Alexander Nevsky

Just watched Eisenstein's 1938 sound film Alexander Nevsky... Leaving aside the thorny issue of state sponsored propaganda, the film remains an incredibly thrilling spectacle, as 13th century warrior-Prince Alexander answers the call from Mother Russia to defend her land against invading Germans (who think nothing of throwing Russian infants onto bonfires). The film's most famous section, the ice battle, where swirling masses of Russians and Germans clash on a frozen tundra is hugely exciting stuff; Eisenstein falling back on techniques he mastered with his silent films - the under-cranked camera, the rapid-fire cuts, creates a sequence of tremendous sweep and motion. Watching the film, I see echoes of Alexander Nevsky in later historical epics like Doctor Zhivago, Andrei Rublev, Conan the Barbarian and Kingdom of Heaven. And I'd like to think that John Ford saw a print of this at Fox and admired Eisenstein's massive monochrome skies...