Update 09/08/2021: Part 2 is recorded, but I am busy with other videos so I am making no promises for when it will be done. In the meantime, the 'Rant About Waterloo and it's uniforms' video forms part of the second part of the review, so you can watch that in the meantime. I might have to re-record the whole thing due to technical issues my PC suffered early this year and also some stuff I want to correct, not to mention the usual bother of copyright bots. My videos will mainly be Tudor focussed for the moment so you will have to wait longer I am afraid.
thank you very much for finishing it better late than never i guess. Plus i have done that thing bringing the film into school to make the class watch it.
I was waiting to see wether Napoleon breakfast scene on the day of battle is accurate? Especially the foods that they served in the movie looks absolutely scrumptious.
I agree with you entirely! At one point, Steiger's Napoleon throws a temper tantrum -- & then furtively checks to see what reaction he has gotten. Napoleon was, among many other things, an actor who took lessons from Talma. Steiger gets this bang on, and I also worship Plummer's Duke of Wellington. Plummer brings humanity & wit to the Iron Duke, even in the briefest exchanges.
@@Grandmastergav86 Kudos to director Sergey Bondarchuk, who also directed and starred in the 1966 Soviet 8-hour epic War and Peace, which included the best battle scenes ever filmed. There are quite a few Soviet actors in the cast, Blucher in particular. And Orson Welles is a perfect Louis the 18th.
A lot of historical films in the late 60s and early 70s which has sort of gone out of fashion, I assume because its cheaper and more profitable to cough out endless marvel movies
@@RomanHistoryFan476AD I grew up on the Pre-20th Century historical films of the 90s and 2000s Braveheart, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, HBOs Rome, The Patriot, and many others. Though a lot of them are obscenely historically inaccurate, at the very least Pre-20th Century Historical Films had a presence and made money. Now when was the last time you saw in Epic Historical movies and TV like HBO Rome and such?
60% of a movie's budget is marketing. It is a staggering number! It means that studios play for safe and make movies that will market themselves. This is why we see so many sequels, prequels and remakes, because people tend rather watch something familiar than something unknown. Historical dramas is also a type of film that used to be an easy sell, but Hollywood is now marketing to an international market including not only Europe, but China, Russia, India and so on. It is harder to sell historical dramas to these audiences, because of controversial subjects and because those audiences may not know the same historical context as western audiences. Dumb action movies with little dialogue and lots of explosions and car chases can be marketed everywhere. This is why the most successful franchises are things like "the fast and the furious", "Transformers" and the Marvel franchise.
1 minute in, and I've got 'la Victoire est à Nous' stuck my head. Thanks a lot, mate. Last time I heard I couldn't unhear it for weeks. Was a lot easier to walk everywhere though...
Thanks, and even then there are things I have missed no doubt! To be fair to History Buffs, it does take absolutely ages to go through every scene and then looking at what happened (one reason why part 2 is taking so long is that the uniforms are different in a fair few details so I am having to go through virtually all the regiments and see how they actually looked! That is before we get to troop dispositions, timings etc.). I do like that he gives a sort of rough overview of the period which I think is good if you are new to a topic. Still, I am very much a nitpicker so that leaves more room for me to do my thing!
@@arthurghekiere8810 As I have said in numerous community posts, comments etc. It is not coming out for the moment. I have other videos I am working on. It is recorded, but I am more focused on my Tudor related stuff for the moment.
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier when it does come out I hope you'll make some kind of remark about the 3 years it's been lol and that only being a long time depending on your point of view 😉
1:58 every time I hear this, I get goosebumps. Absolutely incredible composition. It was totally not romantic, it exemplifies the empty glory of war in such a way that very few war movie scores can, paired with the horrible imagery of battle it makes a truly moving experience
I saw this a fewcweeks after being dischsrged from the Navy and coming home from Vietnam. Brilliant film bot Steiger and Plummer doing excellent roles. The line of cWellington responding to the colonel of the Scots Foot offering him beans "...if there is anything I have no interest in is agriculture " is classic...
When watching the movie, you can see that when Napoleon tells Grouchy to take 30,000 men, you can see an officer in a bright blue uniform saluting to another officer. After Napoleon tells Grouchy to not disagree and repeats Grouchy's name and the other general's name, you can see the same officer saluting... to the same officer. Just wanted to point that out, I think they might've repeated the same scene. I am looking forward to the part 2, you are a very underrated RU-vidr, you are doing god's work lad. Keep up the good work!
