Waterloo **** (1970, Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles) – Classic Movie Review 10,367

Director Sergei Bondarchuk’s 1970 Italian-Russian co-produced historical epic Waterloo showcases fine acting from Rod Steiger as escaped Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Plummer as British general Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. The two meet at Waterloo.

Bondarchuk’s film of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 is an incredibly lavish production, made on a huge budget of $25,000,000, with amazingly spectacular action sequences, glorious Technicolor widescreen cinematography and marvellous costume and production designs, though the narrative drive of the story is somewhat muddled in the 134 minute international version cut by nearly half from the four-hour Russian original.

Also in the star cast are Orson Welles as Louis XVIII, Jack Hawkins, Virginia McKenna, Dan O’Herlihy, Rupert Davies, Ian Ogilvy and Michael Wilding.

H A L Craig writes the story and screenplay.

It is made by Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica and Mosfilm, and released by Columbia Pictures Corporation (1970) (UK) and Paramount Pictures (1971) (US).

It won two BAFTA Film Awards – for Best Art Direction (Mario Garbuglia) and Best Costume Design (Maria De Matteis), and was nominated for Best Cinematography (Armando Nannuzzi).

It was a very interesting time for Italian films. It won Best Film at the David di Donatello Awards, tied with The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) and The Conformist (1970).

Waterloo is directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, runs 134 minutes, is made by Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica and Mosfilm, and released by Columbia Pictures Corporation (1970) (UK) and Paramount Pictures (1971) (US), is written by H A L Craig (story and screenplay), Sergei Bondarchuk (screenplay collaboration) and Vittorio Bonicelli (screenplay collaboration), is shot in Technicolor and Panavision widescreen by Armando Nannuzzi, is produced by Dino De Laurentiis, is scored by Nino Rota and is designed by Mario Garbuglia.

The US version is cut to 123 minutes.

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