Love and Death (1975)

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

10 June 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | War

Tagline:

The Comedy Sensation of the Year!

Plot:

In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

Plot Keywords:

Directed By Star | Philosophy | Suicide | Accidental Hero | Army

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Woody Allen	...	Boris Grushenko
Diane Keaton	...	Sonja
Georges Adet	...	Old Nehamkin
Frank Adu	...	Drill sergeant
Edmond Ardisson	...	Priest (as Edward Ardisson)
Féodor Atkine	...	Mikhail Grushenko (as Feodor Atkine)
Albert Augier	...	Waiter
Yves Barsacq	...	Rimsky (as Yves Barsaco)
Lloyd Battista	...	Don Francisco
Jack Berard	...	Gen. Lecoq
Eva Betrand	...	Woman hygiene class
George Birt	...	Doctor
Yves Brainville	...	Andre
Gérard Buhr	...	Servant (as Gerard Buhr)
Brian Coburn	...	Dimitri
Henri Coutet	...	Minskov
Patricia Crown	...	Cheerleader
Henry Czarniak	...	Ivan Grushenko
Despo Diamantidou	...	Mother Grushenko
Sandor Elès	...	Soldier #2 (as Sandor Eles)
Luce Fabiole	...	Grandmother
Florian	...	Uncle Nikolai
Jacqueline Fogt	...	Ludmilla
Sol Frieder	...	Leon Voskovec (herring merchant) (as Sol L. Frieder)
Olga Georges-Picot	...	Countess Alexandrovna
Harold Gould	...	Anton Inbedkov
Harry Hankin	...	Uncle Sasha
Jessica Harper	...	Natasha
Tony Jay	...	Vladimir Maximovitch
Tutte Lemkow	...	Pierre
Jack Lenoir	...	Kropotkin (wine merchant)
Leib Lensky	...	Father Andre
Anne Lonnberg	...	Olga
Roger Lumont	...	First baker
Alfred Lutter III	...	Young Boris Grushenko
Ed Marcus	...	Raskov
Jacques Maury	...	Second
Narcissa McKinley	...	Cheerleader
Aubrey Morris	...	Soldier #4
Denise Péron	...	Spanish countess (as Denise Peron)
Beth Porter	...	Anna
Alan Rossett	...	Guard
Shimen Ruskin	...	Borslov
Percival Russel	...	Berdykov (village idiot)
Chris Sanders	...	Joseph
Zvee Scooler	...	Father
C.A.R. Smith	...	Father Nikolai
Fred Smith	...	Soldier
Bernard Taylor	...	Soldier #3
Clément Thierry	...	Jacques (as Clement-Thierry)
Alan Tilvern	...	Sergeant
James Tolkan	...	Napoleon Bonaparte
Hélène Vallier	...	Madame Wolfe (as Helene Vallier)
Howard Vernon	...	Gen. Leveque
Glenn Williams	...	Soldier #1
Jacob Witkin	...	Sushkin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Norman Rose	...	Voice of God (voice)
Rebecca Potok	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Andrée Tainsy	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Woody Allen

Writing credits
Woody Allen		(written by)
Mildred Cram		uncredited
Donald Ogden Stewart		uncredited

Produced by
Fred T. Gallo	....	associate producer
Charles H. Joffe	....	producer
Martin Poll	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Ghislain Cloquet

Film Editing by
Ron Kalish
Ralph Rosenblum
George Hively		(uncredited)

Casting by
Miriam Brickman
Juliet Taylor
Blanche Wiesenfeld

Production Design by
Willy Holt

Costume Design by
Gladys de Segonzac

Makeup Department
Renée Guidet	....	hair stylist (as Renee Guidet)
Anatole Paris	....	makeup artist
Marie-Madeleine Paris	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jean-Marie Durand	....	unit manager
Patrick Gordon	....	assistant unit manager
Suzanne Wiesenfeld	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bernard Cohn	....	second assistant director
Paul Feyder	....	first assistant director
Zsuzsanna Mills	....	second assistant director: Hungary (uncredited)

Art Department
Louis Boussaroque	....	outside buyer
Jean Brunet	....	stand-by propman
Marc Frédérix	....	assistant art director (as Marc Frederix)
Claude Reytinas	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Daniel Brisseau	....	sound mixer
Gérard de Lagarde	....	boom operator (as Gerard De Lagarde)
Al Gramaglia	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dan Sable	....	sound editor
Michael Kirchberger	....	assistant sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Peter Dawson	....	assistant special effects
Kit West	....	chief special effects

Stunts
Gábor Piroch	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Apoteker	....	still photographer
Philippe Houdart	....	second assistant camera
René Strasser	....	head grip
Guy Testa-Rossa	....	first assistant camera
Michel Vocoret	....	head gaffer
Daniel Vogel	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Andree Demarez	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Marilyn McLaren	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Felix Giglio	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Catherine Prévert	....	script supervisor (as Catherine Prevert)
Adele Sanders	....	auditor
Marie-Jose Testard	....	accountant
Blanche Wiesenfeld	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Computer Opticals Inc.  titles

Also Known As:

Guerre et amour (France)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG (certificate #24301) | Netherlands:6 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company:

Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Trivia:

Boris is in his cottage writing poetry. He reads, "I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas," and promptly balls up the writing and throws it into the fire. The line is from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Boris crawls into the cannon, he is wearing a green French uniform instead of his own blue uniform. (Just before he mentions being behind enemy lines.)

Quotes:

Boris: Sonja, are you scared of dying?
Sonja: Scared is the wrong word. I'm frightened of it.
Boris: That's an interesting distinction.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Parts: The Clonus Horror (#9.11)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

The Magic Flute Overture

A thinking comedy

One of the funniest movies of all time. The War & Peace and Chekov slant gives it a great feel. Allen and Keaton are at their best, and funnier than Grace & Burns, Hepburn & Tracey, etc..

One of the better lines, "To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love, but then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love, to be happy then is to suffer but suffering makes one unhappy, therefore to be unhappy one must love or love to suffer or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down."

This classic comedy is very rarely known, and worth watching it over and over.