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."
Review of Alexander Nevsky
