Battleship Potemkin

Starring:Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo, Grigori Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Ivan Bobrov, Brodsky, Julia Eisenstein, Andrei Fajt, Konstantin Feldman, A. Glauberman, Mikhail Gomorov, Korobei, Aleksandr Levshin, Marusov, N. Poltavseva, Prokopenko, Protopopov, Repnikova, Beatrice Vitoldi
Director: Grigori Aleksandrov
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
Sergei Eisenstein's revolutionary sophomore feature has so long stood as a textbook example of montage editing that many have forgotten what an invigoratingly cinematic experience he created. A 20th-anniversary tribute to the 1905 revolution, Eisenstein portrays the revolt in microcosm with a dramatization of the real-life mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. The story tells a familiar party-line message of the oppressed working class (in this case the enlisted sailors) banding together to overthrow their oppressors (the ship's officers), led by proto-revolutionary Vakulinchuk. When he dies in the shipboard struggle the crew lays his body to rest on the pier, a moody, moving scene where the citizens of Odessa slowly emerge from the fog to pay their respects. As the crowd grows Eisenstein turns the tenor from mourning a fallen comrade to celebrating the collective achievement. The government responds by sending soldiers and ships to deal with the mutinous crew and the supportive townspeople, which climaxes in the justly famous (and often imitated and parodied) Odessa Steps massacre. Eisenstein edits carefully orchestrated motions within the frame to create broad swaths of movement, shots of varying length to build the rhythm, close-ups for perspective and shock effect, and symbolic imagery for commentary, all to create one of the most cinematically exciting sequences in film history. Eisenstein's film is Marxist propaganda to be sure, but the power of this masterpiece lies not in its preaching but its poetry. --Sean Axmaker
Description
Based on the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin" is often voted one of the ten greatest films ever made, this program includes a powerful musical score by N Kruikov.

Average customer rating:

A Classic

Battleship Potemkin

Eisenstein's incredible historical classic

Great Soviet Propaganda Film

Great Classic Needs New Transfer Badly

Battleship Potemkin
Starring: Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo , Grigori Aleksandrov , Aleksandr Antonov , Vladimir Barsky , and Ivan Bobrov
Director: Grigori Aleksandrov
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

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ASIN: B0001EFTXI
Release Date: 2004-03-10

Amazon.com essential video

Sergei Eisenstein's revolutionary sophomore feature has so long stood as a textbook example of montage editing that many have forgotten what an invigoratingly cinematic experience he created. A 20th-anniversary tribute to the 1905 revolution, Eisenstein portrays the revolt in microcosm with a dramatization of the real-life mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. The story tells a familiar party-line message of the oppressed working class (in this case the enlisted sailors) banding together to overthrow their oppressors (the ship's officers), led by proto-revolutionary Vakulinchuk. When he dies in the shipboard struggle the crew lays his body to rest on the pier, a moody, moving scene where the citizens of Odessa slowly emerge from the fog to pay their respects. As the crowd grows Eisenstein turns the tenor from mourning a fallen comrade to celebrating the collective achievement. The government responds by sending soldiers and ships to deal with the mutinous crew and the supportive townspeople, which climaxes in the justly famous (and often imitated and parodied) Odessa Steps massacre. Eisenstein edits carefully orchestrated motions within the frame to create broad swaths of movement, shots of varying length to build the rhythm, close-ups for perspective and shock effect, and symbolic imagery for commentary, all to create one of the most cinematically exciting sequences in film history. Eisenstein's film is Marxist propaganda to be sure, but the power of this masterpiece lies not in its preaching but its poetry. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Stylistically, The Battleship Potemkin serves as a revolutionary film, not only in its subject matter, but also in its unique use of montage. As a pioneer who championed a new purpose for cinema, Eisenstein proposed a "kino fist" approach to filmmaking, one in which the film attacks the viewer's senses with symbolic metaphors, rhythmic editing, and highly-charged melodrama. Includes a rare documentary on Eisentein.

DUAL LAYER DISC
Collectible poster included

Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2007-06-19

My first (and until now only) encounter with this film was in a high school film studies elective I took. The teacher showed the scene of the massacre on the Odessa stairs, and the baby carriage, and then showed us clips from various other movies that had imitated it.

In the years since I've always been glad I knew that little piece of film trivia, because it does pop up every now and again, everywhere from the Naked Gun movies to the most recent Star Wars film.

And that one scene alone probably makes this movie worth watching, if for no other reason than to be able to catch the various references to it in other films, and then pat yourself on the back for what a cultured person you are.

As for the rest of the movie...
I'd love to say that it was actually really interesting once you get into it, but lets face it, this is a silent film made for a generation with longer attention spans and lower expectations. I'd be lying if I said there weren't any parts I yawned through. However once the action does get started, it is surprising intense, especially given how old this film is.

This movie is also one of the first examples of film propaganda, and so is interesting in that respect as well. Obviously as one of the first attempts it's not perfect, and hits you over the head a little bit too hard. (The art of good propaganda is not letting the audience realize they're being propagandized). My favorite is the over the top portrayal of the evil priest.

Then again, I can think of several Hollywood movies that lack subtlety. Maybe we only notice how ridiculous this movie is because it is old and because it's communist.

