Battleship Potemkin

Original title: Bronenosets Potyomkin

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

62K

YOUR RATING

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resulting street demonstration which brought on a police massacre.

Play trailer1:33

1 Video

99+ Photos

Docudrama Historical Epic Period Drama War Epic Drama History Thriller War

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration ... Read allIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

62K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

Trivia
The film censorship boards of several countries felt this movie would spread communism. France imposed a ban after a brief run in 1925; it lifted it in 1953 after the death of Russian leader Joseph Stalin. The UK banned it until 1954.

Goofs
In the Imperial squadron near the end of the film, there are close-ups of triple gun turrets of Gangut-class dreadnought. It possibly was made this way to show the power of Imperial fleet, but battleships of 1905 were much smaller pre-dreadnoughts, with twin turrets only, just like "Potemkin". "Ganguts" entered service in 1914.

Quotes
Sailor: Shoulder to shoulder. The land is ours. Tomorrow is ours.

Alternate versions
Sergei Eisenstein's premiere version opened with an unattributed quote from Leon Trotsky's "1905": The spirit of mutiny swept the land. A tremendous, mysterious process was taking place in countless hearts: the individual personality became dissolved in the mass, and the mass itself became dissolved in the revolutionary impetus. This quote was removed by Soviet censors in 1934, and replaced by a quotation from V.I. Lenin's "Revolutionary Days": Revolution is war. Of all the wars known in history, it is the only lawful, rightful, just and truly great war...In Russia this war has been declared and won. The original text was restored in 2004.

Connections
Edited into Seeds of Freedom (1943)

User reviews294

Review

Featured review

10/10

Still one of the best films ever made.

Quite a lot has been said about this film and its landmark importance in forming the language of film. If you are interested in film history, to truly understand the innovations Eisenstein brings to the medium you might try viewing Potemkin along side most any film made before it (those of D.W. Griffith offer a good contrast). It should be allowed that Eisenstein was not the only montage theorist and the principles of montage editing would likely have been discovered by another given time. However, even today, few directors have approached the skill with which Eisenstein created meaning through the combination of images at such an early point in the evolution of the medium.

If you are not interested in that sort of thing, Potemkin is still one of the most beautiful and moving films ever made. You should see it, buy it, and tatoo it to your chest.