Waterloo - Making an Epic: The spectacular behind-the-scenes story of a movie colossus

History has thrown up few events as dramatic and decisive as the four-day campaign that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

In 1970, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis spent $25 million to re-stage Napoleon's tumultuous encounter with Wellington, portrayed by Rod Steiger

and Christopher Plummer. It was directed by Sergei Bondarchuk who deployed almost 20,000 Soviet soldiers in a noble attempt to tell the story "faithfully."

Author Simon Lewis celebrates the extraordinary effort ta...