Russian films
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
There’s a certain irony in the fact that a piece of blatant Communist propaganda has become one of the most highly rated and influential films in history. A landmark of Twentieth Century cinema, Battleship Potemkin was originally commissioned by the Communist Central Committee as part of a cycle of films to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the failed 1905 uprising...    [More...]

Strike (1925)
It was whilst he was engaged with the Proletkult Theatre in Moscow that a young theatre director and film theorist named Sergei Eisenstein conceived a series of films that would celebrate the Russian revolution. The first of these would be Strike, a piece of pure Communist propaganda that showed the necessity for the proletariat to work together to overcome exploitation by their capitalist...    [More...]

October (1928)
On the strength of his 1925 film Battleship Potemkin, the great Russian cineaste Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned by the Soviet Union’s October Revolution Jubilee Committee to make a film celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The result is one of the most remarkable films ever made, although it was badly received by its sponsors...    [More...]

Alexander Nevsky (1938)
The fear of an invasion from Nazi Germany in 1938 was the motivating force behind this lavish historical epic by the great Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein. The story of the 13th century warrior prince Alexander Nevsky became a rallying cry for Russians of all ages to be prepared to take up arms in defence of their country...    [More...]

Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944)
The final great work from the legendary Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein is both a compelling portrait of one of the most important figures in Russian history and an insightful reflection of the era in which the film was made. Like Eisenstein’s earlier Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ivan the Terrible was a propaganda film...    [More...]

Ivan the Terrible, Part II (1958)
This is the second part of a landmark film by the great Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein. Its release was delayed by twelve years because the Communists deemed it to be obliquely critical of Stalin's oppressive regime. For a detailed review see: Ivan the Terrible, Part I...    [More...]