The historical drama film “Alexander Nevsky” was released on the screens of the USSR in 1938. This meant the inclusion of the saint prince Alexander Nevsky in the ideological system of the new state. In fact, it was a kind of “the birth of a hero”. A new image of Alexander Nevsky, who was no longer associated with the church cult and could be included in the pantheon of prominent historical figures of Russia, acceptable to Soviet ideology.
At the end of August of 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. This event changed the Soviet ideology in its relation to Germany. It also gave rise to the historiographical myth of the film being prohibited 1939. However, the materials of periodicals prove, that the rental of the film continued after August 1939. At the same time, the geography of the cities of the USSR, in which the film was shown in the fall of 1939, is very extensive. This completely disproved the idea of ​​prohibition, which is reproduced in many studies.