Broninosets Potemkin (Battleship Potemkin). 1925. USSR. Written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein. Based on a scenario by Nina Agadzhanova-Shutko. With Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Maxim Strauch. 35mm print courtesy Kino Lorber. Silent, with music track. Russian and English intertitles. 75 min.
“Eisenstein’s theory of a performance as a series of shock-attractions was expanded out of the theater into cinema, where it more logically belonged. Aside from the almost legendary efficiency with which Potemkin was filmed (all shots of the funeral procession completed in one morning, the whole drams on the quarterdeck filmed in one day, etc.), [cinematographer Edward] Tisse’s ingenuity was ideal for Eisenstein’s invention. The slaughter on the steps needed filming techniques as original as the new principles.”