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> Battleship Potemkin |
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Staring:
Aleksandr Antonov,
Vladimir Barsky,
Grigori Aleksandrov,
Ivan Bobrov,
Mikhail Gomorov
Director:
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $5.95
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0018111234191
Format: Black & White, DVD, Silent, NTSC
Label: Delta
Manufacturer: Delta
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Delta
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-03-10
Running Time: 66
Studio: Delta |
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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
Amazon.com
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
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Wow, Battleship Potemkin 1925 goes Blu-ray !!! (INCREDIBLE) (explained), 2010-05-09
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN from the Russian Series "The Year 1905". Proclaimed as on of the BEST FILMS ever made (silent or sound)!!!!
That is a claim that was hard to swallow especially since this was a silent film. In todays world, sitting and watching subtitles and a black and white 1925 Standard Ratio film seems meaningless and a waste of time.
Well let me tell you this film has showed up on every Best Film list ever made including "1001 Movies you must see before you die" so I took the Challenge. First I saw the VHS version and struggled to watch this classic and the poor quality (picture and sound) was horrible!!! So I wondered how could this film be rated so highly by ALL THE EXPERTS.
ATTENTION: The HD Blu-ray Home Theater (Large 9' Projection Screen) Environment with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 does the trick. Especially since "Battleship Potemkin" has been remastered to the closest version of it's original 1925 premier with the Music Score by Edmund Meisel (1926) a full orchestra sound track. OUTSTANDING!!!!
Kino International gets 5 STARS in presenting this movie at its finest!!!!!!
The picture photography, clarity, story telling, direction, editing is perfect!!! Remember this was 1925. You get to see and hear it better than the cinema version from 1925, thanks to this Blu-ray presentation. The movie delivers a timeless message against war in a very touching way. Don't miss this classic film and enjoy its wonderful story and the genius of Russian Director Sergei M. Eisenstein.
Special Features Include; A 42 minute documentary. The restored film with new English or Russian intertitles. The original 1926 Edmund Meisel musical score presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Photo galleries.
NOTE: Since this is a very rare experience if at all possible rent it first!!! Then determine if you would want this as a HD Blu-ray library addition. I have it and have watched 3 times already because of its greatness, I do agree now with this Blu-ray version that "Battleship Potemkin" is one of the great films of all times. Enjoy.
Eisenstein classic, 2010-06-12
A classic silent movie by Russian director Sergey Eisenstein. He employed advanced (for the time) cinematic techniques in its production. Lots of Russian propaganda but this version is more true to the intention of the director. It was rather inspiring. Worth viewing just for the views of Odessa.
Battleship Potemkin, 2010-06-24
Potemkin, the Eisenstein classic, is a great film restoration proving that Blu-Ray can make old films even better. I am hoping that ALL of the Eisenstein films get similar treatment.
Blu-ray: "Battleship Potemkin" is a Blu-ray release that a cineaste must have in their collection!, 2010-07-16
The great Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, known for films such as the 1938 "Alexander Nevsky" and the 1944-1946 films "Ivan the Terrible", but if there was one movie that the filmmaker will be remembered for is his 1925 masterpiece "The Battleship Potemkin". A film based on the true story of the sailors of the Battleship Potemkin that rebelled against the officers of the Tsarist regime.
When Eisenstein created "Potemkin", his goal was to create a revolutionary propaganda film and in the process, the film would inspire many filmmakers at that time, including other silent film stars such as Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who absolutely loved the film and started screening the film to fellow friends in hope for distribution in the US.
Back in 1925, the film received a standing ovation in Russia and was no doubt a major success during its Bolshoi premiere in Moscow. But its public premiere, like many other silent film masterpieces such as "Sunrise" and "Metropolis" received a less enthusiastic response. But as the film made its round to the US, despite seeing a censored version of the film, "Battleship Potemkin" was very daring for its use of violence in the film. For Eisenstein and fellow Soviet filmmakers, the test for the director was the use of film editing to create an emotional response for the viewers.
And as the film made its round to other countries, having been edited in Germany, the film that was shown in 1925 was now a more politically correct film that would feature less on the violence and more of the story but unfortunately over the years, the film would be tampered with in order to fit music, frames were stretched and cut and with too much editing, by the time people wanted to celebrate Eisenstein's masterpiece, no one knew how the original film was supposed to be, the original film was considered lost and footage cut was never restored. Even when the repeatedly cut negative was returned to the USSR in the '40s, the reprint was further edited, stretched and retitled.
In fact, the film would have a chance to receive another for restoration in the 1970s by Eisenstein scholar Naum Kleinman who tried to restore it using negative and other print materials but having had to work with the stretched film of the '40s, he had to make do with what he had.
Eighty years later, Enno Patalas who worked at the Munic Filmmuseum made an attempt to reassemble the film from prints held by MoMA and the British Film Institute and in 2005, the definitive restoration of "Battleship Potemkin" was created and in 2010, the Blu-ray release of Eisenstein's masterpiece showcases all the hardwork that went into the restoration. The new version includes 1,374 shots that were cut from the German 1926 censored version and with this Blu-ray release features the most comprehensive, complete and accurate re-ordering, rendering and replacing of Potemkin's groundbreaking stylized titles since its premiere in 1925.