I suppose it's probably pointless to debate the moral qualities of this movie because it is now nothing more than an historical oddity. It is old, the techniques it employees are no longer effective on the modern audience, and the regime that created it no longer exists.

And yet, perhaps because of my protestant upbringing, I still have the urge to examine this film and classify it as either good or bad.

Obviously this film is tainted by its association with Stalin, but the actual events portrayed in the film (the failed 1905 Russian Revolution) are safely removed from the evils of the Bolshevik regime. Can a person with progressive politics watch this movie and simply appreciate the story about soldiers who refused to open fire on the people when ordered, and instead joined in a popular uprising? This is, after all, not only the story of the Russian Revolution, but Europe in 1848, Paris in 1871, and the German Revolution in 1918.

The various historical liberties the film takes makes it slightly harder to defend. Apparently there was no actual massacre on the Odessa steps, although there were a few demonstrators killed in scuffles with the army. And the circumstances of the Potemkin mutiny are also in debate.

Battleship Potemkin.......2007-06-18

Oppressed by their commanding officers, the enlisted crewmen of the Battleship Potemkin stage a mutinous revolt in 1905 Russia, led by charismatic young sailor Vokulinchuk (Antonov). When he is killed during the violent skirmish that results, the citizens of port town Odessa join the struggle against the Czarist regime.

Eisenstein's exhilarating, world-renowned masterpiece re-creates the ill-starred 1905 Russian Revolution that presaged the Bolshevik uprising twelve years later. Celebrated for its brilliant rapid-cut montage techniques, "Potemkin" is a rousing film of great emotional and symbolic richness whose visual sweep and driving energy were unparalleled at the time. The famous Odessa Steps sequence, in which a baby carriage goes careening down stairs as the Cossacks massacre rebellious townsfolk, has been imitated many times, most recently in "The Untouchables." For 69 minutes of pure, visceral cinema, board Battleship Potemkin.

Eisenstein's incredible historical classic.......2007-06-05

"Battleship Potemkin", a vintage 1925 silent film still remains today a seminal offering in moviemaking history. Sergei Eisenstein, skewing historical facts a tad chronicles the failed 1905 Russian Revolution which attempted to overthrow the yoke of Tsarism. Tiring of oppressive rule and defeat at the hands of the Japanese in the Russo Japanese War, the proliteriat grew weary of the Tsarist regime.

News of a worker's revolution had spread to the beleaguered crew of the Potemkin. Unhappy with the squalid conditions aboard tempers began to percolate as the men were being forced to consume spoiled maggot infested meat. As a group they refused to eat a meal of soup and were threatened by Captain Golikov with hanging. When he ordered a group of protesters shot by the armed guard aboard the ship a mutiny ensued. During the violence that followed, ringleader sailor Vakulinchuk was killed.

The corpse of Vakulinchuk was brought ashore in Odessa were its was displayed in martyred fashion to the thongs of citizens of Odessa. The sympathy of the massive crowds leaned towards the rebellious crew and against the Tsarist government. Suddenly as a mass of people congregated, one of the most famous scenes in cinema history unfolded. The superbly choreographed and photographed massacre on the steps of Odessa played out under Eisenstein's direction. The Tsar's Cossack soldiers began shooting at the innocent people cheering for the Potemkin on the steps. The moving scene with the baby carriage hurtling down the steps will forever be etched in any viewer's memory.

The guns of the Potemkin blazed gainst the city in retaliation as she and her crew turned to meet a squadron of the Russian Navy ordered to engage her. They bravely steamed ahead to met their ultimate fate.

Great Soviet Propaganda Film .......2007-05-06

This classic silent film is about one of the events leading up to the Russian Revolution, the mutiny of the Potemkin and the Russian Navy.

A great film for silent and/or war film buffs. The scene on the Steps of Odessa is classic propaganda at it's best! Overall it gives one an idea of conditions during pre-revolution Russia and a glimpse into the reasons there was one.

Great Classic Needs New Transfer Badly.......2007-01-27

There is no reason to wait any longer for a better transfer of this classic. There was a Japanese laserdisc release fifteen years ago from a pristine film source; the intertitles were in Russian and Japanese (an interesting combination since the events of the film took place during the Russian-Japanese War of 1905). The opening sequence of water rushing over a diversionary dam, and of the sailors on their cots, is simply astoundingly better than any transfer we have seen released in America on any format. If the rumor is true of a 2004 digital remastering, we have waited three years too long for a quality DVD release. A film this great needs to be seen in the best transfer for its reputation to be understood by all. Eisenstein directed the details, and the better the transfer the more details will be seen. None of current DVD transfers are at all acceptable.

Average customer rating:

A Classic
Battleship Potemkin
Eisenstein's incredible historical classic
Great Soviet Propaganda Film
Great Classic Needs New Transfer Badly

Battleship Potemkin
Starring: Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo , Grigori Aleksandrov , Aleksandr Antonov , Vladimir Barsky , and Ivan Bobrov
Director: Grigori Aleksandrov
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
October (Ten Days That Shook the World)
Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition)
The Birth of a Nation
Un Chien Andalou

ASIN: 6305090033
Release Date: 1998-10-07

Amazon.com essential video

Description

Based on the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin" is often voted one of the ten greatest films ever made, this program includes a powerful musical score by N Kruikov.

Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2007-06-19