A larger than life treatment of the theme of patriotism based on historical events in the 13th century when Prince Alexander Nevsky was chosen to lead the Russian forces against the invading Teutonic knights. The greater part of the film is concerned with the decisive battle on Lake Peipus where the Russian peasants and citizens of Novgorod defeated the enemy, many of whom perished when the ice broke. For the first time Eisenstein emphasised the role of the individual within the collective. It was also his first major experiment with sound-image relationships. He conceived it as cinematic opera with the visual rhythms in contrapuntal relationship with Prokofiev’s score. Also available on VHS and 16mm.
Credits: Producers, directors, S. Eisenstein, D. Vasiliev ; writers, P. Pavlenko, S. Eisenstein ; photography, Eduard Tisse ; music, Sergei Prokofiev.
Cast: Nikolai Cherkasov.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
F000067
Languages
English
Russian
Subject category
Foreign language films
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
35mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)