film “Alexander Nevsky”

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — I. A. Karpenko. A NEW IMAGE OF AN OLD HERO. PREPARING FOR THE FILMING OF MOVIE “ALEXANDER NEVSKY” IN 1952–1953 IN LENINGRAD

In the article the influence of state ideology on film production, on the example of preparing the script for the new movie “Alexander Nevsky” in 1952–1953, is examined. The article based on the complex of materials from Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg. These documents make it possible to trace how state ideological guidelines regulated the content of a work of art and ordered its authors to put ideology and clichés into the script and dialogues. The project proposed to Lenfilm by the USSR Minkino was supposed to work towards creating a correct view of both historical and contemporary events. One of the most interesting components of the documental complex is the recommendations of bureaucrats on how to understand and interpret the history of the 13th century in a historical perspective. On this basis, the filmmakers had to create a new image of the national hero.

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — Ju. Moshnik. “THE HEROIC TALE OF THE RUSSIAN ENGELBREKT”. FILM IMAGE OF ALEXANDER NEVSKY IN THE PRE-WAR FINNISH PRESS

“Alexander Nevsky” was the only motion picture of S. M. Eisenstein and the last Soviet film that was released to the public in Finland before the start of the Soviet-Finnish (Winter) War of 1939–1940. Even before the premiere in Helsinki on August 20, 1939, the Finnish press published articles about Eisenstein’s creative work and the success of “Alexander Nevsky” at the Soviet box office. After the premiere screening, critical reviews of the film were placed on their pages by all the central newspapers of the country. The interest of Finnish film critics in Eisenstein’s new picture was due not only to the outstanding artistic merits of the film, brilliant camera work and acting, but, above all, the relevance of the issues raised in the film for the modern political agenda.