Years & Movies: 1965

According to FilmGourmand, Sergei Bondarchuk's epic "War and Peace" was recognized as the best film of the world cinema of 1965.

Strictly speaking, in various publications and on various sites you can find different years of this film's release. And they all will be partly true. Since 4 episodes of this epic came out during 1965-1967. But since the premiere of the first episode of the epic - "Andrei Bolkonsky" - took place at the Moscow International Film Festival in July 1965, we decided to consider the 65th year of this film to be released. So, in these July days, we can safely celebrate the 55th anniversary of one of the greatest works of Soviet cinema.

Hollywood played a certain role in the appearance of this film. The fact is that in 1956 the American filmmaker King Vidor filmed his version of Leo Tolstoy's novel with the incomparable Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova. The film was screened all over the world with great success. And even in the USSR in 1959 it gathered more than 31 million moviegoers at the screens. And in 1961, after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, after Nikita Khrushchev announced at the XXII Congress of the CPSU that communism would be built by 1980, the cinematic leadership decided that it was useless to lag behind from the Americans. That following the slogan proclaimed by Khrushchev "Let's catch up and overtake America", a film should be made that surpasses the American version in all respects. Moreover, in 1962, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino and the victory over Napoleon should have been celebrated.

The decision was made, but it was smart enough to understand that it would not be possible to make a film that would surpass the American version by the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino. It's still not communism to build in 20 years. Therefore, Eldar Ryazanov was entrusted to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, and he brilliantly coped with this task, having shot the magnificent "Hussar Ballad". And it was decided to make the film adaptation of the great novel by Leo Tolstoy as seriously as possible. And first of all - decide on the "motor", i.e. director of the future film.

One of the pillars of Soviet cinema and one of the founders of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, Ivan Alexandrovich Pyryev, seriously claimed the role of the director of the future film. By the beginning of the 60s, Pyriev had 16 films on his account. Most of this filmography was dedicated to the glorification of the wisdom of Stalin's rule. Suffice it to recall the film "Kuban Cossacks", which surprised even Stalin himself with its depiction of the brilliant achievements of socialist agriculture. Naturally, Pyriev's loyal, if not to say servile, creativity was duly rewarded: he was awarded six Stalin prizes, three Orders of Lenin and a bunch of other regalia and titles.

True, with the death of his beloved leader, there was no one to sing, and Pyryev abruptly switched to Russian classics, in particular, Fyodor Dostoevsky, having made a very good film "The Idiot" and "White Nights". And on this basis, he considered himself the most worthy candidate for the role of director of a film based on the main work of Russian classical literature.

But the times have already changed compared to those when he received his orders and awards. Ekaterina Furtseva, who not long before took the post of Minister of Culture of the USSR, had not yet gained enough political "weight" to directly refuse Pyriev, decided to arrange something like a creative competition. 40-year-old Sergei Bondarchuk, who had only one film on his account by that time - "The Fate of a Man" - was identified as a competitor to 60-year-old Pyriev.

Pyryev either considered such a competition offensive to himself, or realized that his time had passed, and nothing would shine for him, but withdrew his candidacy. And Ekaterina Furtseva got the desired result: Bondarchuk was automatically declared the winner. Furtseva perfectly understood her responsibility for this personnel decision, and therefore kept the entire process of making the film under her control. But she did not just control, but helped to solve administrative and economic issues, for example, she secured the allocation of 900 horses of the necessary colors by the Ministry of Agriculture, etc. And sometimes she simply interfered in the creative process. So, for example, it was at her insistence that the role of Andrei Bolkonsky was entrusted to Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Bondarchuk himself was going to shoot Innokenty Smoktunovsky in this role.

And Pyryev, although he himself refused the competition, did not forgive Bondarchuk for his defeat and later took revenge: using his connections, he achieved that Bondarchuk received the director's fee in full only for the 1st episode. For the rest of the series, he was paid only half of the due fee. The act of a real communist, a praise of the Stalinist order and a lover of harassing other people's wives. Because of this, Bondarchuk and Pyryev did not greet each other until the end of their lives.

In the spring of 1962, the script for the film was approved by the USSR Ministry of Culture, and in the fall of the same year, the shooting of the film began, which lasted a total of 5 years. There is a huge amount of material in various publications, both print and electronic, describing various aspects of the production of this film. We will not retell these materials. We only want to analyze whether the stated goal of "catching up and overtaking America" ​​has been achieved. Let, not everywhere and not in everything, but only in the cinema. Let, not in all cinema, but only in relation to the film adaptation of the greatest work of Leo Tolstoy.

