Master of Montage
It felt necessary to have the Bluray of Sergei Eisenstein‘s Battleship Potemkin sitting on my bookshelf. Knowing it’s there just feels right. Eisenstein is the father of Stanley Kubrick‘s visual sense, and both have strongly influenced my own sense of composition and framing when I’ve taken snaps and videos so Eisenstein feels like family.
I know it’ll be a struggle to persuade my two sons to watch BP. It’s hard enough to get them to watch anything in black-and-white.
Oh, that rotten meat, those maggots! That dizzying staircase. Those poor sailors!
Watching it is like watching a new language being created in front of your eyes… Breathtaking. Since it’s in the public domain, though, there are hundreds of crappy $1 video transfers being sold at the 0.99 store. How’s the picture quality on the Blu-Ray? What was the transfer taken from?
So what are you saying Jeff? Did Mr. Movie Snob himself raise a couple of Eloi? Are your children philistines?
And before you start to say that this is commonplace amongst kids their age, I know many who love black and white films.
Maybe that’s why you rage against the so-called Eloi so much, cause it hits so close to home.
You have one of the cutest cats I’ve ever seen, by the way. What’s his name?
Too bad your cat isn’t a Russian Blue like mine, Jeff. She looks good embracing my Tarkovsky and Paradjanov DVDs as well.
I saw it first in high school, under duress, surrounded by stern teachers who dared us to not pay attention. A surprisingly large number of students really got into it.
If you haven’t seen it, don’t think of it as a chore, or homework, or one of those, “well, I guess I SHOULD see it” classics. It’s very economically filmed, tight, and thoroughly entertaining. Often times it’s like watching a 2D stereoscope.
I give it four monocles!
My cat’s name is Aura — she’s a Munchkin.
Battleship Potemkin looks fine — as good as a 1925 Soviet-produced film by a master fimmaker can look. The jacket says “dozens of missing shots replaced…all 146 title cards restored to Einsenstein’s specifications.” Kino “restored” the film with the cooperation with Deutsche Kinematek, Russia’s Goskinofilm, the BFI, Nundelsfilm Archive in Berlin and the Munich Film Museum…whatever that actually means. The re-recorded score by Edmund Meisel sounds sharp, clear, brassy and quite thrilling.
Nice to know that they didn’t try to “modernize” it by tacking on some “newly imagined” score by Tangerine Dream or Manheim Steamroller or Monsters of Moog or some shit like that.
Aura!? That’s a great name. She’s adorable!
Just threaten to disown the little runts. Or tell them it’s BP or UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, and remind them that BP at least has violence and killing in it.
The woman getting slashed in the face remains one of the most distressing things I’ve ever seen in a movie.
Kubrick is more Ophuls than Eisenstein.
Don’t show this to 20-year olds, they will liken watching this to waterboarding. That’s how I felt when I watched it in a film class. Wonder how I’d feel if I watched it now.
Not sure where you’re getting this Eisenstein-is-the-father-of-Kubrick’s-visual-style business. Kubrick was on the record as being a Pudovkin Man, and often cited Pudovkin’s book as an influence. Yes, the battle scenes in SPARTACUS were influenced by the battle scene in ALEXANDER NEVSKY, but that’s about it.
You can read more about the films and filmmakers Kubrick admired here, btw:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/faq/index3.html#slot26
I’ve always sensed an influence in Kubrick’s films from the formal-ish, perfectly balanced, John Ford-like framings in Eisenstein’s films. I guess I’m thinking of the compositions in Que Viva Mexico more than Battleship Potemkin.
This is an interesting thread, Jeff. At first, I kind of shook my head thinking that Eisenstein/Kubrickian influence thing wasn’t entirely correct. But I see your point. It’s really about the formalism of his compositions. There’s a clear Eisenstein influence in the mise-en-scene of some of the scenes of Barry Lyndon.
By the way, have you seen this site? It’s pretty interesting. Check it out:
http://www.scoutingny.com
The cat’s a commie.
Shot A juxtaposed with Shot B to create Meaning C. Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. OK, it’s not a perfect analog to Hegelian Dialectics but it’s pretty darn close. So yes, he was a Commie, Floyd.
There would be no montage editing if Eisenstein hadn’t invented it. A true pioneer.
The only thing thst scares me about this Blu-ray is the price point.
Night, do you mean to say that no one else would have come up with that idea if not for Sergei? C’mon.
He was certainly a pioneer, but surely someone would have come along eventually.
But I must say, I congratulate you on what I believe to be the first mention of Hegelian Dialectics on HE. Not too shabby.
Jeff, if you’re really that interested in his work, I highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Eisenstein-at-Work-Jay-Leyda/dp/0394748123
I picked it up at a retrospective of Eisenstein’s work at MOMA 12 years ago or so.
It’s a nice thing to have lying around on your coffee table, and it’s also quite substantive as well.
Eisenstein’s montage relates to communist theory very simply: The sum is greater than the individual.
Good point, Travis. And I’m thankful for that as well.
But I don’t think it’s fair to put Tangerine Dream in the same category as Manheim Steamroller.
The Dream’s score for Miracle Mile was pretty good. And their music is nothing like those other two.
Vinessa:
Someone had to get there first, and that counts a lot from where I’m sitting.
Mutiny:
Agreed. Although your take on SE’s Kino-Socialism might apply more to certain sequences and films than others.
NightWriter, methink’s Floyd was referring to the actual cat. Look at the picture. I didn’t see it at first either.
I’m not tryoing to take anything away from him, Night.
From my very first screening of Potemkin, projected on the wall from a 16mm print off the back of my Dad’s old VW van, I have been in love with the man.
I just revisited The Untouchables for the first time in many years and when DePalma’s Odessa steps homage kicked in, I got so excited thinking about Sergei and his creative genius, I nearly peed my pants.
But what does your kitty think of HTTM?
Nice to see the kitty.
I’m rather surprised that the boys wouldn’t be interested in Potemkin. What about some noir or gangster flicks? Even my girl likes those.
What does a pussy think about a movie about pussies who so desperately yearn to get some pussy? I think Aura would whole-heartedly approve.
Interesting to note:
Jeff names his cat Aura, loves the word vibe, and has an email account named gruver (like groovy, man). He’s like a 60′s lexicographer He’s keepin it keepin’ on. Keepin those words alive. And I DIG that about him.
I wish you weren’t such a health nut, Jeff. I’d love to do some blotter with you in the back of my dad’s old VW van.
I should mention lest anyone think my freshman here has impeccable taste, she is into Twilight. Big time. Oh well, I’ve tried. At least for every crap Saw flick she likes there’s a Wellman film to compensate.
A Pop:
Ha! It was a funny double entendre either way.
Its really very interesting.
For the record, I was told by Abel Gance that Eisenstein visited him in 1923, shortly after seeing La Roue. At that time Gance had already been working in film for fifteen years. There is no doubt that editorial concepts were passed from one artist to another at that time.
For those who have not yet experienced La Roue, there is no time like the present.
RAH
For the record, I was told by Abel Gance that Eisenstein visited him in 1923, shortly after seeing La Roue. At that time Gance had already been working in film for fifteen years. There is no doubt that editorial concepts were passed from one artist to another at that time.
For those who have not yet experienced La Roue, there is no time like the present.
RAH
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