It's another demonstration of airbrushed-history that most UK people have no idea that Napoleon fought and lost against the British, Prussians, Austrians and Russians simultaneously at Waterloo.
It's a bit like most British mistakenly believe that Churchill was the principle reason for victory against the Germans, and have no idea that the Soviets lost over a hundred times more troops getting to Berlin than the quarter of a million we lost unnecessarily due to an ethnic supremacy group (in Czechoslovakia) who were picking up Winston's bills.
Waterloo couldn't be made today, because we're so wealthy that employing so many film extras can't be done. Imagine the task of just feeding 16,000 extras, doing the make-up, costumes, horses, film crews and then shooting and watching dailies and reshoots .... impressive.
Although produced by Dino De Laurentiis, it took Soviet money to make Waterloo a reality and thus was appropriately directed by Sergei Bondarchuk assisted by Orson Welles, who plays a bloody marvellous and morbidly obese Louis XVIII.
The costumes are exceptional in this film, and it's worth watching just for that, the sets, and mind-boggling logistics commanded by a brilliant Rod Steiger as Napoleon, unlike Wellington playing Christopher Plummer (sic), as let's face it they're both interchangeable.
The scene that caught my eye was the Duchess of Richmond's Ball in Brussels, but mainly because I'm uncomfortable with battle scenes of horses falling at galloping speed to cannon and artillery fire.
Wellington and Napoleon were both born in the same year, had nepotistical promotions via their brothers, keenly read the works of Caesar and chose Hannibal as their favourite hero. They also shared two mistresses (at different times you understand) and even ate food prepared from the same personal chef.
If you're like me that's always a wink to synthetic history but there's no need to go there if you're unfamiliar with the subject.
