Customer Reviews

Waterloo [Region 2]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Waterloo, directed by Sergei Bondarchuk is a spectacular depiction of the Battle of Waterloo and the immediate events leading up to it. Rod Steiger plays Napoleon and gives an intense performance and a vivid insight into the personality of this dictator. Wellington is played by Christopher Plumber who likewise, gives of his best in portraying this brilliant commander. The movie weaves an intriguing story, playing off Wellington's arrogance towards his rank and file against his skill in strategy and tactics. The other main actors, Orson Wells, Jack Hawkins and Dan O'Herlihy all give fantastic performances. The movie has been criticised for its glorification of war. With very little blood seen in the movie despite a plethora of death and destruction, it's a correct observation, but I don't think you will be watching this movie if you are at all concerned with the rights and wrongs of war. This movie deals with a period of warfare, which was colorful and fought with massive armies. This has captured the imagination of military and historical buffs despite it's relatively short period. The movie Waterloo has suceeded admirably in conveying this granduer. Let me say at this point, that this movie is huge in scale and panorama. The battle scenes of which there are many, are pure eye candy. No CGI here folks. This is massive, classic movie making in its prime, and we won't see films made like this again. Battlefields are littered with casts of thousands. The costumes (uniforms) are excellent and one wonders at how long it took to sew these all together. I understand many of the cast were supplied by the Polish army. Watching the movie, you are left in no doubt that the majority of rank and file cast are real soldiers. To co-ordinate that many extras without military training would have been near impossible. The cavalry charges are simply stunning and you can't help wondering how many horses were injured in the making of this movie, let alone actors. The aerial view of the massed French cavalry charge against the British squares, towards the conclusion of the battle, truly lets you understand the scale of this production. This is an utterly unmissable scene in the history of war movies. There are many other scenes from the movie which truly capture the imagination. For example, Napoleons reunion with his devoted troops after his exile, is tense and dramatic, while set in an insignificant part of the French countryside. Adding to the quality of the movie, most of the lines spoken are actual quotes from the historical figures themselves. I am fortunate to own the DVD version of the movie, and while it doesn't have many special features I would recommend the DVD version version over VHS if you can find a copy, as this movie is one you will want in your collection for a very long time. I loved this movie from beginning to end. It won't be to everyones taste, but is an essential purchase for military and history buffs, and especially those who like movies made in the "good old way". Outstanding.

When this movie was released in 1970 it was said to have contained a lot more footage. I have heard rumors that a 3 hr version exists somewhere. This would make more sense as the scenes with the Prussians appear disjointed, and even the Quarte Bras scene seems out of context. The movie had to be reduced in length for cinema release, but the result has provided only an inperfect picture of the Waterloo drama and all its complexities. A DVD release would hopefully correct some of this problem by allowing more footage, perhaps cleaning up the film itself, and add some much needed background information and production notes. It would be interesting to see where the film was shot, what army was used for extras, and also what Rod Steiger and Chrisopher Plummer thought of their roles in the film. All of this would add greatly to what is already an epic work.

Not-withstanding these short-comings, what we have is still an impressive work. Few period movies have gone to such lengths to provide accuracy. The uniforms are all correct, although the British are shown as the main elements in Wellington's army. It would have been nice to see a bit more blue and green coats in the shots of Wellington's troops on the ridge as this would have shown the significant Dutch-Belgian contingents that made up his army as well.

The casting of Plummer and Stieger also was good. Stieger supposedly said this was one of his favorite roles. Some have critisized his performance of Napolean in the movie, but Stieger seems content to have portrayed a Napolean unsure of himself and in earnest. This is not an unreasonable portrayal to make, and if the viewer can divorce the actor from the historical personage some sense can be made here. This was Napolean's last campaign, and no doubt he felt some uncertainty when he embarked upon it, as the odds were heavily against him. His health was also not what it use to be.