2:25 I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, but with all respect, Roger Egbert was an asshole when it came to reviewing historical films. Some people just don’t get it.
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier LOL! Thanks for the suggestion, but I won’t waste my time reading any of Ebert’s reviews. As George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “You don’t have to eat a whole egg to know it’s rotten,” so I already know what to expect from an Ebert review.
Love this movie so much and part one of your review was very informative. Don’t worry too much about getting part two out before it’s good and ready… being an Oversimplified subscriber has taught me the art of patience.
Lovely video - good details. 5:21 - I think Steiger was perfect; getting Napoleon's fearful tantrums spot on especially. He seemed to know the Napoleon character beyond merely learning the part. 5:40 - This was an interesting scene as it showed LeBedoyere revealing to the Marshals that Marmont had just surrendered; in fact Ney was with Marmont at he time they both found out his subordinate had panicked while left alone in charge of a stand-by to surrender status, and actually went ahead and surrendered Marmont's army because by a quirk of fate, Ney and several generals sent by Napoleon to negotiate with the Allies had decided to take Marmont along too - unaware of his secret standby-surrender planning. 8:00 - 'Fon-tahn-blooh' 8:15 - 'Tweeh-Leree' silent 's' 24:00 - On the map - the 2nd Netherlands Division of Perponcher crucial position in the Quatre Bras area is even omitted. 24:55 - Another movie stretch is showing Ney meeting Napoleon at Ligny - of course he remained at with his forces that fell back at Quatre-Bras. Actually D'Erlon sent one of his four divisions to Ligny which actually caused much strife for the French there upon its misplaced arrival. 30:35 - there was a Lt.Col Alexander Gordon - an ADC to Wellington - mortally wounded in the late evening of the battle; dying overnight at Wellington's HQ. 31:38 - Napoleon's hat looks different here from the hat he wears during the movie battle scenes
The film is a masterpiece in my opinion, however one curious visual inaccuracy is the battleground … hills & mountains can clearly be seen in some of the shots, where as the Belgian countryside around Waterloo is gently undulating. ( in fact was altered to construct the Lion’s Mound). What is odd is they filmed Waterloo in Ukraine & having now seen many shots of the Ukrainian countryside thanks to the on going conflict it’s almost identical in some parts it’s seems odd they didn’t choose a better suited location.
The enniskillen regiment was hilarious to me because I am from Northern Ireland and hearing our accent and even slang (just shows the effort into this film) it was hilarious because the fact they could even have time to search this up is just great. Amazing film. Awesome scene 😂 also enniskillen is only a town and my grandmother is from there
Awesome video! This has always been my favorite historical film and at the age of 11 it was a real eye-opener for me about war as a stretegic concept. I wish there were more scenes with Blücher kept in the final cut. I am very happy, that you adress the overhyped british contribution at Leipzig... it always kinda bothers me when people have this view of the Napoleonic wars where Britain sweeps in and saved everybody, ignoring Prussia, Russia and Austria who had fought tooth and nail on the continent for years.
Yeah, the film isn't perfect but damn it's bloody good. I love Bondarchuk's War & Peace too. He succeeded in making this period of history very appealing for mainstream audiences but also shows the horrors of battle without hammering it over people's head. The slow mo Scots Greys charge sequence really makes the audience reflect on the futility of such conflict. The "muted sound effects while the musical score is brought front and centre" instance has become passe in historical epics but it was extremely effective in this film.
Yeah, I'm told that the mythical "4 hour cut" of this film is just that, a myth. There's a RU-vidr named MarcusBritish who has the full theatrical cut on his channel (or did last time I checked) who goes into this in great length in his comment section. Apparently he's done quite a bit of research on it. There were probably a few scenes that were cut here and there but from what I gather there is no definitive proof that Vanderchuck ever shot the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras.
Bondarchuk filmed this in his native Ukraine. Beside directing War and Peace (1966j, he starred in 1951 film about Ukrainian nationalist Taras Shevchenko.
I love this review and history buffs! History buffs' reviews are for people who love history. They are short and sweet and I think are good for those who have short attention spans. This review is for us history lovers who love nitpicking and in depth reviews. I think both reviews are great to watch together. It's also nice to get different perspectives. They just don't make movies like they used to anymore. *sigh*
I love Your comments of the film, but with one exception: This "Colonel Gordon". They wanted to portray George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon as colonel of his own Regiment. There are several hints in the film that prove that. For example, his sister, the Duchess of Richmond, is talking about him. So this is not a fictional character and as a Duke he had the right to attend the counsel. But at the end You are right: George Gordon was not a part of the Waterloo-Battle. And at this time he was not even the Duke. But I believe the film did not talk about the 4th Duke, because the duchess called him "uncle Gordon" speaking to her daughter. But this person remain in mystery.
