| Alexander Nevsky | |
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DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Sergei Eisenstein Dmitri Vasilyev |
| Written by | Sergei Eisenstein Pyotr Pavlenko |
| Starring | Nikolai Cherkasov Nikolai Okhlopkov Andrei Abrikosov |
| Music by | Sergei Prokofiev |
| Cinematography | Eduard Tisse |
| Studio | Mosfilm |
| Release date(s) | December 1, 1938 (USSR) March 22, 1939 (US) |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Александр Невский) is a 1938 historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko, who were assigned to ensure Eisenstein did not stray into "formalism" and to facilitate shooting on a reasonable timetable. It was produced by Goskino via the Mosfilm production unit, with Nikolai Cherkasov in the title role and a musical score by Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky was the most popular of Eisenstein's three sound films. In 1941 Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize for the film.
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The film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky. It begins as the knights invade and conquer the city of Pskov with the help of the traitor Tverdilo and massacre its population. In the face of resistance by the boyars and merchants of Novgorod (urged on by the monk Ananias), Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod and in a decisive Battle of the Ice, on the surface of the frozen Lake Chudskoe.
A comic relief subplot throughout the film concerns Vasili Buslai and Gavrilo Oleksich, two famous warriors from Novgorod and friends, who become commanders of the Novgorod forces and who engage in a contest of courage and fighting skill throughout the Battle on the Ice in order to decide which of them will win the hand of Olga Danilovna, a Novgorod maiden whom both of them are courting. After both of them have been seriously wounded, Buslai publicly states that neither he nor Gavrilo was the bravest in battle: that honor goes to Vasilisa, the daughter of a boyar of Pskov killed by the Germans who had joined the Novgorod forces as a front-line soldier; and that after her came Gavrilo. Thus Gavrilo and Olga are united, while Buslai chooses Vasilisa as his bride-to-be (with her unspoken consent).
Alexander Nevsky was made during the Stalinist era, when the Soviet Union was at odds with Nazi Germany. The film contains obvious allegory that reflect the political situation between the two countries at the time it was produced. Some types of helmets worn by the Teutonic infantries resemble mock-ups of Stahlhelms from World War I in order to resemble German-style kettle hats. Emphasizing grasping eagle talons or animal horns and covering the entire face except for a narrow full-face slit for eyes which cannot be seen on the Teutonic knights' helmets. "In the first draft of the Alexander Nevsky script, swastikas even appeared in the invaders' helmets".[1] The film portrays Alexander as a folk hero and shows him bypassing a fight with the Mongols, his old enemies, in order to face the more dangerous enemy.
Thus the film is also highly anti-clerical and anti-Catholic.[2] This is highlighted by the fact that the knights' bishop's miter is adorned by swastikas, while religion plays a minor role on the Russian side, being present mostly as a backdrop in the form of Novgorod's St. Nicholas Cathedral and the clerics with their icons during the victorious entry of Nevsky into the city after the battle.
It made a central theme the importance of the common people in saving Russia while nobles and merchants did nothing, a motif that was heavily employed.[3]
The film was finished only a few months before Stalin entered into the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which provided for non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. The film was therefore pulled from distribution within a few weeks of its (highly successful) opening within and outside the Soviet Union, ostensibly indefinitely. It was the first film completed by Eisenstein in 10 years. But the situation was reversed dramatically in 1941 after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and the film was rapidly returned to Soviet and western screens.
Alexander Nevsky is less experimental in its narrative structure than Eisenstein's previous films: it tells one story with a single narrative arc and focuses on one main character. The special effects and cinematography were some of the most advanced at the time.[4]
The film was the first of Eisenstein's dramatic films to use sound. (The earlier Bezhin Meadow, had also used sound, but production was shut down and most of the finished scenes were destroyed.) The film's score was composed by Sergei Prokofiev, who later reworked the score into a concert cantata. Prokofiev viewed the film's rough cut as the first step in composing its inimitable score. The strong and technically innovative collaboration between Eisenstein and Prokofiev in the editing process resulted in a match of music and imagery that remains a standard for filmmakers.
The film climaxes in the half-hour Battle of the Ice, propelled by Prokofiev's ominous, rousing, triumphant musical narrative, a sequence that has served as a model for epic movie battles ever since (e.g., Spartacus, The Empire Strikes Back). Valery Gergiev, the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, has stated his opinion that Prokofiev's music for this film is "the best ever composed for the cinema".
In the 1990s a new, cleaner print became available. A number of symphony orchestras gave performances of Prokofiev's cantata, synchronized with a showing of the new print. The New York Philharmonic,[5] the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra are four such ensembles. The concerts were quite popular, because Prokofiev's music is badly degraded by the original soundtrack recording, which suffers from extreme distortion and limited frequency response, as well as cuts to the original score to fit scenes that had already been shot. The cantata not only restored cuts but considerably expanded parts of the score.
In 1995, a new edition of the film was issued on VHS and laserdisc, for which Prokofiev's score was entirely re-recorded in hi-fi digital stereo by Yuri Temirkanov conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, although the dialogue portions of the soundtrack were left unchanged. This enabled a new generation to experience Eisenstein's film and Prokofiev's score in high fidelity, rather than having to settle for the badly recorded musical portion that had existed since the film's original release. Regrettably, there is no version of the re-recorded score available on DVD.
Several films have scenes strongly influenced by the Battle of Lake Peipus, including Doctor Zhivago (1965), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Mulan (1998), and King Arthur (2004). Scenes from the film were later incorporated in the American propaganda film The Battle of Russia.
The Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising depicted two American intelligence officers watching Alexander Nevsky (pirating the Soviet state television satellite feed) on the eve of World War III. The officers took note of the film's improved sound track as well as its anti-German sentiment and strong sense of Russian (as opposed to Soviet) nationalism. The next day, as part of a plot to split the NATO alliance politically, KGB agents detonated a bomb in the Kremlin and arrested a West German sleeper agent on charges of terrorism. While airing Nevsky immediately prior to the bombing may have been intended to inflame the Soviet population in favor of war with the West, the timing of the two events led the Americans to suspect the plot.
Prokofiev's music from Alexander Nevsky accompanies the battle scene in Woody Allen’s comedy Love and Death(1975).
Ralph Bakshi's 1977 film Wizards rotoscoped footage of the ice-battle scene from Nevsky to create parts of Blackwolf's mutant army.
The movie makes a brief appearance in the 1984 war film Red Dawn. When the protagonists return to their hometown occupied by the Soviet army, they walk by the "Serf" town cinema. The theater marquis says "All Saturday Come, Alexander Nevsky, Admission Free."
The scene strongly resembling "The Battle of the Ice" appears in 31 Minutes, (film) (2008). Also, part of the cantata appears during the movie.
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