Ludmila Savelyeva the Soviet answer to Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Audrey Hepburn
SlamDunkerista — 2 years ago(August 02, 2023 08:02 PM)
The first chapter of WAR AND PEACE is called ANDREI BOLKONSKY, and it sets up the situation and introduces the main characters. Sergei Bondarchuk plays Pierre Bezukhov as something of a misfit, a man who is ill-at-ease no matter what situation he finds himself in. Bondarchuk, for me, had a middle-aged character actor type of vibe. Vyacheslav Tikhonov plays Andrei Bolkonsky, an aristocratic Russian military officer. I though Tikhonov resembled Christopher Plummer in looks and manner. Ludmila Savelyeva plays the pixie-like Natasha Rostova, who entrances both Bezukhov and Bolkonsky. Apparently one of the reasons for Savelyeva's casting was due to her Audrey Hepburn type of qualities (Hepburn had played Natasha in a 1956 film version of the story). You can't help but be reminded of Hepburn when watching Savelyeva.
From dandayjr35's blogspot page.
I had not yet seen the movie and I'm not even a fan of Audrey Hepburn. But taking a bunch of film classes in college right now, I do know that a Soviet filmmaker produced the USSR's own War and Peace as an answer to King Vidor's movie because it was a gigantic unexpected box office hit across the communist world. A few lectures in class by our professor stated the USSR's biggest actresses were the first picks by the studio but the director Sergei Bondarchuk opted for an unknown ballerina Ludmila Savelyeva because he felt she matched so much of Audrey's magnetism and energy. A few classmates remarked that Lyudmilla has some resemblance to Hepburn when the professor shared some pictures. The unanimous consent in the participatory discussion after the oration was that most students thought Savelyeva at least had a graceful pleasant aura of Audrey judging by the pics and few clips shown during the lesson. The professor will host a reservation at the auditorium for a watch party of both movies and an even older 1915 silent version this weekend. Some of the photos shown from the projector are in this collage which a cinema group uploaded on Facebook.
Can't post any pics yet because of account rquirements so you'll have to do the googling.
Thoughts?