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''Waterloo'' ((ロシア語:''Ватерлоо'')) is a 1970 Soviet-Italian film directed by Sergei Bondarchuk and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It depicts the story of the preliminary events and the Battle of Waterloo, and is famous for its lavish battle scenes. It stars Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington with a cameo by Orson Welles as Louis XVIII of France. Other stars include Jack Hawkins as General Thomas Picton, Virginia McKenna as the Duchess of Richmond and Dan O'Herlihy as Marshal Ney. The film includes some 15,000 Soviet foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalrymen as extras—it was said that, during its making, director Sergei Bondarchuk was in command of the seventh largest army in the world. Fifty circus stunt riders were used to perform the dangerous horse falls. These numbers brought an epic quality to the battle scenes. == Plot == In 1814 French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, facing certain defeat at hands of the Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia, abdicates at the demand of his marshals. He is banished to Elba with 1,000 men, but escapes and returns to France. Ney, now serving the monarchy of Louis XVIII of France, is tasked with recapturing him, but he and his army defect to Napoleon. King Louis flees, Napoleon triumphantly enters Paris, and the European powers declare war. The Prussian von Muffling interrupts the Duchess of Richmond's ball to warn Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington that Napoleon has invaded Belgium to defeat the Allied forces before they can unite. Realising that Napoleon has got between himself and the Prussians, Wellington decides to halt the French at Waterloo. The French defeat the British at Quatre-Bras and the Prussians at Ligny. The Prussian Field Marshal Blücher rejects the advice of his staff to retreat and instead moves north to Wavre to keep contact with Wellington. Napoleon, enraged that Ney has let Wellington escape, directs 30,000 men under Grouchy to pursue Blucher and keep the Prussians from rejoining the British, while he leads his remaining force against Wellington. The battle of Waterloo, delayed to let the ground dry after the previous night's storm, starts shortly after 11.30 am with cannon fire from the French. Napoleon launches a diversionary infantry attack on Wellington's right flank, the Chateau of Hougoumont, but Wellington refuses to divert forces. He then attacks the allied left with infantry (d'Erlon's corps). General Picton successfully halts the attack but is killed. Ponsonby's cavalry brigade, the renowned Scots Greys, pursue the French, but become isolated from the rest of the Allied force and are cut to pieces by Napoleon's lancers. Ponsonby himself is killed. Napoleon realises that troops spotted emerging from the woods to the east are Prussians (Blücher's army), not French (Grouchy's force), but keeps this from his army. He then suffers stomach pain and withdraws temporarily, leaving Marshal Ney in command. Ney misinterprets a reorganisation of the Allied line as a retreat and leads a cavalry charge, which is repelled with heavy losses by allied infantry squares. Napoleon returns and rebukes his marshals for letting Ney attack without infantry support. However he hopes that Wellington's line has been worn down. The British farmhouse of La Haye Sainte falls, and Napoleon sends the Imperial Guard for the decisive blow. As they advance they are repulsed by Maitland's Guards Division, who were lying unseen in the grass on the reverse of the slope. The repulse of the Guard devastates French morale, and the arrival of the Prussians makes matters certain. After refusing to surrender, the Imperial Guard squares are annihilated with close range artillery. After the battle, Wellington wanders among the piles of dead, lamenting the cost of victory, while Napoleon, who had declared that he would die with his men, but was dragged by his marshals from the field, departs in a carriage for Paris. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waterloo (1970 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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