October 1917 ~ Ten Days That Shook The World (1927)

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October 1917 ~ UK Dvd (Details)

Actors: Nikolai Popov, Boris Livanov, Vladimir Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko
Directors: Grigori Aleksandrov, Sergei M. Eisenstein
Writers: Grigori Aleksandrov, Sergei M. Eisenstein, John Reed
Format: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL, Silent, Subtitled
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 2 (UK & Europe)
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
Number of Discs: 1

Classification: PG
Studio: Eureka Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 8 May 2000
Run Time: 104 minutes

October 1917 ~ Ten Days That Shook The World

UK DVD

October 1917 - Ten Days That Shook The World
UK Dvd Cover
© Eureka Entertainment

Sergei Eisenstein, 1927

One of the finest examples of intellectual montage, consisting of more than 3,200 shots in its 103 minutes, OCTOBER 1917 has been described as a Constructivist poster come to life. Working from a commission by the Soviet government, in this case, to make a film commemorating the 10th anniversary of the overthrow of the Kerensky government by the Bolsheviks, Sergei Eisenstein saw it as an opportunity to push his montage experiments to the limit.

Focusing on the crucial events from February through October 1917, the director treats Lenin (Vasili Nikandrov) with hagiographical reverence while satirizing the opponents of the Bolsheviks as obese clowns or idiots, using visual metaphors of an extraordinary variety and richness. Kerensky's (Nikolai Popov) strutting narcissism is illustrated by a cut to a mechanical peacock. Shots of officials of the provisional government are intercut with Japanese and African masks, Haitian voodoo idols, and sacred Chinese statuary. Perhaps most memorable is the image of the white horse dangling from the open St. Petersburg drawbridge, a bridge whose raised sections Eisenstein compared to the arms of a dying man, as a massacre unfolds on the ground. Like nearly all the director's work, this dizzyingly encyclopedic inventory of montage technique is as much a register of his unique sensibility as it as a piece of propaganda.

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Eisenstein's visually dynamic account of Russia's October 1917 Revolution, in which Kerensky's Provisional Government was ousted by the Bolsheviks. A masterpiece in world cinema.

I've been to Kerensky's grave in Putney Vale Cemetery in south London. For someone involved in such monumental days in world history it's seems a little quite and a little out of place for his final resting place.