Eisenstein wrote the screenplay in 1925 as a revolutionary propaganda film, showcasing the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when a crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their officers. The memorable Odessa steps scene is iconic and chilling.
BATLESHIP POTEMKIN
A still from the famous
Odessa steps massacre in Potemkin.
Potemkin made its television
premiere in the US on the PBS series Film Odyssey in the early 1970s. It was
broadcast then as Potemkin. Judith Crist reviewed for TV Guide and corresponded
with me about the film. We corresponded about it via email shortly before her
death. Following are notes from files
about the 1970s screening, subsequent screenings, and screenings of other
Eisenstein films.
Film Notes:
Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948)
was commissioned by the Soviet Union’s government propaganda unit to film a
twentieth anniversary story of the unsuccessful 1905 revolution. Battleship Potemkin was released in 1925 and
it was much more than a standard propaganda film. It is cinematically radical
and an extremely accomplished film celebrated as one of the finest examples of
Soviet film and a masterful and historic contribution to film.
In
1905 Russia Lenin spoke of revolution: "Revolution is war. Of all the wars
known in history, it is the only lawful, rightful, just and truly Great War...In
Russia this war has been declared and won."
Sailors
aboard czarist battleship Potemkin, some sympathetic to Lenin, are tired of the
putrid meat served them. When their protests become too vocal, a group of them
are placed before a firing squad.
Before
the order is given to shoot, Vakulinchuk (Alexander Antonov), a bystander who
is also a sailor urges his comrades to revolt. Although Vakulinchuk is killed
in a bloody struggle, mutineers prevail and seize control of Potemkin.
Potemkin
sails into the harbor of Odessa and is greeted by thousands of men, women, and
children. An atmosphere of fervid revolutionary solidarity is established as all
gather against oppressors. Suddenly the militia appears and fires into the
crowd.
After
the Odessa massacre, Potemkin's crew comes face to face with the czar's armada.
Potemkin, poised for battle, signals its opponents to "join us." The
czar's ships lower their cannons, and the men on board unite with the crew of Potemkin
in the brotherhood of revolution.
When
Eisenstein was selected to direct a film celebrating the 20th anniversary of
the 1905 revolution, his grand vision was for an 8-part epic to be titled simply
1905, but adverse weather and impending deadlines forced them to film a single
revolutionary episode about Potemkin mutiny. This film runs 74 minutes, but it
is an historic 74 minutes with many influential scenes and compelling cinematography.
Famous,
the Odessa massacre Eisenstein so brilliantly and artistically filmed is pure propaganda,
it never happened. His Soviet
benefactors approved it and many Russians, largely ignorant of their history, believed
it accurate. It was an international critical success.
Over
the years, Potemkin has gained importance and many admirers. It was selected as
the greatest film ever made in a 1952 poll commissioned for the 1958 Brussels
World Fair. Eisenstein was voted the greatest director of all time in a 1962
survey taken by the British magazine Sight and Sound.
Eisenstein
pioneered a dynamic, virile, and consciously expressionistic style of editing,
now known as montage, according to many it reinvented cinema. Eventually,
the more organic films of such masters as Ozu and Renoir were to counter the
theories of Eisenstein, who himself retreated from the extremes of dynamic
editing in Ivan the Terrible Part 1 (1944) and later films. Paramount lured
Eisenstein to Hollywood in 1930 but, for, perhaps artistic reasons, the Soviet director
could not decide on a project and no film resulted.
A
few years before Ivan, Eisenstein remained enthusiastic about the manipulative
potential of montage. He is known as the “Father of Montage.”
Propaganda
was an integral part of Potemkin, Strike (1924), and earlier Eisenstein films. This
denies viewers an association with a “hero” or a “heroine” in favor of a “heroic
collective.”
Potemkin,
at times, uses overly simplistic symbolism for propaganda sake, such as the
devious priest who wields a crucifix in a hatchet-like movement. The film is
marred also by an overall grounding in righteous vindictiveness, the brutality
of the czarist slaughter on the Odessa steps, the slash across the woman’s
face, the baby carriage with an infant rolling down the steps, the bizarre appearance of the devious priest, the soldiers walking on the body of a wounded boy, etc.
Nevertheless, Potemkin
remains a superbly crafted film, and its extraordinary 7-minute "Odessa
steps" sequence remains among cinema’s most potent and memorable scenes.
It is, to some, a masterpiece of propaganda and, by my long experience with the
film, a crowd pleaser. Potemkin is also a though proving masterpiece of manipulation
and propaganda.James Patterson
Adviser, Gish Theater BGSU
Member, San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Member, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Member, Film Society of Lincoln Center
415 516 3493
JamesPatterson705@gmail.com
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