Funny
enough, the youTube version of this online for free has better sound and video
than the DVD I received from Netflix. Thank god because I
don’t know if I could have sat through this historical epic with scratchy music
and dulled almost blurry images. This is disappointing because this film
deserves a great transfer. I really hope someone out there has
a mint-condition print of this Sergei Eisentein masterpiece because it deserves
the attention of anyone who likes going back in time and watching early works
of cinema. This call-to-arms film was just the kind of film to
motivate the Soviets during WWII against the Nazis. There the invaders
are not the Nazis but the Teutonic knights. Their siege of the
city of Pskov is one of the most violent sequences I’ve seen from a film made
during that time (at least that I can remember as I write
this). It’s shocking and hard to watch. Then there’s our
hero the Russian king Nevsky leading his army into battle in a sequence so
ahead of its time you almost feel like you’re watching something shot today in
black and white. Grade: A-
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