The Film 'Alexander Nevsky'

The film "Alexander Nevsky" is one of the most remarkable artistic collaborations in the history of the cinema. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein with a score composed by Sergei Prokofiev, it tells the patriotic story of the 13th-century Russian prince who repelled an invasion of marauding Teutonic Knights and saved Mother Russia. A classic example of film as propaganda, it was released just at the time Russia was again threatened by German invasion in 1939 and screened to boost the morale of battle-weary Soviet troops throughout World War Two. Now it's been re-released on both laser disc and VHS, with a new soundtrack recorded by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic led by Yuri Temirkanov. Harlow Robinson, chairman of the German and Slavic Languages Department at the State University of New York at Albany and author of a biography of Prokofiev, reviews this new version of the classic film and its new soundtrack, which is also available on CD.