Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948)
Dubbed “the father of montage,” Sergei Eisenstein stands as one of the principal architects of modern film form.* He completed only seven films during his career, but his influence was key in pushing film beyond its connection to 19th century Victorian theatre.
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was born in Riga, Latvia on January 23rd, 1898. In 1910, his family moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to train as an architect and engineer. Inspired after witnessing the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917, Eisenstein enlisted in the Red Army and began producing entertainment for the troops. In 1920, he joined the Prolekult Theater in Moscow, first working as an assistant stage designer, and eventually becoming the theater’s co-director.
In the early 1920s, Eisenstein published several articles espousing his theories on film, including one on “montage of attractions.” [See: Montage of attractions] His first film Strike (1924) illustrated the techniques and formal considerations he previously published in the pages of Lef. Strike is about the repression and ultimate slaughter of striking workers at the hands of Tsarist forces. One of his most famous uses of montage comes at the film’s climax, in which Eisenstein juxtaposes shots of strikers as they are mowed down by machine guns with footage of a cow being slaughtered.
In Battleship Potemkin (1925), Eisenstein’s second and certainly most famous film, he further developed his montage techniques. The famous “Odessa Steps” sequence proves to be a particularly effective demonstration of his “montage of attractions,” and has been long studied and often imitated by film scholars and filmmakers alike.
In 1927, the Soviet Central Committee commissioned Eisenstein to make a film to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. For October (aka. Ten Days That Shook The World), Eisenstein restaged the October Revolution for what proved to be his last significant silent film. In the making of this epic, Eisenstein benefited by having the input of eyewitnesses and leaders of the uprising, like Nikolai Podvolsky, serving as consultants on the film .
He utilized actual locations where real historic moments in the Revolution occurred to restage the events, most notably storming the real Winter Palace. Eisenstein’s reconstruction of these historic events are so authentic that they have since been used by countless documentary filmmakers passing clips off as the real article for years.
Prior to making October, Eisenstein started work on another project about the collectivization of agriculture. In contrast to his other work, which focused on portrayals of large collectives of people, The General Line would place its emphasis on the story of a single rural heroine. Eisenstein postponed the project to make October and in the interim period, politics changed and Party officials were no longer interesting in the film. It was hastily assembled and subsequently released under the title Old and New (1929). It would only be years later that archivists finally could restore an approximation of Eisenstein’s initial vision for The General Line.
In 1930, Eisenstein was sent on a tour of Europe and the United States to research the recent phenomenon of talking pictures. Abroad, he was greeted as a hero, rubbing elbows with Albert Einstein, Abel Gance, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, D.W. Griffith, and Robert Flaherty. It was Flaherty who encouraged him to travel around Latin America, which ultimately lead Eisenstein to begin shooting ¡Qué viva México! The film was financed with assistance from American novelist Upton Sinclair. Eisenstein shot an enormous amount of footage. Eventually, for numerous reasons including the perception that the production was out of control, the plug was pulled and the crew recalled to the United States. Eisenstein lost possession of the footage, and the film was never finished as intended.
In 1935, Eisenstein started production on Bezhin Lug, however, the script drew the ire of Party officials and production was halted before the film could be completed. It wouldn’t be until three years later that Eisenstein was once again allowed behind a camera to make Alexander Nevsky (1938), a harsh criticism of Nazi Germany. However, the film was pulled from circulation after Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939.
In 1944, Eisenstein embarked on an ambitious project: a trilogy covering the life of Ivan the Terrible. The first film, Ivan the Terrible, Part I, which presented Ivan as a hero, received great acclaim and won Eisenstein a Stalin Prize. The second instalment, however, didn’t make it past state censors and was shelved until receiving a release in 1958. Production on the third instalment was halted once the second film in the trilogy was shelved. All footage was confiscated and rumoured to be destroyed.
Sergei M. Eisenstein suffered from a fatal heart attack on February 11, 1948, just weeks after his 50th birthday.
