Alexander Nevsky By Author’s Name

I had forgotten how great a film this is. You must, of course, put aside all our tedious modern gimmickry and realism … which surprisingly often obscure the true sense and impact of films … and accept Eisenstein’s work on its own terms. You then have something which literally brings tears to the eyes: the force of nobility and sacrifice which can, on occasion, stand over and above any flaws of nationalism, politics or calculated interest. You also have a stunning musical score from Prokoviev: tears to the eyes, indeed. The re-mastering is a success, though naturally the age of the filmstock shows through. Similarly, the sound track is a bit muddy, but Prokoviev’s score has the force and clarity to overcome that; the need to overcome the technical weakness almost, in itself, seems to underscore the concept of heroic nobility facing against the odds running through the whole film. The camera work is, of course, excellent if you allow yourself to accept the notion of declaratory symbolic representation of ideals. Do not forget the idealistic message of true socialism! 1938 … and the film shows almost uncanny foreknowledge of the Nazi assault on Russia to come, with all its horrors and ultimate victory. A great and unforgettable film.

It’s many years since I last saw this film but the horrific Teutonic headgear and the wonderful music (Prokofiev)made such an impression on me that I have never forgotten them.

Nevsky was a true hero and the actor who plays the role, rather a dish. This is a strange film. There are the usual ‘set scenes’ that one gets with Eisenstein and this time around I thought that the choral singing went on a little too long. I know that soldiers sang when marching but I’m not sure that they would have been up to this kind of thing.

The battle scenes are exciting and the Teutonic knights frightening. There’s the history again. This is considered by film buffs to be a masterpiece and I did enjoy it, though not as much as Ivan. If you are ‘into’ this kind of thing, go for it. You’ll never see anything else like it.

cette version anglo-russe est curieuse : les sous-titres anglais sont assez approximatifs dans leur rédaction…mais cela n’enlève rien à la majesté de l’aventure! un vieux film qu’il est intéressant de (re)découvrir…

This is certainly the most remarkable collection of films to come out in one DVD package. And I would really like to thank Criterion for overpricing their DVDs so much that I had very little overlap with my existing library, having passed on most of their editions of these films. Here are a few observations that might be of use to potential buyers:

1) the widescreen movies are anamorphic

2) Haxen is 104 min, substantially longer than the 77 min version that has shown on premium cable.

3) I compared the Janus versions of two films, Wages of Fear and Seven Samurai, with the Criterion versions I had. I expected them to be identical (figuring that Criterion probably did the work for Janus) but they were considerably different. In both cases, the Janus copies were amazingly superior: much better (and louder)sound, crisper images with fewer defects, much better definition in shadowy areas, and a much more stable image. I never realized how poor the Criterion prints were until I saw the comparison. It’s amazing the psychological effect of all that. In both cases, I was strongly tempted to continue watching the whole film with Janus, and found the Criterion copy ‘tiring’. The translations also differed, with Janus having fewer errors (e.g. Samurai’s “the rice we’re eating now” v.s. “the rice we’re eating, how”). I cannot wait to watch the rest of these films.

3. I could detect no difference between Anchor Bay’s and Janus’s Kind Hearts and Coronets.

4. The print of Lady Vanishes is the clearest I’ve seen. The el cheapo Brentwood print, in their Hitchcock collection, is unwatchable.

5. The one really bad aspect of the collection is that the DVDs are wedged tightly into paper slots. Every single disc was covered with tiny flecks of paper, and every disc was scratched, sometimes quite badly (but not enough to affect playback, I think). Whether this occurred putting the disc in, or taking it out, I can’t say. However, repeating this process would rapidly damage the surface. I put all the discs into individual cases, and I STRONGLY recommend doing so. Some of the discs felt like they were glued to the page, the packaging was so tight. If you are a real fanatic about surface defects, and don’t plan on reselling the set, you might even want to use a razor to cut the paper and LIFT the disc out. Whatever you do, don’t rotate the disc as you try to unstick it or you may get a spiralling defect.

Despite that caveat, this is an incredible bargain – less than $12 per film instead of $30 for Criterion’s. That makes those commentaries pretty bloody expensive.

One can only hope Janus will put out another 50 movies (hopefully in individual cases, though).