Christopher's Plummer's Wellington is supurb. Here critics can find little that is wrong. He has the Iron Duke's personality down perfectly. The acid wit and cool detached demeanor concealing a real concern for the state of his army and the position it is in to face the great Napolean. Plummer uses Wellington quotes from all over the place, many from while the Duke was in Spain, and not from Waterloo, but it still works anyway.

Viwers who are not familer with the history may find it difficult to follow the movie, especially since the editing makes it even more confusing at times. Without some historical background the movie may just come across as a series of massive, confused battle scenes, which does injustice to the epic events which it is attempting to show. I would recommend reading any books on the Waterloo campaign in order to get the most out of it. For sheer scope and size, few movies can compare, and the viewer is in for a feast of the eye with this one. With those massive battle scenes the viewer should consider also that these were real extras, not computer CGI images! For a period war movie this is the best, for all its faults. Waterloo cries out for a DVD director's edition. Let's hope it happens some day.

PS - There is a recent Chinese-English version out on DVD. This version runs about the same amount of time but includes a few extra minutes of battle scenes. A few scenes at Hougamont, and some also with Napolean marching with the Guard before the final assault, as well as when the Guard breaks and panic ensues. The credits also list teh Soviet Army as well as the 1st battalion, The Gordon Highlanders. Their Drums and Pipes and regimental dancers are featured in the film. Its not much, and there are no extra features, but those who want a Region 1 edition of the DVD might want to consider it. Its unfortunate that the Chinese should produce something like this instead of the studio itself! Will still need a collectors edition.

Waterloo is probably the best "battle" film ever made, depicting the famous clash of Napoleon versus Wellington in June 1815. Although there are quirks and omissions in this film, overall it does a magnificent job of encapsulating the pathos of Napoleon's Hundred Days. Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington are both very convincing in their roles, and the director's use of "inner thought" to hear what these two are thinking at key moments is very interesting.

The film covers the Hundred Days, from Napoleon's return from Elba to his defeat at Waterloo, with some attention given to the events preceding the final battle. Unfortunately, the Battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny just prior to Waterloo are given scant attention, and the Prussian role is minimized. The presence of Dutch, Belgian, Brunswick and King's German Legion troops in Wellington's force, as well as the role of the Prince of Orange, are ignored. Although Ney and Picton are major characters, the primary focus is on Napoleon and Wellington. In the battle itself, the opening attack on Hougomont (led by Napoleon's brother Jerome, who is not shown in the film) and Napoleon's basic tactics are covered fairly well. However, D'Erlon's main attack and the impromptu British cavalry attack is muddled and confused. The desperate defense of the La Haye Saint farmhouse is only briefly shown, which further muddies the depiction of the battle. On the other hand, the director spares no effort in depicting the massed French cavalry attacks and the British infantry squares that defied them. The final assault by the Imperial Guard and the arrival of the French flows rather quickly, without depicting the desperate actions by the Young Guard to hold off Blucher.

There are very few films that cover an entire battle because it is actually a very difficult task. Waterloo does not cover every key event or participant, but it does convey the flavor of this famous battle. Viewers should appreciate the effort and forgive the omissions.

Widescreen DVD please! This is definitely one of the best epic war movies ever filmed with sweping battle scenes and cast of thousands. It goes into great realistic details about the strategy for such an important battle. The cinematography, the acting, the costume and the score is absolutely fantastic. Why it is still not available in widescreen DVD is beyond me. I am sure this DVD will be snapped up like hotcakes. Many people missed it during its theatrical release. Waterloo would go down in the annals of film making as one of the best epic battle movies of all times.

I first saw "Waterloo" on television back when I was a kid growing up in the mid 70's. Ever since that first viewing, I was forever fascinated by what I remembered seeing.

Finally - after a long search to locate this OOP movie - I found a copy several years ago on VHS from a "movie archive house" on the west coast. Recently, I purchased a duped DVD on eBay, as the only region it is available on at this time is region 2 and PAL.

