Film

War and Peace

Name: War and Peace
Genre: War, Romance, Drama, History
Released: 1956
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom

Other titles called War and Peace: the 1968 film.

Period drama

Audrey Hepburn glides through Tolstoy's epic as Natasha Rostova, and this 1956 adaptation transforms the novel into a sumptuous historical romance. Sweeping sets, a full orchestra, and radiant cinematography carry you through Napoleonic Russia. It's less interested in the book's philosophical wrestling than in beauty, love, and spectacle. For anyone who wants Tolstoy but dressed up.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love sprawling, old-fashioned epics where grand battle scenes and intimate drawing-room conversations sit side by side, and you don't mind lingering with a large cast of characters over a long stretch.

Skip it if you want a tight, fast-moving picture; this one takes its time with society gatherings and personal reflection, and its romance and war are both drawn out at a stately pace.

What it asks of you: Settle in for more than three and a half hours, with a deliberate rhythm that moves between ballrooms, bedrooms and battlefields and rewards patience more than quick reactions.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Anna Karenina1935

Greta Garbo in another Tolstoy masterpiece, with the same lush romanticism and doomed passion. A parallel universe of another Russian aristocrat's impossible love affair, gorgeously filmed in black and white.

But Slower pacing than modern audiences expect, and the black-and-white photography won't give you the visual splendor you got from War and Peace.

Doctor Zhivago1965

Epic Russian romance across revolution and war, with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. The same sense of love as a force amid historical upheaval, but in a different era. Massive scope, genuine emotion, unforgettable cinematography.

But At over three hours, it demands patience. The political context is dense, and some find the pacing uneven in the middle sections.

The Magnificent Ambersons1942

Welles directing a vast family saga across generations, with American wealth replacing Russian nobility. Similar DNA: intimate human drama unfolding against a changing world. Technically brilliant and deeply moving.

But It's been cut and recut over the decades. The original vision is fragmented, which frustrates film historians and can frustrate viewers too.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from War and Peace

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Les Girls1957

Hepburn at her peak in two consecutive years: the 1950s actress at her absolute zenith, each film showing a different facet of what she could do. War and Peace is refinement; Les Girls is pure joy.

Audrey Hepburn herself, one year later, in a completely different film: a musical set in Paris with Cole Porter songs, dancing, and sophisticated frivolity. Same star, same era, utterly opposite register. She's radiant and funny here—it's the anti-epic.

But If you want historical substance or romantic yearning, this won't deliver. It's pure surface charm and theatrical pleasure. Some find musicals disposable.

The Great Waltz1938

Luise Rainer in another Vienna-set period romance with elaborate sets and orchestral sweep. Similar visual language to War and Peace—old Hollywood at its most romantic and dramatically confident.

But Very much a product of 1938: the emotional register feels dated, and the plot mechanics are thin by modern standards.

A Tale of Two Cities1935

Ronald Colman in Dickens' French Revolution epic. Love, sacrifice, and history colliding. Another adaptation that trades book complexity for spectacle and genuine feeling. Shorter than War and Peace but similar in spirit.

But Dickens is hard to adapt well, and this one softens the sharper edges. If you want the novel's bite, you won't find it here.

The Scarlet Pimpernel1934

Leslie Howard in another aristocratic romance set against revolutionary chaos. Lighter in tone, but the same pleasure in costume, intrigue, and noble love amid historical upheaval. Pure entertainment.

But It's not interested in moral complexity. Very much a swashbuckler that plays everything for adventure and charm.

Ivan the Terrible, Part I1944

Eisenstein's Russian historical epic, visually ambitious and thematically fierce. Another approach to portraying Russian history and power through cinema. Technically audacious in ways the Hepburn film isn't.

But Formally experimental and austere. After the romance of War and Peace, this will feel cold, propagandistic, and visually harsh.

A Gentle Woman1969

Both adapt Russian literature through the language of cinema, but they make opposite choices. War and Peace is all amplification; this is reduction to essentials. Watching them together teaches you what cinema itself can do.

Bresson's adaptation of Dostoevsky about a woman in modern Paris who defies her husband's will—quiet, spare, devastating. Same Russian literary ambition as Tolstoy, but Bresson strips away spectacle entirely and finds power in silence and refusal.

But No music, minimal dialogue, naturalistic acting that can feel cold. After the lush romanticism of War and Peace, this asceticism may feel like deprivation rather than clarity.