Nicholas Rostov: What about it?::Natasha Rostov: Do I look disdainful?::Nicholas Rostov: No!::Natasha Rostov: You're impossible! I'm sure I look disdainful.::Nicholas Rostov: Well, what do you want to look disdainful for?::Natasha Rostov: Well, I thought if I looked bored and disdainful nobody would notice that this is the first ball I've ever been to... How's this? Better?::Nicholas Rostov: Oh, that's much better.::Natasha Rostov: Good.

Natasha Rostov: Nicholas.::Nicholas Rostov: What now?::Natasha Rostov: Is everybody looking at me?::Nicholas Rostov: Well, can't you see for yourself?::Natasha Rostov: Not without changing the expression on my face.::Nicholas Rostov: Natasha, you know, there's one awful thing about you.::Natasha Rostov: Tell it to me! Tell me the whole truth.::Nicholas Rostov: No girl I'll ever meet will ever be able to amuse me as much as you do.::Natasha Rostov: Shh... Don't talk like that.

Pierre Bezukhov: I have sinned, Lord, but I have several excellent excuses.

Pierre Bezukhov: You can't hate something you've never known or understood.

Gen. Kutuzov: The only important battle is the last.

Platon Karatsev: [explaining why a boy was executed] Where there's law, there's injustice. [to his dog] C'mon, boy, get up, get up! [to Pierre] But the maggot eats the cabbage - yet dies first.::Pierre Bezukhov: What did you say?::Platon Karatsev: I say things happen not as we plan them but as God judges.

Pierre Bezukhov: There are only two things in life that are really wrong: remorse and illness. When I've recovered from them both, I'll go out in the world again.