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[[caption-width-right:350:''"Go tell all in foreign lands that Rus lives!"'']]

->''"Let all come and be our guests. But he who comes to us sword in hand, by the sword shall he perish. On this Rus stands and will forever stand."''

''Alexander Nevsky'' (Russian: ''Александр Невский'') is a 1938 UsefulNotes/{{Soviet|Russia Ukraine And So On}} UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n {{epic|movie}} historical drama film directed by Creator/SergeiEisenstein, also known for ''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'' and ''Film/IvanTheTerrible''. Sergei Prokofiev composed the soundtrack, and it stars Creator/NikolayCherkasov in the title role.

The film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in [[TheHighMiddleAges the 13th century]] by UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire and their defeat by the Russian people, led by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky. (In order to deal with the Knights, he foregoes a campaign against [[TheHorde the Mongols]].) It begins as the knights invade and conquer the city of Pskov with the help of the [[LesCollaborateurs traitor]] Tverdilo and massacre its population. In the face of resistance by the [[AristocratsAreEvil boyars]] and merchants of Novgorod (urged on by the monk [[CorruptChurch Ananias]]), Nevsky rallies the common people of Novgorod and in a decisive Battle of the Ice, on the surface of the frozen Lake Chudskoe.

It is worth noting that because the movie was made during the [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalinist]] regime, it also contains quite a few Soviet political subtexts, such as the anti-religious, anti-German stance of the communist government of that time and the portrayal of Nevsky as a wise and courageous leader―reflecting how Stalin had himself portrayed during his "cult of personality" campaign. Unfortunately for Eisenstein, the film debuted just months before the non-aggression treaty between [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the USSR]] and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, and he was forced to pull the movie from theaters... until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII 1941]], after which it was hurried into theaters again, being just the kind of propaganda that was needed. The film is considered an excellent work and enjoyed great success and continuing influence both in and outside the Soviet Union/Russia.
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!!This film provides examples of the following tropes:

* ActionGirl: Vasilisa of Pskov. She avenges her father's death by gearing up and taking to the battlefield. Contrary to [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon another trope]], one of the other heroes [[AmazonChaser actively pursues the amazon]].
* AllGermansAreNazis: And this was ''before'' World War II.
* AristocratsAreEvil: Novgorod boyars are depicted as a corrupt and cowardly lot, willing to sell out the city to the enemies. Prince Alexander is an exception -- mainly because, in the movie, he is portrayed as a hero of the common folk.
* BattleHaltingDuel: Nevsky and the Grandmaster duel each other. Unfortunately; it ends up looking somewhat silly to modern audiences (at one point the Grandmaster seems to teleport into the middle of the screen).
* BeardOfEvil: Inverted. The Russians have beards while the Teutonic Knights are all clean-shaven, which is a [[ArtisticLicenseHistory departure from history]]: their rule ''required'' them to sport a beard. This was probably for patriotic reasons, as the Russian Orthodox Church ''also'' once required its members to have beards and not shave, so it serves as an easy way to highlight differences from the Russian perspective.
* BigBad: Hermann von Balk, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights invading Rus.
* BigBadassBattleSequence: The Battle on the Ice, which takes up the entire middle portion of the film. It was probably the largest example of this trope that existed in 1938, and had an enduring influence on subsequent battle scenes in movies.
* BlackCloak: Many of the Teutonic monks, which makes them immediately recognizable as ObviouslyEvil.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality + ObviouslyEvil: You ''immediately'' tell the bad guys from the good ones.
* TheBlacksmith: Ignat.
* BloodlessCarnage: Not a single drop of blood is shed in the film, despite an impressive body count. Perhaps due to a SpecialEffectsFailure, as it was much more difficult to create realistic gore in the 1930s.
* BraidsOfAction: Vasilisa has these, though to be fair, ''all'' the women seem to have them, regardless of whether they participate in the battle.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end, Alexander makes a speech about how people who forget the victory are Judases. He looks directly at the audience several times.
* CanisLatinicus: The OminousLatinChanting that serves as a {{leitmotif}} for the Teutonic Knights is a WordSalad that was [[https://caneweb.org/new/?p=3787 made up by Sergei Prokofiev and Vladimir Lugovskoy]].
