Battleship Potemkin ~ UK DVD & Blu-ray (1925)
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Battleship Potemkin ~ UK Dvd/Blu ray (Details)
The Soviet Influence: Battleship Potemkin + Drifters
Films by Sergei Eisenstein and John Grierson
Directors: Sergei Eisenstein, John Grierson
Format: PAL
Language: Russian
Region: Region 2 (UK & Europe)
Number of Discs: 2
Classification: PG
Studio: Bfi
DVD Release Date: 5 Nov 2012
Run Time: 110 minutes
The Soviet Influence ~ Battleship Potemkin + Drifters
UK DVD & Blu ray
The Soviet Influence ~ Battleship Potemkin + Drifters
© Bfi
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Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein, 1925
Sergei Eisenstein's film of the famed Odessa revolt has been one of the landmarks of cinema since its release. Commissioned by the government to commemorate the failed uprising of 1905, it's without stars or even actors in the usual sense, exemplifying the collectivism it celebrates. The Battleship Potemkin has just returned from the war with Japan, its crew near mutiny because of brutal treatment and bad rations. When they're served maggot-infested meat one morning, the sailors finally rebel. One of the sailors, Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), dissuades the officers from firing upon the mutineers, and they join the rest of the crew in revolt. Hearing of the mutiny, the people of Odessa send supplies to express their solidarity with the crew and gather en masse to mourn a slain sailor. The czar's troops arrive to dispel the crowd. In perhaps the most famous sequence in film history, the director rhymically intercuts shots of the troops marching machinelike down the Odessa steps with shots of innocent citizens being killed and wounded, in a brilliant embodiment of the director's theories of montage. Aside from CITIZEN KANE, perhaps the most perfectly constructed film ever made, the film's vision of tyranny and rebellion remain as powerful today as it was in 1925.
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Planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the celebrations of the unsucessful 1905 Russian Revolution, this film was developed by the 27 year old Eisenstein from less than one page of script from a planned eight part epic that was planned to chronicle a large number of revolutionary actions.
Starting with the Potemkin's crew refusal to eat maggot infested meat, the mutiny develops and their leader Vakulinchuk is shot by a senior officer. The officers are overthrown and when the Potemkin docks at Odessa, crowds appear from all directions to take up the cause of the dead sailor and open rebellion ensues. What became the most celebrated sequence in world cinema history follows as the Tzarist soldiers fire on the crowds thronging down the Odessa steps; the broad newsreel-like sequences being cut with close-ups of harrowing details.
Returning to the sea, the Potemkin's crew prepares the guns for action as the ship, flying the flag of freedom, streams in to confront the squadron. When they finally meet their worse fears are allayed as, with relief coupled with joy, they are universally acclaimed.
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Drifters
John Grierson, 1929
Drifters, the story of the North Sea herring fleets from Yarmouth and Lowestoft to Shetland, broke new ground in 1929. Filmed mainly at sea in all weathers, but with studio sets for some interior scenes, it established Grierson's style of "creative interpretation of actuality" which came to characterise the British school of documentary film-making.
Dvd + Blu ray ~ Special Features
Sergei Eisenstein's groundbreaking Battleship Potemkin was not seen in the UK until the momentous London Film Society screening in 1929, where it was double-billed with John Grierson's Drifters. This new restoration of Battleship Potemkin is presented with the 1926 Edmund Meisel score, while the digitally remastered transfer of Drifters employs the original tinting and toning and features a newly commissioned score by innovative British composer/performer Jason Singh.
Special Features
All films presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
Battleship Potemkin presented in a new restoration by Film Museum Berlin and partners,accompanied by the 1926 Edward Meisel score
Drifters presented in a new HD transfer, tinted and toned as originally intended, with a score by innovative composer/performer Jason Singh
Granton Trawler (John Grierson, 1934, 11 mins): Grierson's follow up to Drifters, one of the GPO Film Unit's first experiments with sound
Trade Tattoo (Len Lye, 1937, 6 mins): celebratory animation made from off-cuts of EMB and GPO films, including Drifters and Night Mail
North Sea (Harry Watt, 1938, 32 mins): dramatic reconstruction of sea farers battle with the elements, produced by the GPO Film Unit
Fully illustrated booklet with credits and essays by Henry K Miller, Patrick Russell and Michael Brooke
Disc 1: BD50 | 1080p | PCM 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio
Disc 2: DVD9 | PAL | Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (448 kbps) and 2.0 stereo audio (320 kbps)
USSR + UK / 1925 +1929 / black and white, with hand-coloured detail + tinting and toning / silent, with Russian intertitles and English subtitles + English intertitles / 69 minutes + 41 minutes / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Region B blu-ray / Region 2 DVD
UK Dvd + Blu ray ~ Buy
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Links
Battleship Potemkin UK Dvd/Blu ray: Buy Dvd/Blu ray >> Movie Review>> Dvd/Blu ray Technical Details >> Dvd/Blu ray Special Features
Sergei Eisenstein: Biography >> Battleship Potemkin >> Ivan The Terrible >> October 1917
Sergei Eisenstein Wares: Sergei Eisenstein Battleship Potemkin c1925 Russian Soviet Union A3 Repro. Poster >> Alexander Rodchenko Vintage Russian Soviet Union Constructivism c.1926 Battleship Potemkin A3 Repro. Poster >> Alexander Rodchenko Vintage Russian Soviet Union Constructivism Battleship Potemkin c.1905 A3 Repro. Poster >> Vintage Russian Soviet Union Constructivism Battleship Potemkin Design by The Stenberg Brothers A3 Repro. Poster >> Soviet Posters
Sergei Eisenstein Links: Advertise >> Eisenstein Books and Dvds available @ amazon.com
