Alexander Nevsky (film)
Alexander Nevsky | |
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Amkino Corporation U.S. | |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
Country | Soviet Union |
Language | Russian |
Alexander Nevsky (
Eisenstein made the film in association with
In 1978, the film was included in the world's 100 best motion pictures according to an opinion poll conducted by the
Russia Beyond considers the film one of the 10 best Russian war films.[3]
Plot
An army of the
A subplot throughout is the rivalry and friendship of
At the same time Vasilisa, daughter of a boyar of Pskov killed by the Teutons, joins the Novgorod forces as a soldier. She and Vasili wind up fighting side by side; she throws him a weapon when he is surrounded and weaponless, and it is she who finds and slays Ananias.
Gavrilo and Vasili are seriously wounded and are found by Olga, who retrieves them from the battlefield. Though they defer to each other, in the end Vasili publicly states that neither was the bravest in battle: that honor goes to Vasilisa, followed by Gavrilo. Thus Gavrilo and Olga are united while Vasili chooses Vasilisa as his bride-to-be (with her unspoken consent).
Cast
- Nikolay Cherkasov as Prince Alexander Nevsky
- Nikolay Okhlopkov as Vasili Buslaev
- Andrei Abrikosov as Gavrilo Oleksich
- Dmitry Orlov as Ignat, the master armorer
- Vasili Novikov as Pavsha, a voivode of Pskov
- Nikolai Arsky as Domash Tverdislavich, a Novgorod boyar
- Varvara Massalitinova as Amelfa Timoferevna, Buslay's Mother
- Valentina Ivashova as Olga Danilovna, a maid of Novgorod
- Aleksandra Danilova as Vasilisa, a maid of Pskov
- Vladimir Yershov as Hermann von Balk, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
- Sergei Blinnikov as Tverdilo, the traitor of Pskov
- Ivan Lagutin as Anani, a Monk
- Lev Fenin as the Archbishop
- Naum Rogozhin as the Black-Hooded Monk
1930s political context
Eisenstein made Alexander Nevsky, his first completed film in 10 years, during the
The film also conveys highly
The film stemmed from a literary scenario entitled Rus, written by Pyotr Pavlenko, a Soviet novelist who conformed to socialist realist orthodoxy. The authorities could rely on Pavlenko, in his role of "consultant", to report any wayward tendencies on Eisenstein's part.[6]
Alexander Nevsky stresses as a central theme the importance of the common people in saving Russia, while portraying the nobles and merchants as "bourgeoisie" and enemies of the people who do nothing, a motif that was heavily employed.[7]
While shooting the film, Eisenstein published an article in the official
The picture was released in December 1938, and became a great success with audiences: on 15 April 1939, Semen Dukelsky – the chairman of the State Committee for Cinematography – reported that it had already been viewed by 23,000,000 people and was the most popular of the films made in recent times.[10]
After 23 August 1939, when the USSR signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which provided for non-aggression and collusion between Germany and the Soviet Union, Alexander Nevsky was removed from circulation.[11][12][13] However, the situation reversed dramatically on 22 June 1941 after the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, and the film rapidly returned to Soviet and western screens.[11]
Style
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.[14]
The film climaxes in the half-hour
Musical score
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. The creation of Alexander Nevsky was a collaboration in the fullest sense of the word: some of the film was shot to Prokofiev's music and some of Prokofiev's music was composed to Eisenstein's footage.[15] 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.[16] 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".[17]
Film and concerts
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,[18] the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra[19] are five 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.
New editions of the film
In 1986, the film was restored. The film was cleared, the film studio logo was added, the captions were replaced (only the font, but not the content), the music was re-recorded by Emin Khachaturian conducting the State Symphony Cinema Orchestra.
In 1995, a new edition of the film was issued on
In popular culture
Multiple works have been influenced by or refer to Alexander Nevsky.[20]
Films
- Scenes from the film were later incorporated into the American propaganda film The Battle of Russia (1943)[21]
- Love and Death (1975), written and directed by Woody Allen, parodies Russian film and literature. The film used the Alexander Nevsky score.
- Wizards (1977) uses stock footage from the film in its battle sequences, which were animated using rotoscoping.