The new Blu-ray release will also feature the performance of Edmund Meisel's score (performed by the Deutsches Filmorchestra) which was meticulously researched and arranged by composer and conductor Helmut Imig.
VIDEO:
"Battleship Potemkin" is presented in its original B&W (1:33:1) presentation. There is color in one scene which the original films did have and that is the raising of the Potemkin flag which was red. Picture quality for the Blu-ray release of Potemkin looks absolutely awesome. For a film over 80-years-old, despite having its fair share of scratches and lines, the print is still in very good condition considering how much editing the film had undergone. The restored sequences work seamlessly and to bring back the intertitles as close as they can to the original also looks very good (especially for the process in making it seem as it was part of the original negative).
But the cinematography for the film is wonderful. From the people paying their respects to Vakulinchuk and then the massacre in Odessa is just amazing to watch. And the fact that this generation is able to watch something that many people haven't seen (since a variety of scenes featuring the massacre in Odessa and the fight on Potemkin was heavily edited) within the last 80+ years is quite impressive. Blacks are nice and dark and the contrast for the film is very good.
Sure "Battleship Potemkin" on Blu-ray is not exactly pristine but silent films are rarely pristine to begin with. If you can find a print that looks fantastic, then you literally found a goldmine and in this case, this restoration of "Battleship Potemkin" is fantastic (especially if you compared to previous video and public domain releases).
AUDIO & INTERTITLES:
"Battleship Potemkin features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack by the Deutsches Filmorchestra based on the 1926 Edmun Meisel score. The music is absolutely awesome. I love the orchestral music as it gave us a sense of emotion when it came to the soldiers, the battleships, the massacre in Odessa and more. The music speaks volumes for Potemkin and the fact that they kept a score that remained true to what Eisenstein had envisioned is fantastic.
It is important to note that there are two versions of the film. One featuring the newly-translated English intertitles and the other with the original Russian intertitles (and optional English subtitles).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Battleship Potemkin" comes with the following special features:
* Tracing the Battleship Potemkin - (42:20) A documentary on the making and restoration of "Battleship Potemkin". Anyone who wants to learn how the film has gone through major editing due to censorship and how the influential film would receive a major restoration in 2005 in which viewers would now see how "Battleship Potemkin" was meant to be seen and meant to be heard.
EXTRAS:
"Battleship Potemkin" comes with a cardboard slipcase.
JUDGMENT CALL:
"Battleship Potemkin" is a Blu-ray release that a cineaste must have in their collection!
Once again, KINO brings to us a silent film that looks absolutely gorgeous on Blu-ray and a musical score that sounds absolutely marvelous in HD.
The cinematography is absolutely fantastic. From a scene overlooking the city as hundreds of people walk to see the corpse of a fallen sailor, to hundreds people running down from the steps of Odessa and seeing them in panic. I often wonder how many takes it took to create those scenes. Eisenstein was a master of utilizing the entire screen.
This film is quite important as many have viewed Eisenstein's work as one of the kings of filmmaking who was able to transition from silent films to sound and continue to produce epic work. He was truly a genius when it came to filmmaking and just by watching his masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin", his grasp of meticulous editing and making sure each scene is not wasted and that each scene is deserving of an emotional response is what remains clear of Eisenstein's oeuvre.
I wish I can describe to you (for those who haven't seen the film) of what takes place during the Odessa scene but I'm not going to bother explaining it, this film has to be seen and you will be impressed by the images and how ambitious it was to create that amount of chaos.
I don't think we will ever know how much work went on for the creation of this film, let alone how much went into creating each shot since this film was hacked and edited and only until 2005 would we get a true restoration that possibly Eisenstein would have been happy about.
We do know how much this film has changed each time it has exchanged hands under German censors and also in the US. So, many people post 1926 who have wanted to see the original Eisenstein film have seen various versions through video and public domain releases but it's that 2005 restoration that is the definitive version to see. And that is what is featured on this Blu-ray release in gorgeous HD glory and if you have seen this on video or via public domain, the video quality of those films were absolutely muddy or lack of contrast compared to how it looks on Blu-ray. This release is absolutely fantastic and the lossless musical soundtrack is equally remarkable.
Now, would I have liked more choices for music, sure. Would I have wanted more special features included with this Blu-ray release? Of course. But considering how difficult it has been to get a true version of "Battleship Potemkin" out to the masses in the last 80-years, if this is all there is, then I am content.
"Battleship Potemkin" is a true masterpiece that deserves to be owned by the cineaste. It deserves to be seen on Blu-ray and it embodies the true essence of cinema. A wonderful silent film that will continue to impress today's generation and future generations to come and is highly recommended!
Too soon, 2010-06-06
Too soon for a review. Have'nt got the disc yet. Did you really send it?
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