This is a large scale film with literally a cast of around 15,000 people, (in this case the Russian Army) in a re staging of Napoleon's defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo a town located in Belgium. Probably only one person, Sergei Bondarchuk the director of the large scale Russian version of War and Peace and his team could have pulled off the impressive battle scenes in the last half of the film.
The film for all of it's impressive physical production had some huge problems. Chiefly, the very poor story and screenplay by H.A.L. Craig which does not do a good job of explaining the importance of the battle or the strategies of Napoleon and his counterpart the Duke of Wellington. The characterization of the two commanders is also not really developed very well and you don't get a sense of who these men were and what their motivations were before and during the battle.
The film also has a big problem in the casting of Rod Steiger as Napoleon. Steiger and actor from New York gave a real over the top performance and certainly doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word subtle with his portrayal of the "Little Corporal." On the other hand we have Christopher Plummer who doesn't give much of a performance as Wellington. If Steiger is loud and obnoxious, Plummer is so stiff and uncomfortable it's hard to get a handle on his character.
What the film has to recommend it are the spectacular battle scenes and they are something to see. The money on the production was certainly well spent on the staging of these scenes. Of course with current film making techniques these battle scenes would all be created digitally. Still there is something to be said for seeing actual people reenacting this famous battle.
Screenplay and story by H.A.L. Craig, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vittorio Bonicelli, and Mario Soldati.
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