Alexander Nevsky (1938)

A Disappointing Continuation

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Clearly a propaganda film against Germany, Teutonic Knights stands for the Nazis in this jingoistic portrayal. But Eisenstein doesn't simply make a propaganda film, he revolutionized cinema through another propaganda film Battleship Potemkin but here there were co-directors and writers who specifically tried to keep him from going experimental and give a proper narrative. That may have affected a bit negatively but still, he made one of the most epic war films that have only aged a little by now. The cinematography and background score is absolutely terrific. The score and many of the sequences have been copied throughout the history of films where many of them have been hailed later as classics. Aside from the technical side even though the story and the characters are plain the film always pushed the propaganda to its margins. For a propaganda film, the amount of brutality of war and human suffering showed is quite much. The inclusion of all kinds of people in war, their bravery and showing a woman as the bravest soldier etc in that time is quite remarkable.

Seen from a historical point of view, the film 'Alexander Njefski' features prominent in the life of the Soviet Union from the late 1930-s.In 1937, one year before its issue, Joseph Stalin had murdered the majority of his top-ranking army commanders. Thus 'beheading' his Red Army. As in the same period Adolf Hitler's foreign policies grew increasingly aggressive, many Soviet citizens became worried. Wondering what would happen to them if Hitler attacked their country.To soothe this public anxiety, Stalin ordered Eisenstein to revive Alexander Njefski's victorious 1242-battle against the Teutonic knights. Its message had to be clear: no German invader will succeed to defeat Russia.Backed by government support, 'Alexander Njefski' was a hit in the Soviet Union from the late 1930's. The more so, while it contains every exceptional high-quality film skill Eisenstein could provide.On June 22, 1941 Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in real. And saw his bloody defeat almost four years later, after the most savage war in history of mankind. Stalin had kept his promise from 'Alexander Njefski', but with way more efforts than Eisenstein's film shows.

I'd read several negative reviews. It authors - people who are not familiar with the history of the Battle of the Ice. Alexander Nevsky is a great Russian general and a prince. Alexander Nevsky is not a fictional character of the Ice was really in 1242. This film was propaganda, I agree. But this film does not take off anyway. This is not a Hollywood story, the characters are real, the troops of the Teutonic Order really fell through the ice. This true story was shown in patriotic style. How else in Russia should make films about his great military victories? I really did not like the way shown by German soldiers, just such bots from a computer game. But the film is in the tradition of '30s cinema, technically revolutionary for its time. The film was shot in Russia, where everyone knows who is Alexander Nevsky and what the Battle of the Ice. We must remember that a serious war loomed, the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. German troops had occupied my city too, the war had cost the lives of millions of my countrymen, and touched everyone in our country, the dead were in each family. Our country needs a film like this then perhaps needs now. Probably English subtitles and poor sound spoiled the view of the film. It would have been nice if the story about the ice carnage took European director. My recommendation is "wikipedia "The Battle of the Ice""

This film is one of those recognized world classics that contemporary audiences will scratch their heads over. Essentially a Pro-Russian propaganda film, "Alexander Nevsky" was made at a time when Germany's intentions for conquest were making the rest of Europe highly nervous. Sergei Eisenstein, the famous Russian film-making genius, was at this point, out of favor with the Soviet masters, and upon returning to Russia, he was given one last chance at making a film. He was provided a list of subjects, and the story of Alexander Nevsky, a relatively obscure thirteenth century Prince, was chosen. The result is a surprisingly campy, even downright silly, large-scale battle epic that contemporary audiences might find periodically laughable. The story is that Eisenstein encouraged a lesser talented co-director (Dmitri Vasiliev) to do a large part of the shooting, and one has to believe as much watching the film. The battle scenes are comedic, and the film's photography constantly meanders between excellence and marginality. Eisenstein's patent use of montage is mostly absent here, and the result is easily his dullest and most unpolished work. I think David Thompson sums up the film nicely, in his movie compendium "Have You Seen...?" Here are two excerpts: "I know, it is a masterpiece, but it is a very silly masterpiece, even with the Prokofiev music bubbling along beside it....To be candid, it is spectacular propaganda rubbish, and an unnerving if sidelong portrait of the lengths even great talent will go to survive."