Alexander Nevsky/Алекса́ндр Не́вский (Film 1938 - ENG&ITA SUB)

Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Не́вский) is a 1938 Soviet historical drama film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. Audio in Russian with English and Italian subtitles (Click on CC).

The film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky (1220–1263).

Eisenstein made the film in association with Dmitri Vasilyev and with a script co-written with Pyotr Pavlenko. It was produced by Goskino via the Mosfilm production unit, with Nikolai Cherkasov in the title role and a musical score by Sergei Prokofiev. Alexander Nevsky was the first and most popular of Eisenstein's three sound films. Eisenstein, Pavlenko, Cherkasov and Abrikosov were awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 for the film.

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.

The film climaxes in the half-hour Battle of the Ice, propelled by Prokofiev's ominous, rousing, triumphant musical narrative, a sequence that has served as a model for epic movie battles ever since (e.g., Henry V, Spartacus, The Empire Strikes Back). This climactic set piece was the first to be filmed and, since it was shot during a blazing hot summer on a location outside Moscow, cinematographer Eduard Tisse had to take extraordinary steps to render a wintry landscape, including: use of a filter to suggest winter light, painting all the trees light blue and dusting them with chalk, creating an artificial horizon out of sand, and constructing simulated ice sheets out of asphalt and melted glass, supported by floating pontoons that were deflated on cue so that the ersatz ice sheets would shatter under the weight of the Teutonic knights according to pre-cut patterns.

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. 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.

In 1978, the film was included in the world's 100 best motion pictures according to an opinion poll conducted by the Italian publishing house Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.

Cast & Characters:
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