I knew it. This is the one of the very first movies I remember seeing. I was sick, staying home, probably round 7-8 years old and watching it on our old black and white TV (The box was white.) Some of the images for whatever reasons never got erased from my mind: the boats frozen into the lake, axes clashing on the supposedly 13th century helmets, that looked remarkably similar to the 20th century ones. My memory may have to do with the Hungarian title, that made it sounding noble and exciting: A jegmezok lovagja (Knight of the ice fields) And now almost 30 years later I watched it again.
Different experience. I didn’t even need to read the cover of the tape to realize that it was a propaganda movie. But I learned from the text there, that it was explicitly made by Stalin’s request to Eisenstein. Stalin asked him to make a movie that would provide spirit to the Russians in the coming war against Germany. It worked on me. I felt elevated despite the background knowledge. Prokofjev music also had a part in the effect. I could consider the acting by today’s standard’s awful. But instead I prefer to recognize the different style, instead of going for realistic they went for expressiveness and spirited. Hero talks in pep-talks only, the villains’ every act and move is shameful. One strength is the composition. Every scene, every shot is composed with careful attention, maximized for effect on the viewer: looking at the wide lakes your heart widens to the countryside, going into the town you feel the hierarchy of townsfolks … (Story: Teutonic army attacks Novgorod, Russia.Prince Nevsky is called to defend it. He successfully calls the peasants to serve in the army and ultimately beats the well organized Germans on frozen lake.)