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 taken to recreate the ghastly beauty of Napoleonic warfare for the cameras. His exhaustive account details almost every aspect of the immense production, which ranged from Rome to the vast battlefield set in Ukraine. The book also explores several of the movie's myths; including the existence of a four-hour version.

Lavishly illustrated with over 200 photographs, most never-before-seen,

Waterloo - Making An Epic will thrill fans of this much-loved, if flawed, movie giant.