* CasualDangerDialogue: Between Alexander and Ignat while fighting off Teutonic Knights.
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Orthodox Christianity is almost completely absent from the movie. Only in the end does Prince Alexander pay a visit to the Archbishop of Novgorod. Russian churches have no crosses on top, Russian banners represent some fantastic beasts (in reality, they would feature an icon of Christ), and there are no priests in Alexander's army. Essentially, medieval Russians as portrayed by Eisenstein are either pagans or [[HollywoodAtheist non-Hollywood Atheists]]. This was {{enforced}} by Soviet state policies, which were pro-atheism.
* CockFight: Olga promises marriage to the man who fights more bravely in the battle, leading Vasili and Gavrilo to compete during the battle. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted, as Gavrilo is mortally wounded and Vasili refuses to marry Olga as it would imply that Gavrilo was a coward]].
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: In the battle on the ice, the Teutonic Knights wear white surcoats and bucket-shaped helmets, the Russians wear dark clothing and conical helmets.
* CombatByChampion: Played with. It takes place near the end of the battle, but it's still only after [[spoiler:Alexander's victory in the duel]] that the outcome becomes clear.
* CorruptChurch: The hideously withered archbishop and the black monk Grigory wish to subject the Russian people to UsefulNotes/ThePope, while the Russian monk [[MeaningfulName Ananias]] is willing to betray the people of Novgorod to UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights.
* ChurchMilitant: "There is one God in Heaven, and one servant of God on Earth. Everything that does not bow before Rome shall [[KillItWithFire be put to death]]".
* DangerThinIce: As the Rus prepare to meet the invading Teutonic Knights on Lake Chudskoe[[note]]also called Lake Peipus in Western sources[[/note]], Alexander is warned that the ice is thin and might crack. In response, Alexander notes that the Germans' armor, not to mention their warhorses, are heavier than those of the Rus, with the implication that the invaders are at greater risk from the ice's condition. During the ensuing battle, the famous "Battle on the Ice", the retreating German force blunders onto or is driven onto a section of the lake where the ice is relatively thin, and many of the knights drown when the ice gives way.
* DeathIsDramatic: [[spoiler: Gavrilo Olexich, who gets his own DyingSpeech]].
* DoomedMoralVictor: The mayor of Pskov at the beginning of the film.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Vasiliy pulls this off in the middle of the battle.
* DueToTheDead: A lengthy sequence after the battle pans over the Russian dead, with some of them calling out the names of their loved ones with their dying breaths, with the lyrics on the soundtrack being an ode to those who gave their lives for the freedom of Rus.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Oh God, that was one difficult battle.
* EpicMovie: A BattleEpic, to be specific. It was one of the largest cinematic productions in Russian history at the time, backed directly by the Kremlin.
* EvilOverlord: The Pope, as represented by the archbishop; the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
* {{Exposition}}: Done in a very archaic, silent-era way.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Just as UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights are used as [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazis By Another Name]], the Mongols represent the [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Japanese]].
* FateWorseThanDeath: Possible the fate of the Grand Master. Being defeated in a duel and held by his enemies for ransom is certainly a great humiliation.
* FacelessGoons: The soldiery of UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights wear helmets covering the entire face except for a narrow slit for eyes which cannot be seen.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ignat the blacksmith notes that the chainmail shirt he got is too short. He notes the same thing after [[spoiler:he's stabbed in a neck by a prisoner]].
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The film features a Russian Orthodox saint as a protagonist, presents medieval Russia in a positive light, and glorifies non-Communist Russian patriotism. All these things were looked down upon by Soviet authorities and intellectuals critical of what was termed Great Russian Chauvinism, yet Eisenstein got away with it.
* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Novgorod at its height was a feudal republic with the prince being elected by the city council, severely limited in power and mostly just a figurehead -- unless there was an imminent military threat. By contrast, the Knights were vassals of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, and the Mongols... You get the idea.
* HateSink: The entire army of the Teutonic Knights, since they slaughter innocent civilians and throw crying toddlers into bonfires. Grand Master in particular since he is their leader in this.
