General Suvorov (1941) – IMDb

A truly magnificent biopic co-directed by Pudovkin and Doller who had previously worked together on ‘The end of St. Petersburg’ fifteen years earlier. The subject of this is the brilliant military commander who served under Catherine the Great and her blockhead of a son Paul and achieved the rare feat of never having lost a battle. This inspirational figure is portrayed by Nicolay P. Cherkasov with Aleksandr Khanov as his second-in command, both of whom are excellent. By far the most effective scenes are those in the Swiss Alps. Pudovkin’s preferred cinematographers Golovniya and Lobova have captured extraordinarily majestic and beautiful images whilst the editing by V. Sukhova of the taking of the Gotthard Pass and Devil’s Bridge is breathtaking. This editor alas only worked on three films as far as I’m aware. Also effective is the scene where Suvorov addresses his weary, hungry and battle-scarred veterans known as the ‘gentleman cavaliers’ who proudly declare that they have never retreated in forty years. After his successful Italian campaign against the French, Suvorov was prevented by ‘politics’ from marching on Paris. Interesting to speculate how history would have changed had he been allowed to press on. As a postscript, within six months of this morale-boosting film being released Russia was attacked by Nazi Germany.