Rating: 
Summary: Russian classic has little for the modern viewer.
Review: A movie that contains some very clever sequences and shots, particularly those of the massacre on the steps of the city. There isn't much of a story though. It's more a snapshot of a moment in history, that of the Russian revolution, and where as, it may have had emotional significance for the Russian audience of the time, the same cannot be said for the modern viewer.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, Seldom Equaled
Review: Based on actual events of 1905, silent film THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN concerns an Imperial Russian ship on which abominable conditions lead to a mutiny. Shocked by conditions on the ship, citizens of the port city Odessa rally to the mutineers' support--and in consequence find themselves at the mercy of Imperial forces, who attack the civilian supporters with savage force.POTEMKIN is a film in which individual characters are much less important than the groups and crowds of which they are members, and it achieves its incredible power by showing the clash of the groups and crowds in a series of extraordinarily visualized and edited sequences. Amazingly, each of these sequences manage to top the previous one, and the film actually builds in power as it moves from the mutiny to the citizen's rally to the massacre on the Odessa steps--the latter of which is among the most famous sequences in all of film history. Filming largely where the real events actually occurred, director Eisenstein's vision is extraordinary as he builds--not only from sequence to sequence but from moment to moment within each sequence--some of the most memorable images ever committed to film. To describe POTEMKIN as a great film is something of an understatement. It is an absolute essential, an absolute necessity to any one seriously interested in cinema as an art form, purely visual cinema at its most brilliant, often imitated, seldom equaled, never bested.
Rating:
Summary: Eisestein's Genius is hard for modern audiences to watch
Review: Battleship Potempkin is an historic milestone, and is useful for future directors to watch, but the film itself shows too many flaws to be in itself entertaining. Eisenstein, Potempkin's director, tried just a little too hard on this film, he was a great director because he essentially invented montage and created geography- so he could make the film mostly in the editing room rather than having to follow a script. This shows up just a little too much in battleship Potempkin. In film I want characters. Maybe one's I can understand or even deprive horrid maniacle characters that make no sense. In Potempkin we get no characters at all, instead we get, in true comunist style, the masses shown as one mind going this way or that way all at once. I also like great performances by great actors. Eisenstein hired no actors (just extras) for his parts, and it shows. No performances stand out as even minutely expressive. No performance is close to noteworthy. Eisenstein thought the actors shouldn't even try. Rather, we get rapid cutting from face to face, with random violence too fast to be understood. Many have told me that this creates an empathatical confused and feargul feeling in the audience, but I just became apathetic. If you would like to see a more entertaining and equally artistic Russian film of this time, you should check out Mother. It is a beautiful story.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite
Review: I've watched this movie repeately, I never tire of it.
I was first exposed to this movie when I was in college, at the time I didn't appreciate it. About a year or so later I had to view it again, that's when it got me.
When it came out on tape I grabbed it up. Now that it's available on dvd, I have that version too.
Rating:
Summary: I Loath Communism but This Movie is Great
Review: Sergei Eisenstein's (1898-1948) most memorable contribution to the craft of filmmaking undoubtedly is the concept of the montage along with other important editing techniques that are commonplace today. This director's first film, "Strike," concerning the brutal repression of a worker's strike by Czarist soldiers, led to more projects: "October," "Battleship Potemkin," "Old and New," and "Alexander Nevsky." He died of a heart attack before completing his last film, the historical epic "Ivan the Terrible." Unfortunately, Eisenstein's revolutionary (no pun intended) restructuring of the motion picture occurred in movies promoting communism. Eisenstein's films glorified the brutal regime founded by Vladimir Lenin and perpetuated by Uncle Joe Stalin, a regime that ultimately killed tens of millions of innocent souls. Watching an Eisenstein film fills me with a strange sensation: I despise the propaganda in this film, but at the same time, I cannot help connecting with this film on an emotional level. That emotional reaction, of course, is exactly what Eisenstein hoped to achieve with his projects. "Battleship Potemkin" takes place during the tumultuous events of the 1905 Russian Revolution, the first revolutionary effort against the Czarist regime and the one that led to a grudging acceptance of a constitutional monarchy by the autocratic Romanov dynasty. This attempt to transform the decaying Russian state ultimately failed due to the ability of the monarch to dissolve the Duma anytime he chose to do so, and veto any legislation that this parliamentary body proposed. The Potemkin figures into this series of events because the sailors aboard the ship mutinied and threw their support to the revolutionaries. Nothing much happened after this event, as the sailors eventually docked the ship in Constanza, Romania and surrendered the boat in exchange for refuge. In the hands of master propagandist Eisenstein, however, the Potemkin incident morphs into a major event that led to the eventual abdication of Nicholas II in 1917. Eisenstein seems to get most of the story straight: a piece of maggot infested meat serves as the final indignity to the sailors of the Potemkin. Under the leadership of one of the men on the ship, Vakulenchuk, the men protest to the captain about the squalid food. The result is Vakulenchuk's death and the revolt of the sailors. Seven officers die in the mutiny and the ship sails to Odessa, the Russian port on the Black Sea. There, the martyred Vakulenchuk's