Peter the Great (VHS)

Critics panned, public shunned, fans loved this miniseries. It had the scope and budget of a blockbuster and was filmed with full cooperation of the Russian government. Many battle scenes feature Russian troops in period costumes. The soundtrack had a stirring main theme which some viewers found memorable. The cast had stars known to the public and European and Russian stars who were fresh and interesting.
Based loosely on the nonfiction book by Massie, which had a huge sales run for a history book about a foreign ruler, the plot had to be telescoped drastically to fit the events onto the tv screen and time frame. I saw it when first broadcast while I was taking a senior-graduate level history course using the Massie book.
The epic struggle of bringing Russia into the world community forced Peter to travel to Germany, France and England. He met leading monarchs and scientists of the day and ended up working in a Dutch shipyard beside his men while they created the basis of a Russian fleet.
His struggle with his wives and desperate need for an heir reminds us of Henry VIII. His military conquests forced by the need to get ports for Russia showed an almost medieval power emerging into the modern world. Another plot conflict was his struggle to break the power of the church, again like Henry VIII, except that Peter took bronze and iron bells from the churches to cast into cannon.
If you are unfamiliar with the period, I would suggest watching the series for its rich costuming, magnificent location shooting, and epic scale action. It has violence, mild sexuality, and a look into the old Russia. It is not for the viewer who needs the familiar, but for a viewer who can appreciate a large cast and plot twists and turns. I would think most fans of he PBS serial costume dramas would like it. Certainly it is better done as entertainment than the History Channel epics which sometimes become repetitious schlock and talk. Once you have enjoyed it, seek out other information, if you wish, to find out the historical inaccuracies and plot compression which bothered people who knew the story already.
I rate it excellent because it has so much to offer. Enjoy it. It will not be done better, and is certainly more accessible to the general public than Russian films like those of Eisenstein. Enjoy it even with some faults and revel in the soundtrack for its epic sound and Russian accents. The portrait of a giant,both physically and intellectually, raising Russia out of its past by strength of his will and personality is not one you will soon forget.