Rating: 
Summary: A Review for Alexander Nevsky
Review: This is a Russian film released in 1938, just before the start of World War II. Although the film features battle sequences between the Germans and Russians, it is not about World War II. It is set in the 13th century cities of Pskov and Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky is the prince and a famous war leader who previously defeated the Swedes when they tried to invade Russia. The film has very strong images (and songs) of Russian patriotism, and is probably one of the reasons it was so popular when it was released. Since the Russians were preparing to fight the Germans once again in WWII, this film was likely a morale-booster for the soldiers and the public alike. The opening sequences of the film feature beautiful cinematography. Alexander Nevsky and his men are fishing on a lake when a band of Mongols crosses their path. The Russians have just fought a war with the Mongols and so some fighting ensues as the Mongols pass by the Russians. Alexander Nevsky, irritated with this commotion as it is scaring the fish away, breaks up the fight. Some of the Mongol leaders recognize him as the man who defeated the Swedes and invite him to become a general in their army. He replies with an old Russian saying that it is better to die than to leave your homeland, giving yet another shot in the arm to Russian patriotism. After the Mongols depart, one of Alexander's men comes up to him and warns him that they may have to battle the Mongols yet again. However, Alexander brushes this warning aside and advises that the Germans will have to be defeated before the Mongols. Next, we move on to the city of Pskov. The Germans have already taken over this city and are holding the surviving Russians captive. The men are tied up in the center of the city while the women and children look on. The site of the German army is actually rather amusing. The Germans are dressed up in sheets, somewhat reminiscent of the garb members of the Ku Klux Klan are famous for wearing. Regular German infantry soldiers have buckets on their heads with cross cutouts allowing for them to see out. The German nobility also have buckets on their heads but they get specials horns and other decorative regalia. This is probably the most graphic and disturbing scene of the movie as the Germans then proceed to exterminate every surviving Russian, somewhat ominous as this is also what the Germans do in WWII. There are close-ups of a German soldier throwing children into a pit of fire as they are screaming out in fear. Everyone else is either burned to death or hanged. However, at least one man manages to escape Pskov and goes to warn Alexander that the Germans are advancing. When the escapee relates his message to the famed prince, Alexander is deeply disturbed and begins planning how to seek revenge on the Germans. He forms a company of troops and even orders the peasants to join in. One exceptionally brave female also joins the army. They then march to the city of Novgorod to gather more troops. Although some at Novgorod initially refuse to fight, more patriotic speeches are made and everyone agrees the Germans must be stopped. Once the battalion is formed, they begin marching towards Pskov and run into some German troops. Although the German troops appear to win this minor battle, Alexander regroups and forms a plan for attack set for the next morning. The attack is staged on an ice-covered lake and while some of the men are worried the ice may give way, Alexander advises them that if it does, the Germans are likely to go in first since their armor is heavier... so, all the better. The lake battle is really quite spectacular for its time, although it would probably be considered cheesy by today's standards. Some of the more hilarious images involve the German soldiers getting conked on the top of the head with an axe and then their buckets crumple up, presumably squishing their heads. As it is mainly a sword battle, there are images of several soldiers getting played out from swinging their heavy swords and having to lean upon their teammates in order to remain standing. The Russians begin to chase the Germans away, seemingly towards areas of thin ice as the next scene is that of the remaining German troops falling through the ice into the piercing cold lake beneath them. The rest of the film is rather anti-climatic as the Russians return to Pskov and prove their moral superiority over the Germans by releasing the captured foot soldiers and holding the captive nobility for ransom, rather than executing everyone as the Germans were notorious for doing. Then, some brave soldiers choose wives and Alexander declares that everyone should celebrate. All in all, this is a decent film worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: A Review for Alexander Nevsky
Review: This is a Russian film released in 1938, just before the start of World War II. Although the film features battle sequences between the Germans and Russians, it is not about World War II. It is set in the 13th century cities of Pskov and Novgorod. Alexander Nevsky is the prince and a famous war leader who previously defeated the Swedes when they tried to invade Russia. The film has very strong images (and songs) of Russian patriotism, and is probably one of the reasons it was so popular when it was released. Since the Russians were preparing to fight the Germans once again in WWII, this film was likely a morale-booster for the soldiers and the public alike. The opening sequences of the film feature beautiful cinematography. Alexander Nevsky and his men are fishing on a lake when a band of Mongols crosses their path. The Russians have just fought a war with the Mongols and so some fighting ensues as the Mongols pass by the Russians. Alexander Nevsky, irritated with this commotion as it is scaring the fish away, breaks up the fight. Some of the Mongol leaders recognize him as the man who defeated the Swedes and invite him to become a general in their army. He replies with an old Russian saying that it is better to die than to leave your homeland, giving yet another shot in the arm to Russian patriotism. After the Mongols depart, one of Alexander's men comes up to him and warns him that they may have to battle the Mongols yet again. However, Alexander brushes this warning aside and advises that the Germans will have to be defeated before the Mongols. Next, we move on to the city of Pskov. The Germans have already taken over this city and are holding the surviving Russians captive. The men are tied up in the center of the city while the women and children look on. The site of the German army is actually rather amusing. The Germans are dressed up in sheets, somewhat reminiscent of the garb members of the Ku Klux Klan are famous for wearing. Regular German infantry soldiers have buckets on their heads with cross cutouts allowing for them to see out. The German nobility also have buckets on their heads but they get specials horns and other decorative regalia. This is probably the most graphic and disturbing scene of the movie as the Germans then proceed to exterminate every surviving Russian, somewhat ominous as this is also what the Germans do in WWII. There are close-ups of a German