Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk had already shown his ideal credentials for this with his monumental 'War and Peace'. Indeed even in his first film, the excellent 'Fate of a Man', he had shown his sense of the visual, sweeping camerawork, skill with actors and I would have to say, a tendency to 'overcook' it.
He has here the services of maestro Nino Rota as composer and behind the camera one of Italy's finest, Armando Nannuzzi who has, in the battle sequences, given us the look of the paintings of Gros and Vernet.
Strong performance from Dan 0'Herlihy as Marshal Ney. Michael Wilding and Terence Alexander epitomise British sang-froid. Orson Welles appears briefly as Louis the Eighteenth and proves there are no small parts, only small actors. Christopher Plummer is stupendous and gives one of his best performances as Wellington. Rod Steiger is rather uneven as Napoleon but has moments of brilliance. He is one of a long line of actors to play the part but brings a psychological depth to the role that they have not. He too has a tendency to 'overcook' it but that is Steiger, take him or leave him.
As for Napoleon himself he was a product of the French revolution which in my opinion represents a peak of human insanity.
When Beethoven heard that the First Consul had declared himself Emperor he prophesied with remarkable prescience that he would become a tyrant. This is not as great a film as it should have been but is certainly a very good one which nonetheless was unable to recoup its cost. Typically producer Dino de Laurentiis attributed the film's commercial failure to its lack of stars!
He has here the services of maestro Nino Rota as composer and behind the camera one of Italy's finest, Armando Nannuzzi who has, in the battle sequences, given us the look of the paintings of Gros and Vernet.
Strong performance from Dan 0'Herlihy as Marshal Ney. Michael Wilding and Terence Alexander epitomise British sang-froid. Orson Welles appears briefly as Louis the Eighteenth and proves there are no small parts, only small actors. Christopher Plummer is stupendous and gives one of his best performances as Wellington. Rod Steiger is rather uneven as Napoleon but has moments of brilliance. He is one of a long line of actors to play the part but brings a psychological depth to the role that they have not. He too has a tendency to 'overcook' it but that is Steiger, take him or leave him.
As for Napoleon himself he was a product of the French revolution which in my opinion represents a peak of human insanity.
When Beethoven heard that the First Consul had declared himself Emperor he prophesied with remarkable prescience that he would become a tyrant. This is not as great a film as it should have been but is certainly a very good one which nonetheless was unable to recoup its cost. Typically producer Dino de Laurentiis attributed the film's commercial failure to its lack of stars!