The monologuing was done because this movie was supposed to be told in the perspective of the Emperor himself. People singing chants from the revolution will not affect Napoleon as he himself was part of that and despite him having created a new monarchy still considers himself as the leader of the revolution against the Bourbons.
I've watched the movie many, many, MANY times. There are some events during the battle I would love to see but sadly they didn't include. They included the 2nd union brigade's charge, but I would've love to see the Scots Greys crushing D'erlon's 1st corps. Unfortunately it only includes the 2nd union brigade being annihilated by the polish lancers and the artillery. The duke of Brunswick and William Prince of Orange were both missing, there's not much line battles (just artillery barrages, cavalry charges, etc.), and Papelotte wasn't included whatsoever (at least to my memory). I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of. But that doesn't make it a bad movie, no, not at all. It's such a shame Waterloo wasn't that successful. Can't wait for part 2 though, I've been binge watching Waterloo and your review for a year or two now.
Thanks, I am afraid it might be a while yet since I am currently very busy getting my way through all the Tudor related stuff of late (just released the Anne Boleyn Review) and I think I will probably have to re-record my Part 2 of Waterloo that I initially recorded, but I can use that as an opportunity to add a few more bits in I missed.
It's ridiculous somehow, isn't it? Not only did the film completely disregard the contribution of the many different nations among the allies or the Prussian impact and toil at Plancenoit. It is really a shame that the attack of the British cavalry has been depicted only as beautiful and exiting but completely useless. A dramatic attack, getting stuck, losses and flight and despair. I remember only one French soldier being killed by a pistol when the French line was reached. In fact, the attack of the British cavalry came absolutely at the right time. It did not only stabilize the wavering middle section of Wellington's army. Also the French were so busy with pushing through and annihilating encircled enemies that they were completely caught by surprise. And so d'Erlons corps was torn to shreds. It was a perfect hammer-and-anvil-tactic that worked here. The French attack was completely crushed, and from then on, Napoleon and his generals lacked an idea what reasonable thing to do next (which is understandable). In my eyes, this attack was the most important successful Allied action before the arrival of the Prussians. And it should have been better portrayed in this movie. I've got a feeling that the whole film was centered around Wellington, making him a good-looking, cool, sympathetic and perfect superstar, while the contributions of his sub-commanders and his troops appear a bit clumsy, witless, ant-like, as if there could be only one real hero.
I am really enjoying your videos. I absolutely agree with your take on Tudor dramas and I'm looking forward to your review of Waterloo, part 2. One small issue / request: the bottom of the screen captions giving extra information and corrections, could you leave them up for a bit longer, please. I find I'm having to use pause so that I have time to read them.
I have started stating this in recent videos, but if you see long text, you are best to pause since it will often override what I am verbally saying. I try my best to leave them up for as long as possible, but I have to time it with the footage and other text bits, so again, I do try but I can't always leave it up as long as I would like. Sorry about that. Glad you are enjoying my videos!
Thanks, for mentioning Soult. I know the movie from the top of my head and I am deep into the Peninsular War. But I never recognized the error that Soult has been hundreds of miles away on that day.
Many thanks, might be a little while before I get round to part 2 since I want to continue my review of the Six Wives TV series and do a few more history videos.
I just rewatched the movie, right after hearing the news of Ridley Scott making a biopic about Napoleon and having Joaquin Phoenix as the lead role, Jesus.
Oh God, how the hell have I not heard about this until now?! And they have Jodie Comer as Josephine? I see it is not out till 2023 apparently, so I have a bit of time to prepare myself then!
I may mention Sharpe briefly during Part 2 since this film is one of few Napoleonic related productions that doesn't put the 95th everywhere. When I was re-enacting I think it was something like 1/3rd of the Napoleonic Association were in the 95th! Would love to do a video on Sharpe one day.