- Certain scenes in Battle of the Ice.[22]
- In Red Dawn (1984), the marquee at the movie theater in occupied America is showing the film.[23] Red Dawn itself, in some ways, is a variation on the theme of insurgency and rebellion in Alexander Nevsky.[citation needed]
- Several additional films have scenes strongly influenced by the depiction of the Battle on the Ice, including:
- Doctor Zhivago(1965)
- Chimes at Midnight (1965)
- Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Mulan (1998)
- King Arthur (2004)
Literature
- Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising (1986) depicts two American intelligence officers watching Alexander Nevsky (on an unauthorized Soviet state television satellite feed) on the eve of World War III. The officers take note of an improved sound track, as well as the 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 detonate a bomb in the Kremlin, killing a group of children from Pskov, and later arrest a West German sleeper agent on charges of terrorism.
- Nevsky: Hero of the People (2012), a graphic novel adaptation of the film, was written by Ben McCool, with art by Mario Guevara and published by IDW Publishing.[24][25]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1442268425.
- ^ "mindupper.com". Ruscico.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-19. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ Egorov, Boris (31 August 2018). "10 best Russian war movies". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
- ^ Unspecified (1998) and two elaborated swastikas do appear on the miter of the bishop of the Holy Roman Empire, who supervises his fighting German lackeys from just behind the lines. Eisenstein's Symphonic Vision. In Alexander Nevsky [DVD liner notes]. Chatsworth: Image Entertainment.
- ^ Tatara, Paul. "Review – Alexander Nevsky" TCM.com
- ISBN 978-0-252-01964-7.
- ISBN 0-393-02030-4
- ISBN 978-0-87951-924-7.
- ^ a b c Hoberman, J. (2001). Alexander Nevsky – Commentary to Criterion Collection DVD. New York: Criterion Collection.
- ISBN 978-5-8243-0532-6. p. 539.
- ^ a b Hartsuyker, Linnea (February 2018). "History & Film: Alexander Nevsky and the Uses of Historical Fiction". historicalnovelsociety. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ Von Tunzelmann, Alex (2009-10-08). "Alexander Nevsky: Stalinist propaganda in the 13th century". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- ^ Sommerlad, Joe (2018-01-22). "Who was the legendary Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- ^ A. Tommassini, "Music in Review; Alexander Nevsky" The New York Times October 21, 2006. "To fortify popular sentiment against the Germans, Soviet officials asked Eisenstein to make a film commemorating the victory of the Russian prince Alexander Nevsky over the marauding Knights of the Teutonic Order from Germany in 1242."
- ^ "Sergei Prokofiev". International Film: Other Traditions, Other Practices. Film Reference – Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
- ^ González Cueto, Irene (2016-05-23). "Warhol, Prokofiev, Eisenstein y la música". Cultural Resuena (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2016-10-12.
- ^ "Concert Programme for the 2011–2012 season". The Cambridge Philharmonic Society. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
- ^ A. Tommassini, "Music in Review; Alexander Nevsky" The New York Times October 21, 2006. "the home of the New York Philharmonic has been temporarily turned into a movie house to present screenings of Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 epic, Alexander Nevsky."
- ^ Classical Music News Desk. "Marin Alsop Leads BSO in Music from Film Alexander Nevsky". Classical.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ "Эйзенштейн, Доватор и Александр Невский". May 18, 2007. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008.
- ^ Эта удивительная Ламанова ИМДТ (Институт моды, дизайна и технологий)
- ^ "Alexandre Nevski (Aleksandr Nevskii) – 1938 – Sergeï Eisenstein – VOSTFR". YouTube. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2015.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ "Homeland insecurity in 'Red Dawn' ★ ★ – Chicago Tribune". 20 November 2012.
- ^ "IDW's April Solicitations!". Archived from the original on 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ISBN 9781613771815.
External links
- Alexander Nevsky(Full HD) YouTube Киноконцерн "Мосфильм" channel
- Alexander Nevsky at IMDb
- Alexander Nevsky at AllMovie
- Alexander Nevsky at the TCM Movie Database
- Alexander Nevsky at Rotten Tomatoes
- Alexander Nevsky an essay by Criterion Collection
- Alexander Nevsky at official Mosfilm site with English subtitles