rwbyington

I keep checking to see if this marvelous production has been transferred to DVD, but so far no luck. Vanessa Redgrave wonderfully portrays Sophie. Maximillian Schell (always good) is equally mesmerizing as Peter the Great. The production as a whole is faithful to Raymond Massie's book (same title) which I read twice many years ago. Having the smaller parts played by the likes of Omar Sharif, Laurence Olivier, and Trevor Howard is a real plus.

Peter's struggles with the Streltsy and the Boyars is faithfully portrayed. There is a pedestal in Red Square where the executions supposedly occurred. Peter the Great single handedly dragged Russia from Asia into Europe. He established the Russian navy and his first ship building effort is housed in a museum outside Moscow. I've seen the ship, but could never verify whether it was the original or a copy.

Russia's War: Blood Upon the Snow is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen (see also "Stalin: Man of Steel" DVD from the History Channel). It does a marvelous job explaining the prelude to the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, especially the impact of the Stalinist purges in the late 1930s. The annihilation of the officer corps plus Stalin's disregard of warnings from the British and his own intelligence services (he had his own spies executed for warning of the pending Nazi attack)left Russia almost completely defenseless. Each episode begins with a brief introduction by Henry Kissinger, but the wonderful narration is by Nigel Hawthorne (Yes, Prime Minister). I check at least monthly to see if a DVD version has been released. So far, no luck.