So, the film by Sergei Bondarchuk (1st episode "Andrei Bolkonsky") was presented at the Moscow International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Prize (together with the Hungarian film "Húsz óra (Twenty Hours)" directed by Zoltán Fábri). Well it is clear. But in 1969, after all 4 episodes of the epic were shown to the whole world, "War and Peace" was awarded the American Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. And this, despite the fact that the film "Skammen (Shame)" by Ingmar Bergman and "Baisers volés (The Stolen Kisses)" by François Truffaut were among the nominees. And shortly thereafter, "War and Peace" won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Although here there was competition from the same "The Stolen Kisses", as well as Milos Forman's film "Horí, má panenko (The Firemen's Ball)", which was considered a favorite. In addition, the film made a splash at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it was presented in an out-of-competition screening. Actually, Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Andrei Rublev" was expected at this festival. But the communist leadership at the last moment changed its mind about sending Tarkovsky's film to Cannes and sent Bondarchuk's film as compensation. But out of competition.

King Vidor's film also received a Golden Globe. And, which is typical, also in the category Best Foreign Language Film. To some regret, in our country this film was shown in a dubbed version. Moreover, the dubbing was carried out by our magnificent actors Maria Vinogradova, Mark Bernes, Igor Kirillov, Vladimir Druzhnikov and others. And so I would like to hear how Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda or Mel Ferrer perform their roles in Russian. However, this film was nominated for a Golden Globe and Best Film in English, but lost this nomination to "Around the World in 80 Days" by Michael Anderson. The film received 3 Academy Award nominations, but not Best Picture. Yes, and they did not win a single one.

As for the viewers' ratings, even according to the ratings of only American viewers, exhibited at IMDB, Bondarchuk's film outperforms Vidor's film with a score of 8.2: 6.6. I don't know how true this is, but one of the publications contains information that "King Vidor, when meeting with Sergei Bondarchuk, apologized to him for his film". If so, it does credit to the American director.

As for the assessments of professional film critics, we, as usual, turned to the opinion of the guru of American film critic Roger Ebert. In his review of Bondarchuk's film from June 1969, he wrote: Among many others, the Russian version of "War and Peace" is a magnificently unique film. Money isn't everything, but you can't make an epic without it. And "War and Peace" is the definitive epic of all time. It is hard to imagine that circumstances will ever again combine to make a more spectacular, expensive, and — yes -— plendid movie. Perhaps that's just as well; epics seem to be going out of favor, replaced instead by smaller, more personal films. Perhaps this greatest of the epics will be one of the last, bringing the epic form to its ultimate statement and at the same time supplying the epitaph.It is impossible not to compare "War and Peace" with "Gone With the Wind." They are. I suppose, the two greatest epic films. Both deal with the most crucial wars of their countries' experience. Both center on larger-than-life heroes and heroines. Both are romantic and glorious. But in all fairness, I think, "War and Peace" must be listed as the greater film. Although it is vulgar in the way all epic films must be vulgar (because they place value on sheer numbers and a massive production scheme); "War and Peace" is a great deal more intelligent, tasteful and complete than "GWTW." Note that the American version of "War and Peace" by King Vidor is not separately mentioned, but simply included in "many other versions."

There is another passage in Roger Ebert's review that caught our attention: "By now the statistics regarding "War and Peace" are well known, but forgive me if I recite them with a certain relish anyway: the film was five years in the making at a cost of $100,000,000, with a cast of 120,000, all clothed in authentic uniforms, and the Red Army was mobilized to recreate Napoleon's battles exactly (it is claimed) as they happened." Again, note that the review was written in 1969, and therefore inflation has nothing to do with it.

This passage caught our attention because these two figures - $ 100 million and 120 thousand extras - wander from one article to another. Moreover, that's what is curious. All articles (reviews, analytical materials, etc.) can be divided into two groups. One is those materials that are written, as they say, by "direct participants in the events", ie, participants or witnesses to the filming of the film or its creation in general. So in these materials, these colossal figures are absent. And there is another group of materials - written according to the OWS principle - "one woman said." It is in these materials that 100 million dollars and 120 thousand extras are mainly discussed. We naturally wanted to know what was the primary source of this data.

