War and Peace

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Humphrey Burton directs. Steve Eveleigh cuts. A long sit — settle in. Dialogue in Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1At 249 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.
• 235 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Editor Steve Eveleigh shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Sergei Alexashkin and Gennady Bezzubenkov and Irina Bogachova carry the top of the cast.
• 5Marketing tagline: "Live from the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg".
• 6IMDB entry: tt0371388 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 7Only 1 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Editing

Steve Eveleigh

Costume design

Timothy O'Brien

Runtime

249 min · 4h 9m

Status

Released

Original language

RU

IMDB

War and Peace (1991) ↗

Also by

Humphrey Burton

• 
  Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6

  1976 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 3

  1973 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 9 & 10 / Das Lied von der Erde

  2005 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Bernstein in Vienna: Beethoven, The Ninth Symphony

  1970 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms Symphony No's 1 & 2

  1977 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Candide

  1988 · ★ 9.0

Production companies

Who made it

• KU

  Kultur

• 

  BBC TV

  GB

• RM

  RM Arts

  GB

Key crew

• BookLeo Tolstoy
• MusicSergei Prokofiev
• LyricistSergei Prokofiev
• LyricistMira Mendelson-Prokofieva
• Stage DirectorGraham Vick
• EditorSteve Eveleigh
• Production ManagerSergei Beck
• ConductorValery Gergiev
• Costume DesignTimothy O'Brien
• Set DesignerTimothy O'Brien
• Lighting Designthomas webster

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• great patriotic war

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1991-01-01