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier I know right, one time when I was in the Sealed Knot we went to one of those big crossover-musters with lots of different periods on show including a brief Napoleonic 'battle'; about half a dozen Redcoats, no Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch/Belgians, Prussians, Russians or Austrians; only one cannon on each side; an eclectic mixture of French troops all wearing different regiment's uniforms; and a good platoon's worth of riflemen 😂 the British skirmishers outnumbered the regulars on BOTH sides at least 2 to 1. Oh and no horse-mounted cavalry whatsoever lol but two French dragoons WITHOUT horses fighting as infantry 😂
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier and I hope you do and look forward to watching it 😊 I did enjoy the show, historical accuracy aside, and the books are a fun read too
Lady Sarah Lennox was a real life daughter of the Duchess of Richmond. She eloped with General Maitland soon after the battle of Waterloo. Her mother didn’t approve of the match.
thanks for mentioning the error of colonel Gordon being present at wellington's staff meeting. i always resented this part and the absence of Hill and Orange. actually, Ponsonby who only commanded a cavalry brigade and Hay (who you mentioned was ADC to Maitland and died at Quatre-Bras) should not have been there either. de Lancey, Picton and Uxbridge are the only correct attendants, imo.
Britain paid for Russia & Prussia’s arms at Leipzig. Indeed, Prussia was basically a mercenary force operating almost completely off British coin in that campaign. To say the British were not present at Leipzig is blatantly inaccurate; our stamp was on every cannon and half the muskets, as well as every crate of shot & powder.
But... our troops physically weren't there, that's the point bar the Rocket Troop that had a minimal impact in the fighting. The opening crawl mentions nothing about money, just what troops defeated Napoleon at Leipzig and British troops were not there. That would be like saying the Americans physically fought in the defence of the Soviet Union in WW2 because they sent trucks and other material.
I'm afraid not, the pinned comment is still relevant. I had some real life stuff to deal with as well, mainly the loss of my father back in July, so videos slowed up a bit. As it stands, I am very busy covering Tudor related stuff but will probably be looking at Ridley Scott's Napoleon movie when it comes out. After that, I'll try and get back to the Waterloo review.
27:26 That movie is extremely detailed....Just look at the staffwork in the background for just a few seconds...and 27:30 you can even see the windmill of Naveau in the background which was Napoleons commandcenter during the Battle of Ligny....No other historical movie is that rich on details like Waterloo.
I have a film theory: What if this Vielle Garde soldier 6:19 is Captain Jean-Roch Coignet? A well known guardsman who served since the days of Consulaire france and was present at waterloo. Im guessing this as he is often zoomed in on in the film, the same could be said for the man on the left in 5:59. Just a theory i though sharing
Great video. Looking forward to your breakdown of the battle, itself. That is, whenever we see Part 2! Not doing your viewers a favor by splitting up your review of the film; and us having to wait so long for Part 2.
Another great review. I'll be keen to see your thoughts on the portrayal of the actual battle in part 2. I enjoyed parts of Steiger's performance- he's physically suited to the part and convincingly portrays the exhaustion, war-weariness and declining health of Napoleon, thanks to Steiger's sad, life-worn eyes (the actor grew up with an alcoholic mother and fought in WW2). Not sure about the temper tantrums which border on over-acting.
I guess, in your research for Part 2: the battle, you will walk the field of Waterloo. We did so a few years back, and (apart from the ghastly topography change to build the mound), my abiding memory is of the walk from Napoleon’s position to Wellington’s. I.e. the slopes & distance the French troops and horse traversed. The film is pretty close in scale - but in reality the slopes are less steep (though still challenging due to being maybe 500m of uphill slope).
Wish I could go visit the battlefield for the video! Yeah, I will definitely go over things like the topography and some parts they missed out, although at the moment I am going into a bit of detail about the uniforms and any details they got wrong with them.
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier yeah that mound he's talking about is something the Dutch did later on in the 1820's, it's the foundation for a massive lion statue that presumably is meant to be dedicated to everyone who fought in that battle, but seems very Dutch in style to me and not very French, British or German, maybe that's just my own annoyance at the way they built the thing talking though. Still would be ok with it regardless of how it looked- if the buggers hadn't almost entirely destroyed the original British ridge to make it, and had instead just built it off to one side leaving the battle-site itself intact
One thing that irked me about their depiction of Wellington was he is described as being an "English aristocrat" and has a refined English accent yet, he was born in Dublin, Ireland into a family of Protestant ascendancy, I'm not saying he didn't speak with a refined British accent he probably did. We don't really know what he sounded like, given that he grew up in Ireland and was educated both in Ireland and in England (Eton) he may have had a mix of the two accents.
Re Colonel Gordon, being a highland regiment would the commanding officer get the name "Colonel Gordon" eg clan chief getting the name "The Gordon" or "Cock of the North"? Please note the ?