We did not find in any of the articles where these figures were taken from. At best, reference was made to the entry in the Guinness Book of Records. But someone has to send this information to this book. We turned to Wikipedia. And then they discovered very curious things. Wikipedia provides the following data: "Budget - 8,291,712 Soviet rubles (US $ 9.2 million); Box office - 58,000,000 Soviet rubles (USSR estimate). That is, the budget for a 4-episode film with a total duration of more than 7 hours is $ 9.2 million. Significant enough, but not extraordinary. Let us remind you that the budget of the film "Dersu Uzala" with a duration of 2 hours and 16 minutes, however, shot 10 years later, amounted to 4 million dollars. And the budget of the film King Vidor, shot 10 years earlier and had a duration of 3 hours 28 minutes, was 6 million dollars. Be that as it may, all are quite comparable figures. But this is Wikipedia.

Then we decided to refer to IMDB and found there, again, the same $ 9.2 million. Moreover, the IMDB website has a commentary on the information about the budget of Bondarchuk's masterpiece: "This film is erroneously believed to be the most expensive film in history. It is also maintained that it employed the largest army of extras ever. Both assertions are wrong. While the Soviet statement it cost $100 million (in 1967 terms) was oft repeated in the American press upon the film's release in the US, the protocols of the USSR's State Cinema Committee from 25.8.1965 reveal that its approved budget was 8.5 million ruble, of which 2.51M were to be paid to the military for its services. The producers' financial statements set their total expenditures on "War and Peace" to have been 8,291,712 ruble after its completion in August 1967. Though a huge sum in Soviet terms, it was equal to $9,213,013 by the contemporary exchange rate and, considering ruble inflation, about 2 billion ruble in 2012 (~$67 million under the 2012 rate). In addition, the famous claim that 120,000 soldier extras participated in the recreation of the Battle of Borodino was denied by director Bondarchuk himself, who told National Geographic when asked about this (Peter. T. White, "The World of Tolstoy", June 1986 issue): "That is exaggeration, all I had was 12,000."

Of course, we could well admit that the myth of 100 million and 120 thousand extras was launched by American filmmakers, stung by the success of Sergei Bondarchuk's film. In fact, it is precisely this vulnerability that shows through in a review by Rachel Soltz of The New York Times, written 40 years after the release of Bondarchuk's film: "The money, manpower and sheer chutzpah that went into filming this ''War and Peace'' are certainly impressive".

But, firstly, the IMDB's direct reference to the "Soviet statement of 100 million dollars," and, secondly, the ugly behavior of the Russian Wikipedia, allow us to conclude that the myth of the extraordinary costs of creating a film epic is of domestic origin. And then there is nothing else to do but to suppose that the source of the myth was somewhere in the near-Pyryev circles. After all, the rancor and vindictiveness of this "giant of Soviet cinema" were well known. Especially the actresses. Denied harassment to a Stalinist womanizer.

It is especially sad that reputable film experts, for example, Sergei Kudryavtsev, who wrote in his review that “a giant crowd of 120 thousand soldiers, mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records, was practically free for Mosfilm ". And this is against the background of the fact that even foreign experts knew that from the total budget of the movie, more than 2.5 million rubles, i.e., almost a third part, were paid to the Ministry of Defense. Somehow, doubts immediately arise about the conscientiousness and professionalism of such experts.

Someone may say: "Who cares, 9 million, 100 million ?!" Let me explain. I watched this film while still a schoolboy, somewhere in the late 60s - early 70s. I really liked the movie. Well, maybe I noticed one drawback for myself: Oleg Efremov and Sergey Bondarchuk seemed a bit old to me for the roles of Dolokhov and Bezukhov. Somehow it was hard to believe that such respectable guys are capable of giving a bear drink and tying him to the policeman. But, by and large, this is not such a big drawback. We know so many films where young heroes and heroines are played by actors of pre-retirement age. But in the film there are such wonderful Vertinskaya and Lanovoy, Shuranova and Ktorov, Strzhelchik and Zakhava! Yes, unless you list them all, in the film, 300 actors were employed.

And so, having such impressions of the film, I very often had the opportunity to communicate with connoisseurs and experts of cinema, who claimed that the Oscar for Bondarchuk's film was awarded exclusively for battle scenes, that, allegedly, the Americans even introduced such a special nomination, exclusively for this film. And the battle scenes, allegedly, turned out because Bondarchuk had the entire Soviet Army (and the entire budget of the USSR) at his disposal, and in general the soldiers were simply dressed in an old uniform, filmed exercises and inserted into the film. Of course, then, in the 70s, there was no Internet, access to foreign information for ordinary mortals too. There was nothing to object. And so I wanted to find out the truth! Now, many years later, the time and opportunities have appeared to do this. To restore, so to speak, justice.

