This presentation of 'Waterloo', a film by Karl Grune about the last hurrah of Napoleon, is a fascinating companion to the Abel Gance epic 'Napoleon'. 'Waterloo' presents a tale of several people involved in the final battle. Napoleon and Wellington, of course, but also the Austrian general Blutcher (who is seen as a ladies' man - his scene with a flirty Countess about halfway through the film is priceless; as are his touching scenes with his plain wife (who he imagines to be a young and nubile girl when they get romantic) and some people within his regiment. Not simply a film of war, 'Waterloo' is a story of people, of lovers, of lost opportunities.
Acting
Otto Gebühr plays Blücher's delusional romance with heartbreaking sincerity.
Direction
Grune balances intimate chamber drama against massive battle reconstruction.
Costume
Absurdly detailed military regalia — every epaulette tells a story.
Director
Karl Grune
Charles Willy Kayser
König Friedrich Wilhelm III.
Charles Vanel
Napoleon
Otto Gebühr
'Der alte Fritz' & Feldmarschall Blücher
Auguste Prasch-Grevenberg
Blüchers Frau
Friedrich Ulmer
Gneisenau
Carl de Vogt
Marshall Ney
Vera Malinovskaya
Gräfin Tarnowska
Camilla von Hollay
Ihre Zofe
Oskar Marion
Leutnant Reutlingen, Blüchers Adjutant
Betty Bird
Rieke, seine Braut
Fred Immler
Erster Grenadier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gebühr was so typecast as Frederick the Great that audiences reportedly cheered his 'Der alte Fritz' cameo here — a bizarre meta-moment in a Napoleon film.
Grune made this as direct competition to Gance's 'Napoleon' (1927), but the studio budget forced intimate character studies instead of spectacle — accidentally creating a weirder, more human film.
DE
