"Actor: Boris Livanov"

• October 1917 - Ten Days That Shook The World | DVD | (08/05/2000) from £3.98   |  Saving you £18.00 (904.52%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Commissioned by the October Revolution Jubilee Committee (Chairman Nikolai Podvolsky) for the tenth anniversary of the revolution Sergei Eisenstein's third major feature film ""October 1917"" is a marvelous reconstruction of the events from February leading up to the revolution and the Bolshevik's overthrow of the czarists and Kerensky's provisional government in 1917. True to the communist philosophy there were no main characters; the proletariat providing the 'heroic' star quality

• Eisenstein Collection Vol.1 | DVD | (13/08/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Strike (1925): In 1922 Lenin also had said that ""...of all of the arts for us the cinema was the most important."" In 1924 the Proletkult offered Eisenstein then 26 years of age the job of directing the first of eight episodes in the film series 'Towards the Dictatorship'. This brilliant and complex re-creation of the development of a 1912 factory strike in Tsarist Russia and its savage destruction by agents provocateurs police and mounted troops was an ideal vehicle for the youthful Eisenstein to express his desire to reflect the dialectic of the Russian revolution in the most comprehensive of art forms. Eisenstein had been developing the Kuloshov's 'montage' effect in editing and in this his first film he uses it with tremendous skill to enhance symbolism and achieve highly charged emotional responses to the strength energy and heroism of the working classes and the tragic events depicted. Strike is a truly visual and technical masterpiece which is at times overwhelming in its powerful portrayal of these events in history. Strike was the only film ever made in the series and it changed the direction of the soviet cinema for many decades to come. Battleship Potemkin (1925): Planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution this film was developed by the 27 year-old Sergei Eisenstein from less than one page of script from a planned eight-part epic that was intended to chronicle a large number of revolutionary actions. Starting with the Potemkin's crew's refusal to eat maggot-infested meat the mutiny develops and their leader Vakulinchuk is shot by a senior officer. The officers are overthrown and when the Potemkin docks at Odessa crowds appear from all directions to take up the cause of the dead sailor and open rebellion ensues. What became the Czarist soldiers fire on the crowds thronging down the Odessa steps: the broad newsreel-like sequences being inter-cut with close-ups of harrowing details. Returning to sea the Potemkin's crew prepares the guns for action as the ship flying the flag of freedom steams to confront the squadron. When they finally meet theirs worst fears are allayed as with relief coupled with joy they are universally acclaimed. This film which was destined to become such an influential landmark in cinematographic history opened in Moscow in January 1926. It ran for only four weeks. October (1927): Commissioned by the October Revolution Jubilee Committee (Chairman Nikolai Podvolsky) for the tenth anniversary of the revolution Sergei Eisenstein's third major feature film ""October 1917"" is a marvelous reconstruction of the events from February leading up to the revolution and the Bolshevik's overthrow of the czarists and Kerensky's provisional government in 1917. True to the communist philosophy there were no main characters; the proletariat providing the 'heroic' star quality throughout. The ultimate victory belonging to the revolution. Eisenstein's skill and experimentation in using fast moving and rhythmic montage to produce telling metaphors and build and intensify sequences was not fully understood by the early Russian audiences; typical examples being the rapidly alternating images employed to create a machine-gun firing and the cross-cutting between power-hungry Kerensky and the statue of Napoleon. Outstanding for the period are the dynamic sequences illustrating the massacre in the vicinity of the St Petersburg bridges and the storming of the Winter Palace which feature a profusion of exciting cinematic techniques. Eisenstein's research was extremely thorough and he did not allow contemporary events to influence his production. The film's release was dela

• Russia In Revolt | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  No revolution has been portrayed on screen more vividly than that in St Petersburg (aka Petrograd) during October 1917, and if what we see in Russia in Revolt is not the truth as it happened, this box set confirms that fiction can be much more potent than fact. Sergei Eisenstein came of age as a director during this period, putting his innovations into practice and redefining history in the process. Strike (1924) was Eisenstein's first film. Its combination of physical impact and studio experimentation is still impressive, and if the abundance of symbolic images leads to visual overload, the feeling of a "them-against-us" confrontation still packs its punch. The Battleship Potemkin (1925) refines Eisenstein's thinking in 73 minutes of heightened realism that, as late as 1958, was still considered the finest film ever made. The 1905 Potemkin mutiny, the murder of sailor Vakulinchuk, the massacre on the Odessa steps, the triumphal return of the ship to port--these images made history as surely as if they were the real thing. A scrolling synopsis sets the scene, and extracts from Dmitry Shostakovich's symphonies heighten tension. October 1917 (1928), also known as "10 Days that Shook the World", charts the period leading from the Czar's abdication, through the months of indecisive Provisional Government to the Bolshevik storming of the Winter Palace. Eisenstein takes montage technique to new limits, as images of individuals and institutions overwhelm the viewer. The scrolling background story details events as they really were, and Shostakovich's music again sets the scene. Dating from 1927 Esfir Shub's The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty documentary uses archive footage from the Romanov tercentenary in 1913 to the Bolshevik takeover four years on. Here truth really is fashioned into myth. The musical score consists of a medley of Russian favourites, pounded out on an electric piano, making for a rather limited, though not inappropriate, soundtrack. The additional documentary essay is a useful overview, and the on-screen photo collection a valuable bonus. On the DVD: it's good to have Oleg Donskikh's DVD commentary on The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty disc, as he points out economies with the actualité on a scene-by-scene basis. Yuri Sivrin's continuous commentary is required listening as a guide to the film-maker's art, as well as for shutting out the bizarre electronic score which otherwise serves as backing. All four films have been digitally remastered, and the 4:3 aspect ratio has excellent clarity. Stylishly packaged, there's no better way into the absorbing world of Soviet film than this. ---Richard Whitehouse