This is one fo the best historical war epics of all time. Plummer and Stieger are superb in their roles as Wellington and Napolean, respectively... and, the aerial shots of the British squares under attack by French cavalry, alone, earn this movie 5 stars from me.

What I detect, unfortunately, from the edited version (which is the only version I know of available on any format right now) is, well... that it has been edited!!!

There are far too many choppy transitions between scenes, and their are characters and sub-plots that seem tossed into the mix without any apparent reason. I have to believe that there was more time devoted to such major scenarios as the fighting in and around Hougoumont...... I have to believe that there IS a scene - somewhere - showing the circumstances of why Wellington sent his best troops to the complex, and the importance surrounding this sector of the battle. How can the story of the battle for Hougoumont be complete without the closing of the North Gate by the heroic band of Coldstream Guards? In the edited version, we are only shown teasing glimpses - in a fast-forwarded timeline - of fighting in and around the farm complex that was such a vital part of the battlefield. La Haiye Sainte is also breezed over in the edited version.

What we get with the edited version is a movie consisting of some of the grandest and breath-taking battle scenes. But the FILM - as presented at this time - is disjointed and incomplete as a whole. "Gettysburg" is a long movie (could hjave been longer, still!).... "Waterloo" needs the same running time to be a complete film.

What is called for - and it is high time we see it happen - is the un-edited, original "Director's cut" version on DVD. But not only on DVD - region 1 DVD!

I'd like to supplement the other reviews. Waterloo did indeed screen in a 3-plus hour version which I attended in college circa 1972. In that edition, I would rate it 5 stars, for it did have the historical accuracy and timeline of 'The Longest Day' and the sweep and drama of such great period films as 'Ben-Hur' or 'Gone With The Wind'. But without all the personal subplots, the action was more intense and that helped this viewer stay focused. I was pretty-much blown away, so I did some homework.

This film is extraordinary for both it's scope and the high level of authentic detail. The uniforms, weapons and accoutrements are very accurate, and the battlefield tactics reflect great study on the part of the set decorators and stunt coordinators. From the individual line soldier with his flint musket to the massed artillery barrages and calvary charges, the period 'manuals of arms' were followed [rules for troop deployment; use and operation of weapons] in more detail for this era that has been committed to film before.

In contrast, each combat scene was reconstructed not from the combatant's surviving journals, but from art works made AFTER the battle and when the action periodically 'freezes' on-screen for a few seconds, each freeze is in fact a tableaux of a famous painting, many of which are on view at the Lourve or the Hermitage.

Someone said read your history for a fuller understanding? Okay, but try looking up the paintings and then re-view the film with those images in mind. Many master's art works are capured in hue and composition when the action freezes as perfectly as the arms and tactics. The effect is to make it seem as if the art was purloined from filmed news coverage somehow. I was blown away all over again!

Every film is a Hollywood magic show [or the eastern equivalent in this case]. But the inclusion of so much historical fine art is one of the best smoke and mirrors tricks ever put to film; shrewd, subtle, and a reminder that art imitates art itself as much is it imitates life.

The VHS version wouldn't fit on one tape if it contained the whole film. It was butchered by editors unfamiliar with the historical timeline, the weapons and tactics, or the art! I can hardly give it two stars in this edition.

So give us a region-1 DVD and please! Make it the director's movie, not some truncated and confused mass of sound and fury.

