This should have been the perfect match: Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and director King Vidor. In Tolstoy's immortal novel, Vidor could work with two of his favorite subjects: men searching for meaning, women [particularly Natasha Rostova] struggling for independence in unfair societies. But his 1956 adaptation is bloated and top-heavy. It wisely abridges the actual story, but that's just the point--it's nothing but the story of War and Peace. Gone are Tolstoy's historiographic and philosophical discussions. Gone are his debates over military history and strategy. Gone are the characters' desires for spiritual fulfillment. What's left is a tired, over-long melodrama. Audrey Hepburn is magnetic as Natasha, but she's underused and her character arc feels edited. Poor Henry Fonda is woefully miscast as Pierre Bezukhov. Overall, it seems like the demanding mannerisms of Russian high society clashed with Vidor's preference for naturalistic performances.
4/10
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