- Film Review
- Reviewed By Tom Hutchinson
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4 out of 5
Rod Steiger gives a magnificent performance as Napoleon - all hot rages and cool calculation as he heads for his destiny in Belgium - in this epic history lesson from Ukrainian director Sergei Bondarchuk. Steiger even manages to upstage the thousands of Soviet soldiers recruited as extras for the battle scenes, yet he's nearly outshone by Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington, whose arrogance shows his contempt for lower-class cannon-fodder. Bondarchuk filmed in Italy and the Ukraine, and the result is a mightily credible reconstruction of events that changed the course of western history. It's the two major performances, though, that lift it out of the textbooks and give it humanity.
Plot Summary
Historical epic starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer and Orson Welles. France, 1814: with defeat looming, Napoleon Bonaparte bows to pressure and steps down as Emperor of France. He's banished to the island of Elba, but his exile doesn't last long, leading the rulers of Europe to join forces against the threat of Bonaparte and his army.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Rod Steiger
- Duke of Wellington
- Christopher Plummer
- Louis XVIII
- Orson Welles
- General Thomas Picton
- Jack Hawkins
- Duchess of Richmond
- Virginia McKenna
- Marshal Michel Ney
- Dan O'Herlihy
- Lord Gordon
- Rupert Davies
- Marshal Soult
- Ivo Garrani
- General Drouot
- Gianni Garko
- Sir William Ponsonby
- Michael Wilding
- Private O'Connor
- Donal Donnelly
- Lord Uxbridge
- Terence Alexander
- De Lancey
- Ian Ogilvy
- Tomlinson
- Oleg Vidov
Crew
- Director
- Sergei Bondarchuk
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