"Waterloo" and "Star Wars" (the original movie) vy for top place in my heart as favorite movie of all time. Needless to say, I LOVE this film!
The battle scene is tremendous. It is a display of colour and cinematography the like of which you will never see again! With all this computer generated stuff, massed battle scenes become easy to manufacture but believe me, NONE of them can match what you see here because it was all done with real people. The expense for the extras and uniforms that must have been spent will leave you in awe!
OK, enough of the battle scene - that and the authenticity of the battle has been covered expertly by another reviewer. Something has to be said about the acting, however - excellent by all who were in it. Steiger plays a believeble Napoleon who is starting to doubt his own military prowess, and Wellington plays a marvellous English aristocrat.
Before the battle scene, all is not just military talk, but there is a hint of love stories between a few of the characters that almost seem out of place. Although they are woven into the story well, a friend explained to me that "Waterloo" is merely an edited version of a much longer mini-series type of thing that was originally produced in Russia! That explains the extras en masse, and the fact that some of the charaters seem to be dubbed. That's 'cause they are! It also explains why, as another reviewer pointed out, that some of the characters seem underdeveloped. When I first heard this, it left me feeling kind of cheated, especially as that might have meant that some of the battle scene was missed out too.
Something has to be said about the odd avoidable errors that exist within the film. Some of them you may only spot if you are a true aficionado, and if you have seen the film more than 50 times, as I am sure I have. The ballroom scene - someone thought it would be really nice to have the soldiers in dress uniform doing a waltz with the ladies in beautiful white, flowing dresses. The colourful spectacle was wonderful, as was the music (called the "Waterloo Waltz" just in case you don't have the soundtrack, and used in "War and Peace", too), but OOPS! Didn't anyone mention that the waltz was not invented until the END of the 19th century? Another obvious anachronism is one scene in the battle with a telegraph pole that I am told is there, but have yet to find myself.
There is one really annoying part of the battle scene that I have to mention. When the French heavy cavalry charge at the British squares, the action is also filmes from the air, so that you are looking directly down on the battle. The cavalry charge in from the top of the scene, but why are there puffs of rifle smoke coming from all the squares on ALL the sides of each square. There is nothing there to shoot at, so it looks as though the squares are firing at each other. ... See "Waterloo" and be truly amazed! Enjoy!

No extras, no audio choices, just the movie. BUT, it is available on DVD again, finally, and unlike the old VHS which I have suffered with for years, it is letterboxed, and all mine to enjoy in it's entirety. If you love a good historical re-creation of a huge event, this re-staging of the battle of Waterloo is magnificent. I would compare it to Gettysburg, although only the central action is re-created here, with two of the side actions only alluded to, but I do think this is the best we will ever have on the subject. Buy it now before it disappears again!

Why Hollywood studios would not remaster and market this movie is beyond my understanding, considering that they are chucking out DVDs of B-movies and other junky movies from years past as fast as they can.

This is no CGI like 'Troy' and such, this is literally cast of thousands, if only Russian soldiers as extras, the only other country that could actually brag of using real extras in this number is China right now, where movies could still be made with such large number of extras... even then, they still use CGI to suppliment the scenes.

As to the film, it is sad that it could only be view in its original, aged condition and only available from DVD produced overseas either in England or Hong Kong; yet, Hollywood's lost is our gain, for now, because we could get the movie relatively cheap online here.

For such an epic movie, it is relatively fast paced. I could not but feel overwhelmed during the battle scenes. All I could say is... Wow!!!

Once again, viewing this movie, it makes me wondered, once again, whether Napoleon should be seen as a villian or a great man... or a little of both. Undeniably, he was one of the greatest leader whom could command such loyalty from his army- and respects from his enemies!

Bravo to the movie! It should be added to anyone's collection! Enjoy!

.....that shot of the French Cavalry charge on the British Squares and the draw back helicopter shot. Worth it just for that. The recreation of the disastrous cavalry charge of the Scots Grey's was clearly based on the famous lithograph print and PERFECTLY captures the piece but in full living and blood curdling motion.

I can never decide about Christopher Plummer's interpretation of Wellington. A little too Christopher Plummer and missing the depth that Rod Steiger brings to his rather wonderful Napoleon.

The movie is a distillation of the key points of the rather longer and more complicated battle but seems reasonably accurate in the parts it does portray when compared to historical accounts.

Someone else asked - where did they get the extras? Believe it or not - The Red Army! Yep - in 1970!!

I saw the full three hours in the cinema in 1970 and am still blown away by the odd TV cut down and extracts.

Time to go to Amazon.co.uk and get a Region 2 DVD and hack my computer DVD drive again! :-)

It is just too good to wait for here in the USA.