In total, 135 million Soviet moviegoers watched all 4 episodes of the film. At the same time, the first episode was watched by 58 million, and the last - less than 20 million. From this, many of Bondarchuk's ill-wishers drew various hard-hitting conclusions, up to the extinction of the director's talent literally before our eyes. But after all, not everyone who started reading Tolstoy's novel has read to the end. So, in my opinion, such dynamics of audience interest, on the contrary, shows that the film has not slipped into pure "entertainment".

Modern moviegoers highly appreciated Sergei Bondarchuk's cinematic epic. 74% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film ratings from 8 to 10, and 35% rated the movie with the highest score - "ten".

Taking into account the above, the rating of the film "War and Peace" by Sergei Bondarchuk according to FilmGourmand was 9.495, making it 86th in the Golden Thousand.

In addition to the film "War and Peace", the following films were included in the "ten" best films of world cinema in 1965 according to FilmGourmand:

- Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main Street). Directors Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos, Czechoslovakia. Movie's Rating - 9,241; 118th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Akahige 赤ひげ (Red Beard). Director Akira Kurosawa, Japan. Movie's Rating - 9,185; 127th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Операция Ы и другие приключения Шурика (Operation 'Y' & Other Shurik's Adventures). Director Leonid Gayday, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,709; 241st Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- The Sound of Music. Director Robert Wise, США. Movie's Rating - 8,305; 403rd Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde). Director Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia. Movie's Rating - 8,292; 411th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Repulsion. Director Roman Polanski, UK. Movie's Rating - 8,288; 414th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More). Director Sergio Leone, Italy. Movie's Rating - 8,258; 437th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- I pugni in tasca (Fists in the Pocket). Director Marco Bellocchio, Italy. Movie's Rating - 8,196; 472nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.

- Giulietta degli spiriti (Juliet of the Spirits). Director Federico Fellini, Italy. Movie's Rating - 8,187; 485th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1965:

- The first spacewalk. Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk in the history of mankind from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. For 12 minutes, the Soviet cosmonaut made a "walk" in open space outside the spacecraft.
- Indonesian massacre. In Indonesia, in connection with the unsuccessful attempt by a group of pro-communist officers to overthrow President Sukarno, a massacre of Communists began. Within 2 years from 78 thousand to one million people were slaughtered. Another 2 million people were imprisoned in concentration camps.
- Battle of Ia Drang. In the valley of the river Drang (Vietnam), one of the bloodiest battles took place between the armies of the USA and South Vietnam, on the one hand, and North Vietnam, on the other hand.
- The attempt of coup d'état in Bulgaria. Group of higher party-state and military leaders tried to overthrow country leader Todor Zhivkov in order to establish a regime similar to the Maoist regime in China. The attempt was stopped by the state security organs.
- First demonstration against the Vietnam War. The first Students for a Democratic Society march against the Vietnam War gathered 25,000 protesters in Washington, DC. Quaker Norman Morrison, 32, self-immolated in front of the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War.
- The end of "moors murders". In Manchester, UK, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested after having raped and murdered five children between the ages of 10 and 17 two years earlier.
- "Indo-Pakistani incident". In order to return the previously seized territory of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan launched the sabotage operation Gibraltar. In response to Operation Gibraltar, the Indian army invaded Pakistan to destroy saboteur training camps. During the month, hostilities continued, during which more than 5 thousand people were killed on both sides. India irrevocably lost 80 tanks, 48 ​​more were destroyed, but returned to service. About 300 Pakistani tanks were destroyed during the war, including about 200 recently received from the United States.
- American invasion of the Dominican Republic. In connection with the outbreak of the civil war in the Dominican Republic, American diplomats decided to evacuate 3,500 American citizens who were in the Dominican Republic. To carry out evacuation measures in combat conditions, the forces of the US Navy and Air Force were involved. However, US President Lyndon Johnson, fearing a repeat of the "Cuban events" in the Dominican Republic, sanctioned the transformation of evacuation operations into a large-scale military intervention.
- The murder of Sylvia Likens. In Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, 16-year-old Sylvia Likens was found murdered after 3 months of torture. The torture and murder were carried out by the housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, whom Sylvia's parents left their daughter to during their absence.
- Meeting of glasnost. In Moscow, on Pushkinskaya Square, dissidents and sympathizers held a rally demanding to ensure the publicity of the trial in the case of Andrei Sinyavsky and Julius Daniel. The rally was attended by about 200 people. A few minutes after the start, the rally was dispersed by KGB officers. 20 participants were detained. The rally was the first public, purely political demonstration in the post-war USSR.

In addition Li Gong was born.

* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.

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