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by the characters of two of his close associates. The name of one of them is known from the chronicles of the Neva Victory; the other was a fictitious character, we may say, a descendant of a hero of any Novgorod epos.
The boldness of Buslai and the wisdom of Gavrilo stand on the right and left of Alexander who possesses both these qualities. The wise Prince knows how to refrain from abusing them and how to put them to good use for the common good. And the two men endowed with these characteristics so typical of Russian warriors displayed their courage — each in his own way — during the Battle on the Ice. A third character, Ignat the armourer, a thorough civilian, is also very much like them. He embodies the patriotic feelings of Novgorod craftsmen. Patriotism is the theme of the film.
Ice-covered Lake Chudskoye. What vastness! What boundless scope! How many temptations it offers to screen Russian winter, crystallike ice, snow-storms, traces on the snow, hoar-frosted beards and moustaches!. . . Frozen almost to death on the ice of Lake Ilmen (during our trip to Novgorod in the winter of 1938) we could hardly move our benumbed fingers to note down the effects produced by the boundless expanse of ice and snow clouds.
But there was some delay with the scenario and the only way out was to postpone shooting the winter scenes on location (they took up about sixty per cent of the entire film) to the winter of 1939. Or ... or follow the daring advice of director D. Vasilyev, a new member of our unit, and film winter in summer. Anxiously weighing the pros and cons, I again faced the alternative: real ice or real valour of the Russians? A magnificent symphony of ice brilliantly photographed by Eduard Tisse — next year — or the effective patriotic weapon of a finished film — now? And the aesthetic ice and snow melted. The appletrees in the back gardens of Potylikha, near the Mosfilm Studios, were transplanted elsewhere, roots and all, the ground was covered with a thick layer of chalk and liquid glass, and the venue was ready for the Battle on the Ice scene. The aesthetic refinement of our former works gave place to the political urgency of the theme.
The artificial winter was a success, complete and indisputable. No one saw the difference.
The reason we succeeded was because we did not try to imitate winter. We told no "lies" and did not try to fool the public with glass
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