Waterloo (1929)

A silent film about Waterloo (Karl Grune) and political intrigues? That sounds rather dull, but when I watched this politically extremely fishy (pro-German agenda) film at the film archives in Brussels with live piano music, the experience turned to be quite interesting. It's a busy film, despite the fact that some of the time the action takes place around the negotiation table. It's also a long film and it is also a film that hammers home its message without worrries about subtlety: the battle scenes are stylized and from the get-go, good guys are good guys (= German). In the end, Waterloo is also a not very successful attempt to combine historical drama, war movie and romance - it all falls together, even though some scenes are saved by the director's attention to pace, some fun segments where split scenes are used along with some dreamy, humane scenes.