Battle of Neretva (film)

Battle of Neretva
US film poster
Directed byVeljko Bulajić
Screenplay byRatko Djurović
Stevan Bulajić
Veljko Bulajić
Ugo Pirro
English Version:
Alfred Hayes
Story byStevan Bulajic
Ratko Djurovic
Produced bySteve Previn
StarringYul Brynner
Sergei Bondarchuk
Curd Jürgens
Sylva Koscina
Hardy Krüger
Franco Nero
Orson Welles
CinematographyTomislav Pinter
Edited byVojislav Bjenjas
Music byVladimir Kraus-Rajteric
English Version:
Bernard Herrmann
Color processEastmancolor
Production
companies
Bosna Film
Jadran Film
Kinema Sarajevo
Radna Zajednica Filma
Igor Film
Eichberg-Film
Commonwealth United Entertainment
Distributed byKinema Sarajevo (Yugoslavia)
International Film Company (Italy)
Columbia Film-Verleih (West Germany)
American International Pictures (US)
Release date
  • 7 October 1969 (1969-10-07)
Running time
175 minutes
126 minutes (English Version)
CountriesYugoslavia
Italy
West Germany
United States[1]
LanguagesSerbo-Croatian
Italian
German
English
Budget$12 million

Battle of Neretva (Serbo-Croatian: Bitka na Neretvi, Битка на Неретви) is a 1969 Yugoslavian epic partisan film. Written by Stevan Bulajić and Veljko Bulajić, and directed by Veljko Bulajić, it is based on the true events of World War II. The Battle of the Neretva was due to a strategic plan for a combined Axis powers attack in 1943 against the Yugoslav Partisans. The plan was also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive and occurred in the area of the Neretva river in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Battle of Neretva is the most expensive motion picture made in the SFR Yugoslavia.[2] It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,[3] the year after Sergei Bondarchuk (playing the role of Martin in Neretva) won the honour for War and Peace. The score for the English-speaking versions was composed by Bernard Herrmann. Its soundtrack was released by Entr'acte Recording Society in 1974. It was re-released on Southern Cross Records on CD.

One of the original posters for the English version of the movie was made by Pablo Picasso, which, according to Bulajić, the famous painter agreed to do without monetary payment, only requesting a case of the best Yugoslav wines.[4]

  1. ^ Hughes, Howard (30 April 2011). Cinema Italiano: The Complete Guide from Classics to Cult. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9780857730442. Retrieved 9 December 2017 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Bitka na Neretvi (in Croatian)
  3. ^ "The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  4. ^ Robna kuća: Bitka na Neretvi on YouTube[dead link]