** The Bishop counts too. He might not have directly ordered the crimes, but he gave his blessings to them.
** Finally, Tverdillo qualifies big time. He betrayed the Russian people and helped the German Teutonic knights in their crimes. [[spoiler:It was very satisfying to see him being torn by the mob.]]
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade:
** Prince Alexander was a very shrewd politician who spent most of his life feuding with other Russian princes. Also, he submitted to the Mongols and paid tribute to them after seeing them obliterate nearly every other Russian state - in fact, the army he led against the Teutonics did include some mongol cavalry. The film -- following a [[OlderThanTheyThink tradition]] much older than Stalinism -- focuses on his younger years.
** Knowing the Bylins (heroic folk stories) makes Vasiliy Buslay look more like HeroicComedicSociopath. Remember his plans of going to Volga to "play with the [[AxCrazy axe]]".
* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler: Tverdilo surrenders to Ignat, then grabs his knife and stabs him in the throat before running away]].
* InItsHourOfNeed: The prince personally leads his army into a battle against overwhelming odds.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Tverdilo, the traitor, is turned over to the people of Novgorod by Nevsky, and is subsequently killed by the mob]].
* KickTheDog: Just to show how evil they are, a Mongol warrior lays a whip across the back of a young Russian peasant for daring to stand in the presence of the Mongol ambassador; and the ambassador climbs into his carriage on the back of one of his servants. Later, the Teutonic Knights toss infants onto a bonfire.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Nevsky and his troops wear shining armor, with helmets shaped like Russian church spires.
* KnightTemplar: UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights ruthlessly slaughter all who oppose them, in Pskov going so far as to [[spoiler:burn their opponents' children alive]].
* LightIsNotGood: The Knights and monks are wearing pristine white capes and robes.
* LoveTriangle: With Vasili and Gavrilo competing for the affections of Olga. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted, as Gavrilo dies and Vasili chooses to marry Vasilisa instead]].
* TheManMakesTheWeapon: Alexander tells the blacksmith that it is man's arm not the tempering that gives the sword its strength
* MedievalMorons: Boldly subverted, despite the fact that Soviet cultural conventions of the time basically ''required'' Old Rus to be portrayed as a [[TheDungAges Dung Age]] filled with superstitious nitwits.
* MickeyMousing: The Battle on the Ice is edited to sync with Prokofiev's soundtrack. Eisenstein and Prokofiev got the idea after a visit to Creator/WaltDisney himself.
* ModestRoyalty: During his exile in Pereyaslavl, Alexander wears simple peasant clothing and hangs out with local fishermen. Even after being restored as Prince of Novgorod, he refrains from showing off his status (TruthInTelevision, because in Novgorod, the prince was more of a provisional military leader rather than an all-powerful sovereign).
* [[strike:[[HollywoodTactics Hollywood]]]] [[HollywoodTactics Mosfilm Tactics]]: Some instances, but the writers tried to follow the course of the battle as described by Old Russian chronicles.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: It is ''possible'' that the archbishop is supposed to represent particularly the then [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope, Pius XI]], who was ardently anti-communist; the cardinal bears a very superficial resemblance to the rather emaciated pontific. Alexander, of course, stands for [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]], as he wished to be considered, though there is no physical resemblance.
* OhCrap: Lots of freaked-out stares during the battle, by both sides.
* OminousLatinChanting: Scenes with the Teutonic Knights are accompanied by a sinister Latin chorus, which rises in a crescendo during the battle scene, to indicate that the Teutons were evil Catholics fighting the good-guy Russians. Prokofiev's scoring for this scene sounds similar enough to Carl Orff's ''Music/CarminaBurana'' to have inspired, perhaps, the use of "''O Fortuna''" in subsequent movies. (The Orff piece was written earlier -- by ''one'' year.) The chanted words ''"Peregrinus expectavi pedes meos in cymbalis"'' are themselves snipped from various places in Music/IgorStravinsky's ''A Symphony of Psalms'', quite possibly as a subtle TakeThat to his contemporary. Prokofiev evidently realized that practically no-one in the audience would know Latin: the assembled chant is WordSalad meaning something like "A pilgrim -- I awaited -- my feet -- on the cymbals."