Sources
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was born in Riga, Latvia on January 23rd, 1898. In 1910, his family moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to train as an architect and engineer. Inspired after witnessing the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917, Eisenstein enlisted in the Red Army and began producing entertainment for the troops. In 1920, he joined the Prolekult Theater in Moscow, first working as an assistant stage designer, and eventually becoming the theater’s co-director.
In the early 1920s, Eisenstein published several articles espousing his theories on film, including one on “montage of attractions.” [See: Montage of attractions] His first film Strike (1924) illustrated the techniques and formal considerations he previously published in the pages of Lef. Strike is about the repression and ultimate slaughter of striking workers at the hands of Tsarist forces. One of his most famous uses of montage comes at the film’s climax, in which Eisenstein juxtaposes shots of strikers as they are mowed down by machine guns with footage of a cow being slaughtered.
In Battleship Potemkin (1925), Eisenstein’s second and certainly most famous film, he further developed his montage techniques. The famous “Odessa Steps” sequence proves to be a particularly effective demonstration of his “montage of attractions,” and has been long studied and often imitated by film scholars and filmmakers alike.
In 1927, the Soviet Central Committee commissioned Eisenstein to make a film to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution. For October (aka. Ten Days That Shook The World), Eisenstein restaged the October Revolution for what proved to be his last significant silent film. In the making of this epic, Eisenstein benefited by having the input of eyewitnesses and leaders of the uprising, like Nikolai Podvolsky, serving as consultants on the film .
He utilized actual locations where real historic moments in the Revolution occurred to restage the events, most notably storming the real Winter Palace. Eisenstein’s reconstruction of these historic events are so authentic that they have since been used by countless documentary filmmakers passing clips off as the real article for years.
Prior to making October, Eisenstein started work on another project about the collectivization of agriculture. In contrast to his other work, which focused on portrayals of large collectives of people, The General Line would place its emphasis on the story of a single rural heroine. Eisenstein postponed the project to make October and in the interim period, politics changed and Party officials were no longer interesting in the film. It was hastily assembled and subsequently released under the title Old and New (1929). It would only be years later that archivists finally could restore an approximation of Eisenstein’s initial vision for The General Line.
In 1930, Eisenstein was sent on a tour of Europe and the United States to research the recent phenomenon of talking pictures. Abroad, he was greeted as a hero, rubbing elbows with Albert Einstein, Abel Gance, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, D.W. Griffith, and Robert Flaherty. It was Flaherty who encouraged him to travel around Latin America, which ultimately lead Eisenstein to begin shooting ¡Qué viva México! The film was financed with assistance from American novelist Upton Sinclair. Eisenstein shot an enormous amount of footage. Eventually, for numerous reasons including the perception that the production was out of control, the plug was pulled and the crew recalled to the United States. Eisenstein lost possession of the footage, and the film was never finished as intended.
In 1935, Eisenstein started production on Bezhin Lug, however, the script drew the ire of Party officials and production was halted before the film could be completed. It wouldn’t be until three years later that Eisenstein was once again allowed behind a camera to make Alexander Nevsky (1938), a harsh criticism of Nazi Germany. However, the film was pulled from circulation after Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939.
In 1944, Eisenstein embarked on an ambitious project: a trilogy covering the life of Ivan the Terrible. The first film, Ivan the Terrible, Part I, which presented Ivan as a hero, received great acclaim and won Eisenstein a Stalin Prize. The second instalment, however, didn’t make it past state censors and was shelved until receiving a release in 1958. Production on the third instalment was halted once the second film in the trilogy was shelved. All footage was confiscated and rumoured to be destroyed.
Sergei M. Eisenstein suffered from a fatal heart attack on February 11, 1948, just weeks after his 50th birthday.
Sources
ESSENTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
1924 – Strike
1925 – Battleship Potemkin
1927 – October: Ten Days That Shook the World
1929 – Old and New/The General Line
1938 – Alexander Nevsky
1944 – Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Complete Filmography
1925 – Battleship Potemkin
1927 – October: Ten Days That Shook the World
1929 – Old and New/The General Line
1938 – Alexander Nevsky
1944 – Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Complete Filmography