tomcervo This is not a review of the series--you like it or you don't--it's about the way you'll get to see it. The original UK presentation was a six part series totaling 370 minutes. The first five episodes were roughly the same length; the sixth ran longer. These are the scripts as written by Davies. This is the content of the UK discs. The US and Canadian discs contain eight episodes, totaling 357 minutes--13 minutes less than the UK version. They are all exactly 45 minutes long. The most obvious cut is the entire 13 minute sequence in which the Kuragins try to marry off Anatole to Marya Bolkonsky. (Most of the reviewers seemed to think that Jessie Buckley's Marya was one of the high points of the series, but apparently the US programmers didn't agree.)There are other, more subtle cuts; and some of the deleted scenes on the UK disc extras are in their place. They don't seem to have any particular reason other than to fit the 45 minute time limit--which also seems to throws off the continuity that Davies crafted. In one scene Nikolai and Denisov are in their quarters, each with a girl in bed. Nikolai has to go. The US scene ends there; in the UK version, Denisov tells Nikolai's girl to get in his bed to stay warm and they all go back to sleep. In another, Count Rostov's dance on Natasha's name day is cut short, but appears fully in the short bonus feature. (It seems that the US cable presentation, in two hour blocks, actually comprised 90 minutes of actual show and half an hour of ads.)As well, the UK version comes on three discs and looks like a premium release; the US version comes on two discs and looks like a rental release. The UK release is region 2, view-able on multi-region or hacked viewers, or a computer with a multi-region program, readily available through shareware. Or you can wait for the full UK version to get to the US. UK version: 10; US version: 8.5

ejse888 Sitting down to watch this was supposed to be our compelling (we hoped) introduction to what the letterati call the best novel of all time. Neither of us have read the book, so we had no idea what to expect besides Napoleon in Moscow. Anyways, it took a while to get past the annoying fact that none of these Russians looked Russian and all them spoke with a limey accent. I guess the BBC does amateur hour from time to time; they sure did this time. The title abbreviation (the book sellers aren't calling it War & Peace) is a tip-off of bad QA that I didn't look for until I was thoroughly annoyed at New Yorker Paul Dano doing Bezukhov with the UK accent. We watched the whole thing in one afternoon last week on a disc set borrowed from the library. The Bolkonsky father and son were an interesting pair I suppose. Helene and Prince Kuragin were just OK as the heels of the piece. I don't know if it's the nature of the story or if it's this BBC rendering, but the entire film is populated with a bunch of unremarkably human characters heading towards a very conventional finish. Those BBC folks didn't do Leo Tolstoy nearly as well as they did Hillary Mantel, and not just because they wouldn't reach for Russian accents.

normajean-41625 Honestly i'm quite disappointed, I think that BBC could have done it much better. What I actually didn't like is the fact that there's practically no references to this period in Russia where every single aristocrat was mainly speaking french. This is really ridiculous that even Napoleon speaks English (although the actor is french). I truly understand that this is an English film but at the same time it's a film about the greatest war of two greatest cultures who have had something in common. I wouldn't mind to read subtitles. This is very important I think to show that the Russian aristocracy being so feared of Napoleon stayed still at the same time in love with french traditions and culture so they couldn't stop to speak french sometimes (there were someone who tried to speak Russian as the sign of the protest to Napoleon). The novel is fulled by the parts and dialogues in french! Also I think if the actors don't speak Russian they should absolutely not sing in Russian, it's kind of silly to hear this (there are a few moments where you can hear a real Russian song and right after that the singing with a strong accent.I also didn't like the main characters. Sometimes you can hardly understand what are they thinking. Pierre is full of pity that we can't see how passionate his is in his ideas every single time, but I think that is the only actor who was close enough for his character. Natasha looks more silly that naive, Andrei is too motionless and we don't see how deeply he had changed. Anatoly is so rude and tough, that's even embarrassing as his sister (the story shows a reference to the film Les Liaisons Dangereuses but this is so far from the novel).Well, all I can say, watch the Russian film, it is the best for the moment.

grantss Mostly dull, but still quicker than reading the book...Based on the famous Leo Tolstoy novel, the story of several aristocratic Russian families in the early-1800s. Set against the war with France and covering the period 1805 to 1812, we see the relationship intrigues of the families, plus how they are affected by the war.Pretty much a soap opera with some war thrown in. Focus is mostly on the politics and machinations of romance and relationships, and I can't think of too many subjects duller than that. Very dry topic, and it shows in the movie (and probably in the book). A positive aspect is the historic part, and especially the coverage of the war with France,. The battles of Austerlitz and Borodino and Napoleon's capture of Moscow are done particularly well.Cast looks good on paper, but is weighed down by the script. Paul Dano is particularly irritating as Pierre Buzukhov - nerdy, monotone, whimpish - yet he is apparently the hero of the story!Biggest plus (though there aren't many positives): it beats having to read the book!