MOST OVERRATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME Its too facile to pick 1939s GWTW, and so I nominate the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film Alexander Nevsky. I remember going to see the film, for the first and only time, at Theatre 80 St. Marks, back in the 80s. I sat, wincing the entire time, while the acolytes cooed in ecstasy. My god, what a piece of shit. However, Prokofiev composed a truly awesome score for this monumental dreck; and, I assume, fearing his music would not get an immediate audience (Stalin initially squashed the film for being TOO anti German) fashioned a cantata(!) from the score. Interestingly, his Alexander Nevsky (Op. 78) debuted in Moscow on May 17, 1939, not quite three and one half months before the start of WWII. It is a superb work, here given a superb performance at the 2011 Proms. Yes, the Proms, the worlds greatest classical music festival, held at the worlds worst classical music venue. Ah. If you do not have tears streaming down your face during the mezzo solo (28:00), go check your pulse. Seriously.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:16:01 +0000
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