soldier throwing children into a pit of fire as they are screaming out in fear. Everyone else is either burned to death or hanged. However, at least one man manages to escape Pskov and goes to warn Alexander that the Germans are advancing. When the escapee relates his message to the famed prince, Alexander is deeply disturbed and begins planning how to seek revenge on the Germans. He forms a company of troops and even orders the peasants to join in. One exceptionally brave female also joins the army. They then march to the city of Novgorod to gather more troops. Although some at Novgorod initially refuse to fight, more patriotic speeches are made and everyone agrees the Germans must be stopped. Once the battalion is formed, they begin marching towards Pskov and run into some German troops. Although the German troops appear to win this minor battle, Alexander regroups and forms a plan for attack set for the next morning. The attack is staged on an ice-covered lake and while some of the men are worried the ice may give way, Alexander advises them that if it does, the Germans are likely to go in first since their armor is heavier... so, all the better. The lake battle is really quite spectacular for its time, although it would probably be considered cheesy by today's standards. Some of the more hilarious images involve the German soldiers getting conked on the top of the head with an axe and then their buckets crumple up, presumably squishing their heads. As it is mainly a sword battle, there are images of several soldiers getting played out from swinging their heavy swords and having to lean upon their teammates in order to remain standing. The Russians begin to chase the Germans away, seemingly towards areas of thin ice as the next scene is that of the remaining German troops falling through the ice into the piercing cold lake beneath them. The rest of the film is rather anti-climatic as the Russians return to Pskov and prove their moral superiority over the Germans by releasing the captured foot soldiers and holding the captive nobility for ransom, rather than executing everyone as the Germans were notorious for doing. Then, some brave soldiers choose wives and Alexander declares that everyone should celebrate. All in all, this is a decent film worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun movie to watch.
Review: This movie is certainly best viewed with the knowledge that it was made during the Stalinist era and only just before WW2. Eisenstein has a knack for creating jarring, interesting images (such as the skeletons in the opening shots) but this is also simply a fun film to watch, and one that unabashedly does everything that the Soviet censors of Stalin's time could possibly want from a film; it's a lot like how how most Hollywood directors nowadays make really similar types of films to please their producers, only it's interesting to see what was considered "popular culture" at the time of Stalinist Russia. In case you don't know the story, it involves the Novgorod Russians (Novgorod is a city far north of Moscow, considered to be one of the major foundations of the Russian civilization) fighting against the invading German Teutonic Knights in 1242. The film does not attempt to portray this part of history as it WAS; rather, it is portraying history as it SHOULD HAVE BEEN (at least from the point of view of the Stalinist era). The Teutonic Knights are unabashedly evil, throwing Russian babies into raging flames and throwing evil glances from under dark cloaks. Also, they all look and speak Russian (in contrast to post-WW2 Russian films, where Germans usually spoke German). The Novgorod Russians, by contrast, are unabashedly heroic and valorous, "we must free the Russian soil!" The characters in this film are really secondary to everything else, but for the first while this doesn't hurt the film since it floats by on interesting images and events (did I mention that the costumes are wonderful?). Later on, the middle of the film does get a little bit boring; the lack of good characters might be hurting it, or perhaps Eisenstein was running out of interesting things to show us. There is a love triangle involved, but don't get too excited; how it will turn out is so predictable from the very beginning that I found it pretty funny. The highlight of this film is probably the battle sequence with the Teutonic Knights. Not because it's a realistic, insightful depiction of battle - no, quite the opposite. The battle is accompanied by a happy, drum-heavy Russian tune that makes you want to shout "Glory to MOTHER RUSSIA!!!" to honour the sheer absurdity of it all. The Russians gleefully hack away at the Teutonic Knights with their blunted swords (it's not hard to tell that they're blunted; obviously they wouldn't use REAL swords), shouting things to each other while single-handedly fending off Knights that remain just beyond the range of the camera. Of course, there are lots of overhead battle scenes as well, although these are problematic because you can tell that they're not really fighting that seriously. The real highlight of the battle scene begins when the Russians gain the upper hand and begin chasing the Knights accross the icy lake, all to the beat of that happy march music that was playing before. The whole scene is like a long comedy, and is pure fun to watch. After the battle is over, there IS a period of mourning for the dead, but it isn't allowed to last too long before the movie's inadequetly-developed characters have their happy endings. All in all, a fun movie to watch, although it is very obvious that it is (a shining example of) a pre-WW2 Stalinist-era propaganda film. Post-WW2 Russian films are VERY different in outlook from this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Aleksandr Nevskiy
Review: This movie rocked.I've seen it without subtitles,but anyone can feel the passion and glory portrayed in this film without understanding Russian.These Russian dudes were fighting all these Teutonic horde dudes in some kind of epic battle for the sovereignty of that place we used to call the U.S.S.R. back in the 80's.Those Germans may have been the bad guys,but they certainly had the best costumes...man,that eagle claw helmet that one German dude was wearing was awesome.Then they were chopping each other up with axes and stuff,and then even that cute little Russian babe with the pigtails named Olga or whatever was out there on the ice hacking up evil Teutonic guys too.I think back when they made this movie some Austrian guy named Hitler was carving up Europe like he owned the place so the Russian government didnt have any problem dumping like a gazillion rubles into this movie to show just how rotten those German guys were even a long time ago.I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Battle!!!
Review: We did a field show in marching band from the music of "Battle on the Ice". The music is great and the film is wonderful as well. This truly is the very first music video! I loved this movie and so did a lot of people in my band, we watched it every chance we got. It is really too sad they lost 15 minutes of the film and some of the best music in post-production back in '38.
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