Films & Events
Alexander Nevsky
Sergei Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky is one of the all-time great cinematic epics that combines art with propaganda. A thinly disguised attack on German territorial aggression, Nevsky was filmed at a time when Russia’s relationships with that nation were fragile, to say the least.
In the 13th Century, when a horde of Teutonic knights sweeps in from the West, slaughtering all in their path, Prince Alexander Nevsky (a performance of majestic hauteur by Nikolai Cherkasov) becomes a national hero after raising a ragtag army from the people of Novgorod to successfully repel the invaders.
Sadly for the director, the film was a spectacular case of bad timing as, shortly after its completion, Russia signed a non-aggression pact with Germany and his film was instantly suppressed. Work of this quality is hard to keep down, however, and the film quickly became a classic, especially for the breathtaking battle on ice sequence and for the highly stylized armor that has influenced films down through the cinematic age, from Laurence Olivier’s Henry V to Star Wars.
Eisenstein restrained his earlier experimental style for his first sound film. Instead, he drew from Russian folk narratives and even borrowed a stylistic trope or two from Walt Disney. His great innovation in the film was the first cinematic use of editing a film to music. Eisenstein collaborated with composer Sergei Prokofiev, who created a rousing score that still thrives in the classical music canon. New 35mm print with newly translated subtitles!
“Eisenstein’s most spectacular film” —David Thomson
Presented in association with 98.1 Classical KING FM and SeattleWeekly
Cast & Crew
Director: Sergei Eisenstein, Dmitri Vasilyev
Editor: Sergei Eisenstein
Screenwriter: Sergei Eisenstein, Pyotr Pavlenko
Cinematographer: Eduard Tisse
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Principal Cast: Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrei Abrikosov, Dmitri Orlov
Filmography: Que Viva Mexico (1979); Ivan the Terrible, Part Two: The Boyar’s Plot (1958); Ivan the Terrible, Part One (1944); Old and New (1929); Ten Days That Shook the World (1928); Battleship Potemkin (1925); Strike
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