Did you ever complete a review of Part 2 in the end? It's ended a bit abruptly at the moment - a bit like if The Dambusters movie ended with them completing their training on the Lakes!
I've said this many times now, but I am working on other videos. I have part 2 recorded but am busy with other stuff. I have released a chunk of it as a quick rant about the uniforms in Waterloo (should be in a playlist) Might get it done this year but I am making no promises for the moment.
When I was young I always critical of this film in certain scenes, like a Curiassier penetrating an unpeneatrable British square to sabre a piper. I was also upset to see Col. Ponsonby killed by lancers, after reading of a Col. Ponsonby being cut down but surviving the battle, even after a unhorsed French lancer seeing him alive, maliciously stabbed him with his lance in the back, coming out of his mouth!!! However, I finally realized that there were more than one Ponsonby in the battle.🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷
I hope for one of 2 things after Scott's Napoleon: George Spielberg finishing Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon project, or the finding and releasing of the 5 hour cut of Waterloo. Both is good too
Wellington was born in Ireland, in the film Wellington challenges an Irish soldier with a southern accent, fighting with the Enniskillen Regiment. As an Irish person I always found the scene played to a racist stereotype plus there was a large number of Irishmen in Wellington's forces at Waterloo who clearly did more than carry pigs in their packs. Wellington probably did cultivate an upper class English accent despite coming from an Anglo-Irish gentry background. In any case, always found that scene ironic given Wellington's antecedents.
I always wondered about the line: "Arthur, you're such an Englishman" from the Duchess of Richmond. Is this a tease since he is of course Irish, that he has adopted "English" ways? Or were such Anglo-root families seen as basically English and the comment is genuine?
In partial defence of the Director. This was made by a Russian director in the Soviet Union with a handful of Western European actors (and soldiers apparently) given that, it is not surprising that the intricacies of regional Irish accents eluded him. As to Wellington's Irish background, I believe his own stated explanation was along the lines of "Just because someone is born in a barn it doesn't make them a pig." He would definitely have anglicised his accent
The accents of the guy in the 27th (Inniskilling) is a bit southern but it isn't that far off. The Fermanagh accent is a bit of a mixture of north and south, particularly in the south of the county. The Inniskillings also recruited from surrounding counties so there'd have been a fair number of men from Cavan and Monaghan in the ranks, where the southern accent is more pronounced. In my experience, people from outside of Ireland can just about distinguish between the northern and southern accents, let alone the multitude of different regional accents in NI. Half the people I meet in England think I'm Scottish!
The Laughing Cavalier (Me seeing The Laughing Cavalier uploading another video) “WHAT’S HE DOING WHATS THE LAUGHING CAVALIER DOING? Can’t I look at my subscription box for a minute without knowing what’s going on? How can a man upload another video but yet ignore Waterloo part 2” Laughing Cavalier: 24:56-25:00 “What’s he doing Whats Ney doing?”
@@potato23116 Please read the pinned comment. Also, I am very busy with other videos right now (namely the next Tudor Rant video, my next Titanic video etc.) so will be a while.
I did mention it briefly in one of my 'in a nutshell' videos recently. Basically, I am focused at the moment on my Tudor ones which will probably be out before, after that though the focus will be on Waterloo 2. I can't confirm but I expect maybe September for Waterloo 2 but that depends on a few things.
guys i've gained some confirmation from the laughing cavalier on when part 2 will release he told me that he's a massive hollow knight fan so he'll release it at the same time as hollow knight silksong
I'm not sure really, I'd have to look through the actors of that time period and have a good think about it! Interestingly, Stanley Kubrick was planning to make a Napoleon film in the 70's, apparently David Hemmings was cast but then it was changed for Jack Nicholson, but the failure of Waterloo scuppered Kubricks plan. Hemmings might have been an interesting choice since he kind of looked like Napoleon in a certain light, not too sure about Nicholson though! I think Steiger was a good actor though so might just ask him to tone it down a bit, which might be difficult since he was a quite dramatic actor if that makes sense. There are a few quieter moments, mainly when he is with La Bedoyere so I would perhaps have more moments like that. I have heard though that there was some production hell, including the whole scene where he says goodbye to the Imperial Guard having to be completely reshot because the camera ran out of film, so he was not too happy when filming it to say the least, which may have impacted his performance.
@@kaijudirector5336 Not for some time I am afraid! Given that it usually takes me two 40 minute part reviews to cover a single two hour film, it would take me half a decade to make it all!