* PatrioticFervor: Hell, yeah. Although it's useful to consider that it was a very unusual thing at that time and place.
* PopCulturalOsmosis: The enormously successful film cemented the Battle on the Ice in Russian imagery. Most later takes on the subject (paintings, historical novels, ''etc''.) drew more on Eisenstein's film than on scant historical sources. Also, few people in Russia know about the Biblical origins of the famous "die by the sword" quote. And it's [[BeamMeUpScotty very often misquoted]].
* ProperLady: Olga Danilova.
* ProtagonistTitle: ''Alexander Nevsky''.
* PuttingOnTheReich: The helmets worn by the Teutonic soldiers resemble exaggerated versions of German soldiers' ''Stahlhelm'' from the early 20th century. And the archbishop wears a mitre [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Nevski5.jpg with swastikas!]] Quite possibly the earliest example of the trope (five years after the Nazis took power).
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Not only does Prince Alexander lead the Russian troops, but when we first see him in the film, he is among a number of fishermen setting their nets.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Olga to both Vasili Buslai and Gavrilo Olexich. She doesn't get much characterization beyond being happy when the Russians win [[spoiler: and sad when Gavrilo dies]].
* SceneryGorn: The frozen lake, strewn with bodies of fallen warriors. Oh, and the Mongol-induced devastation at the beginning.
* {{Sidekick}}s: Alexander has two, [[RecklessSidekick Vasiliy]] [[PluckyComicRelief Buslay]] and [[WarriorPoet Gavrilo Oleksich]].
* ShownTheirWork: Despite heavily fictionalizing the story and throwing in a few inaccuracies [[AuthorTract for ideological reasons]], the writers took pains to research the period. For instance, a Teutonic monk is playing an organ during the battle: this [[RealityIsUnrealistic was taken from the Livonian Chronicle]], albeit it really happened [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory in another battle]].
* SinisterMinister: The bishop who rides with the Teutonic knights.
* TheSociopath: Grand Master Hermann von Balk, a fanatic who is willing to slaughter villages and personally throw babies into fires to conquer Rus.
* SortingAlgorithmOfVillainThreat: Prince Alexander decides that the Knights represent a greater threat than the Mongols.
* SpikesOfVillainy: The Knights' helmets emphasize grasping eagle talons or animal horns.
* SpitefulSpit: Gavrilo Olexich does this to one Teutonic knight before putting an axe in his neck.
* TakeNoPrisoners: Averted. At the end of the film, Alexander asks what is to be done with the German prisoners. One of his lieutenants says to let the mooks go free because "they were forced to fight," and Alexander then says that the Knights (including the Grand Master) will be kept for ransom.
* TinTyrant: The Grand Master and the higher-ups in the Knights wear horned or decorated helmets that would make a fantasy BlackKnight proud.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Vasilisa and Olga, respectively.
* TranslationConvention: All German characters speak Russian (not the butchered version (see below), but completely modern and normal).
* UncertainDoom: The German bishop is last seen lying down on the ice and later we see the knights drowning. As he is not seen with the arrested leaders afterwards, it can be assumed he drowned along with the majority of the knights.
* UnexplainedRecovery: Vasiliy and Gavrilo
* WarriorPoet: Alexander is as good with words as he is with swords. His {{sidekick}} Gavrilo Oleksich also qualifies.
* TheWisePrince: Alexander is presented as an excellent ruler who actually cares about his people.
* WouldHurtAChild: The Knights are introduced tossing live children into bonfires.
* WorldOfHam: The entire cast is quite hammy. Justified by the relatively recent transition from silent cinema, where eye-rolling and emoting was much more common.
* [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe Ye Old Butcherede Russhyanne]]: All the Russian characters speak faux Old Russian, sometimes bordering on [[YouNoTakeCandle Yoda Speak]]. Unusual word order have the English subtitles on DVD versions.
* YouKilledMyFather: The reason why [[ActionGirl Vasilisa]] goes to war.
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