Waterloo

PLOT

In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Leipzig, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is forced to abdicate at the demands of his marshals in 1814. Exiled to Elba with 1,000 men, Napoleon escapes and once more rallies the French to his side. King Louis XVIII flees, and the European powers declare war once again. In Brussels during the Duchess of Richmond's ball, the Duke of Wellington is warned of Napoleon's march into Belgium, tactically driving a wedge between the British and Prussian armies. Wellington, in consulting with his staff, elects to halt Napoleon at Waterloo.

At Quatre-Bras, Marshal Ney fights the British to a draw, whereas Napoleon defeats the Prussians at Ligny. Ney rides to Napoleon to deliver his report, but in doing so has allowed Wellington to withdraw his still intact forces. Napoleon commands Grouchy to lead 30,000 men against the Prussians to prevent their rejoining the British, whilst Napoleon will command his remaining troops against Wellington.

On June 18, 1815, the battle of Waterloo commences with initial cannon fire from the French. Napoleon launches teasing attacks against Wellington's flanks at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, though Wellington refuses to divert his main force. General Picton is sent to plug a gap when a Dutch brigade is routed, and though successful he is killed in doing so. Ponsonby also leads a cavalry charge against the French cannon, but becomes isolated from the main allied force and is cut down by French lancers.

Troops spotted emerging from the east are worryingly assumed to be Grouchy by Wellington, and Blücher to Napoleon. Suffering from stomach pain, Napoleon momentarily withdraws and leaves Ney in command. Simultaneously, the order is given to allied troops to retire 100 paces, which Ney incorrectly interprets as a withdrawal.

Ney leads a cavalry charge against the British, but is repelled with casualties by infantry squares. Despite this, the battle still wages much in Napoleon's favor; La Haye Sainte falls to the French, and Napoleon ultimately decides to send the Imperial Guard to deliver the decisive blow.

During their advance, Maitland's Guards Division who were lying in tall grass deliver a devastating point blank volley against the Imperial Guard, repulsing them with heavy casualties. At the same time, Blücher arrives in the field. For the first time in its history the Imperial Guard breaks, and the battle is won by the Allied forces.

That evening after the battle, Wellington is seen observing the thousands of casualties on the field. Napoleon, having survived the battle, is urged to flee at the pleas of his marshals.

CAST

The French and allies

Rod Steiger as Emperor Napoleon I

Dan O'Herlihy as Marshal Michel Ney

Philippe Forquet as Brigadier-General Charles de la Bédoyère

Gianni Garko as Major-General Antoine Drouot

Ivo Garrani as Marshal Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult

Charles Millot as Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy

Yevgeny Samoylov as Brigadier-General Pierre Cambronne

Vladimir Druzhnikov as Général de Division Étienne Maurice Gérard

Andrea Checchi as Old Guardsman

Orazio Orlando as Constant

Gennadi Yudin as Grenadier Chactas

Armando Bottin as Sous-Lieutenant Legros

Rodolfo Lodi as Joseph Fouché

Jean Louis as Marshal Nicolas Oudinot

Boris Molchanov as Général de Division Henri Gatien Bertrand

Lev Polyakov as Général de Division François Étienne de Kellermann

Giorgio Sciolette as Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Sergio Testori as Lieutenant-General Marcellin Marbot

Yan Yanakiyev as Dr. Dominique Jean Larrey

Rostislav Yankovsky as Charles Joseph de Flahaut

The British and allies

Christopher Plummer as Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Orson Welles as King Louis XVIII of France

Jack Hawkins as Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton

Virginia McKenna as Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond

Rupert Davies as Colonel Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon

Ian Ogilvy as Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey

Michael Wilding as Major-General The Honourable Sir William Ponsonby

Sergo Zakariadze as Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt

Terence Alexander as Lieutenant-General Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge

Donal Donnelly as Corporal O'Connor

Oleg Vidov as Tomlinson

Charles Borromel as Mulholland

Peter Davies as Lieutenant-Colonel James Hay, Lord Hay

Veronica De Laurentiis as Magdalene De Lancey

Willoughby Gray as Major William Ramsay

Roger Green as Duncan

Richard Heffer as Captain Cavalié Mercer

John Savident as Major-General Karl Freiherr von Müffling

Jeffry Wickham as Colonel Sir John Colborne

Susan Wood as Lady Sarah Lennox

Andrea Esterhazy as Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond

Karl Lyepinsk as Generalfeldmarschall August Neidhardt von Gneisenau

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 historical war film about the Battle of Waterloo