The Duke of Wellington was very light hearted among socialites, especially the ladies. He had a neighing laugh and appeared to some people as rather stupid. He was a big flirt. This all contrasted with his cool demeanor when on campaign. He was very professional and collected then
Cavalier i was rewatching this and then i remembered Uxbridge and Wellington talking to each other in the Sharpe serise where Wellington called Uxbridge "Adultarus rouge" after he leaves. I looked it up and it appears that Uxbridge was having an affair with Wellington's brothers wife and then i remembered the scene about Uxbridges leg i just wonder if that scene really happened and if you'll mention said affair. Also look forward to part two keep up the good work :)
Don't think I really talk about Uxbridge too much in part 2 (I recorded it it months ago and have completely forgotten most of what I said!) Been busy with Tudor Rant 4, and still am (feels like the Battle of Paschendale editing that one, you think you are doing well then you realise you have barely advanced an inch!) I will aim to have Part 2 out sometime this year but I can't make any promises.
@@The_Laughing_Cavalier Don't worry its worth the wait and yeah if the clips are anything to go by i can imagine Tudor Rant 4 will take a while. Really need to do the Princess Principal review just to forget the frustration.
Could you leave the sub-title comments longer on the screen, by the time I realise realise there is comments at the bottom ofn the screen they dissapear. Love the various reviews you have done. ps Have you done Part 2 of the White Queen yet.
It was an original one written for the film, if you look up the Waterloo 1970 soundtrack you should be able to find it (can't remember the exact track name off the top of my head).
Actually, I've always loved Steiger's portrayal of Napoleon here. It's Christopher Plummer's performance as Wellington I have a little problem with. I find him entirely too glib in the role.
Well bear in mind the historical "my god, I've lost my leg!" "My god, so you have!" -exchange, British officers could be largely professional but still glib on occasion
I love the hammy acting anyway, regardless of historical accuracy in terms of a great historical epic it's fun as hell to watch- *HOW CAN WE?! HOW CAN WE?! WHHHYYY?!*
+1IbramGaunt Well, if you are asking my opinion, I think the first actor (whose name escapes me just now) was probably the best Wellington I've seen in films. I thought Hugh Fraser (who appeared in the later movies) was decent but that's about it. Of course, the greatest performance of Wellington ever has to be Stephen Fry's "Nosey" in "BlackAdder the 3rd." :)
@@Shadowman4710 David Troughton was pretty good if I remember correctly but not in it long enough to make much impression as far as I'm concerned, was definitely Frasier I was thinking of (Hugh Frasier not THAT Frasier lol although boy would that have been a different series hahaha), liked him overall although thought he was better in some episodes than others, like all the constantly-changing cast. And wholeheartedly agreed no-one can top Stephen Fry lol 😂 TEEEEAAAA
One of my favourite films, though I dislike a couple of historical inaccuracies which you'll probably cover in part 2 - Wellington taking a snooze under the Times; the omission of the Heavy Cavalry's initial success. In the acting, as in life, I think the Duke beats Napoleon. Rod Steiger does rather resemble Mick McManus after an opponent grabbed him by the ears! But the film somehow captures the essence of the battle, from the soldiers all lined up beforehand like opposing teams waiting for the whistle, to the carnage afterwards. As Lord Byron wrote: Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay. The midnight brought the signal sound of strife, The morn the mustering in arms, the day Battle's magnificently stern array. The thunder clouds close o'er it, which when rent, The earth is covered thick with other clay, Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, Rider and horse, friend, foe, in one red burial blent!
Ok, you have to regard this film as being a propaganda film of sorts, being made by the Soviet Union. The Duke of Wellington showing open disdain for his own men, Napoleon acting like a lunatic jackass, characters being made to look older and crustier than their real life counterparts, even putting Orson Welles in a fat suit (yes that absolutely is a fat suit), all of this was absolutely done deliberately with actors who were complicit.
Pretty sure it's this, although it sounds different when sung by a Company of cold, wet, exhausted Highlanders: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HpvCzyrVv4I.html
I guess Nick Hodges was wrong in the sense it wasn't as accurate as he claimed, since you pointed out a lot more discrepancies and inaccuracies than he did
To be fair, I am being very picky in this video (and will be even more so in part 2!) whereas his one is a bit more of a broad overview. Obviously, it will never be 100% accurate and whilst I do point out errors, the film is at least much more faithful to its time period than a lot of more recent dramas!
I'm surprised you didn't mention that at 21:19 Rod Steiger handles his horse like a cowboy and that at 21:29 the (Red Army) soldiers are swinging their arms in the Red Army fashion.
