Battleship Potemkin

A cinematic milestone, this 1925 silent classic from Russian director Sergei Eisenstein vastly advanced the editing technique of montage (in Eisenstein's words: "...units of impression combined into one whole"). Battleship Potemkin celebrates the overthrow of the Czarist regime, focusing on one particular incident—the ship-wide mutiny on the titular vessel in response to brutal living conditions (including being served maggot-infested rotten meat). Sailing into the town of Odessa, the crewmen rouse the local citizens, after which military forces are brought in to quell the uprising, resulting in an infamous massacre that is forever emblazoned in film students' memories as the "Odessa Steps Sequence." Cutting between the advancing bayonets and fleeing people, Eisenstein creates a moving tension that finds its suspenseful focal point in a baby carriage teetering precariously on a high stone step (a scene paid tribute to in numerous films, including Brian De Palma's 1987 The Untouchables). That famous sequence looks a little different here in Kino's double-disc release, which features the fully restored film (all 1,374 of Eisenstein's original shots, the more brutal of which were cut from the negative by German censors in the 1920s)—the end result of a 20-year international project, the story of which is told in an insightful 42-minute bonus documentary. Featuring the original 1926 score by Edmund Meisel (in Dolby Digital 5.1), Battleship Potemkin is presented here in two versions: one with English intertitles, the other with Russian intertitles (and optional English subtitles). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Apr. 13, 2010—Kino, 71 min., not rated, $34.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1925's Battleship Potemkin features a great transfer and a 5.1 DTS-HD soundtrack. Presenting two versions of the film (one with English intertitles; the other with Russian intertitles and optional English subtitles), Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette on the film's restoration (42 min.), the original 1926 Edmund Meisel score, and photo galleries. Bottom line: A silent b&w classic goes Blu! The future has arrived.]