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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Pearls Before Swine: Uncle Is Not Good With Money
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2025 09:15:42 -0800
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On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:07:55 -0500, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 1/17/2025 1:56 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
>> Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> writes:
>>> On Thu, 16 Jan 2025 12:46:59 -0500, Cryptoengineer
>>> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> <snippo, topic is the recent /Napoleon/ movie and its historicity>
>>>
>>>> Not his whole life, but I heartily recommend the 1970 "Waterloo"
>>>> starting Christopher Plummer, Rod Steiger and Orson Wells.
>>>>
>>>> I've seen analysis by historians to the effect that this is the
>>>> most historically accurate version of the battle ever filmed.
>>>
>>> Being by Bondarchuck, I would think so.=3D20
>>>
>>>> The battle was filmed in Ukraine. The Soviet Army lent the
>>>> production 17,000 soldiers, who were trained to drill and
>>>> 'fight' in period style and uniforms. This was before CGI and
>>>> Maya, and if you see a soldier, he's real. This led to a
>>>> minor degree of randomness that underscores the reality of the
>>>> scene, details such random glints of sunlight off the bayonets
>>>> of a formation half a mile away.
>>>>
>>>> This was by far the largest number of extras ever used in one
>>>> movie, and was said to be the 'seventh largest army in Europe'.
>>>
>>> Actually, <https://movieweb.com/movies-highest-number-extras/> has it
>>> at 9th largest. The largest number is 300,000 for /Gandhi/.
>>=20
>> _Waterloo_ may well have had the largest number of
>> extras _at the time it was made_ (1970).   Ghandi was a
>> decade later.
>
>Not according to the article Paul linked. It lists several
>movies that both pre-date it, and had more extras.
>
>Regardless, the movie is very good.

Yes, number of extras ("costumed" or not) is not a normal criterion of
movie greatness. Indeed, I would think it was irrelevant to movie
quality.
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"