body lies in state where thousands of residents turn out to pay their respects. The people supply the sailors with food and the ship starts to sail off. Unfortunately, the regime sends in soldiers to quell the crowds gathering to see the dead sailor. Shots ring out, and thousands die under Czarist rifles. In the movie, the Potemkin retaliates by shelling the opera house in the city, supposedly the headquarters of the murderous soldiers. At this point, Eisenstein goes completely outside of the historical record by showing the Potemkin taking the offensive against the entire Black Sea fleet. Even more remarkably, the Potemkin convinces the fleet to join them in the revolt! Sure, this movie is one long propaganda piece from start to finish, but it is an amazingly effective package of lies. The importance of class appears in the movie right from the start, when we see the sailors interact with the smug Czarist officers on the ship. The outpouring of citizens from the city to see Vakulenchuk's body turns into a recognition of class-consciousness by the outraged proletariats, who yell slogans like "One for all" and demand the ouster of the Czar. When the soldiers appear and begin to kill the people, we see Eisenstein in his element. These scenes are simply remarkable in the sheer emotional power of the murder of a young boy and a baby killed by a sword wielding Cossack. Close up shots of faces awash in ecstasy over the coming together of the crowd quickly contrast with the same faces expressing sheer horror over the slaughter of thousands of innocents. All of this cinematic glory is held together with a Shostokovich score of epic implications. You even get a slap at the Church in the form of a malevolent looking priest tapping a crucifix against the palm of his hand as the officers on the Potemkin form a firing squad. Few films pack this type of dramatic punch. The montages really grab your attention. During the beginning of the movie, a boiling pot of soup conveys the larger sense of the emotional turmoil on the ship. When the Potemkin sails towards the Black Sea fleet, Eisenstein presents a sequence of shots showing the machinery of the ship pounding away as the showdown nears, probably in an attempt to express the powerful drive of revolutionary fervor. There are many more such images in the film, far too many to mention here. A big part of viewing an Eisenstein film is seeing how many symbolic images you can find. When you tire of playing this game with "Battleship Potemkin," watch "Alexander Nevsky" and look for all of the references to Germany. Eisenstein's film is a true classic in every sense of the word, and anyone even remotely interested in movies should watch it. I'm glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: Only if you can get it cheap. No special features.
Review: The movie: 5 stars.
The dvd edition: 2 stars, okay picture, good score, no special features, average on the whole. A nice little DVD edition, if you get it cheap. Not worth the same price as a Criterion DVD for its lack of special features and general cheap-lookingness. Image was quite good, especially for a silent. The score, i believe, composed by Eistenstein collaborator Prokofiev, was wonderful. If this is your only way of seeing Battleship Potemkin, however, i couldn't recommend it highly enough. The main attraction of this DVD is the movie itself, which is more than worth the price of entry. No matter how many people tell you about the Odessa steps sequence, you'll still be impressed by it. The most moving single sequence in all of silent cinema - and one of my favourite sequences in all cinema. Such brilliant editing, such brilliant movement down the steps. And the imaginative little episodes as we move down the steps: the famous pram rolling down the steps, the little boy who gets shot and trampled on, his wailing mother who picks him up and marches up the steps towards the descending cossacks (this moment is pictured on the DVD cover). The movie is a very moving experience, and has become one of my favourites. If there is no Criterion edition or edition with special features, i'd say get this (but try not to pay too much for it - as i said, its pretty much just the movie).
Rating: 
Summary: Above-average presentation for a vital silent film
Review: The need for serious film-buffs to own this film is so obvious that I hardly need reiterate it. Too many have called it the greatest film ever, or nearly so. Seeing it again, I have to agree that it is a powerful and finely-crafted film, of huge historical importance thanks in part to its many innovations in technique. While I still squirm at some of its blatant propagandism, I can look past that enough to appreciate the film's excellence. Anyway, as to this DVD: the print is pretty good for a silent film, which means that you can make out what's going on about 90% of the time. Of course, the recent restoration of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" so completely spoils us now, with its incredible beauty and clarity, that it's hard to settle for anything less! But this printing of "Battleship Potemkin," from a 1976 Soviet restoration, remains quite respectable. My main reservation is the music. Austrian composer Edmund Meisel composed a score specifically for this film at the time of its original release. Even though the present DVD version is a "restoration," it does not use the original music. Instead, the score a patchwork of extracts from Shostokovitch's symphonies (the opening scene of waves crashing is the beginning of the 1st movement of the 5th symphony; the opening of "Odessa Steps" with the ships moving in the harbor is the beginning of the same symphony's Scherzo). Great music, yes, but often not well-matched to the action.
Rating:
Summary: A cinematic milestone!
Review: The notoriously dated aspects of silent cinema (maudlin storylines, theatrical acting, silly makeup, tinny music, intrusive dialogue cards, abysmally slow pace, etc.) that make sitting through them a trying experience for today's audience are nowhere in sight in this rightly acclaimed milestone in cinema history. Legendary Russian director Sergei Eisenstein here pioneered his innovative use of "montage"--a method of storytelling through the juxtaposition of expressive images--that every director since has owed their cinematic expression to (and that possibly none have surpassed). Orson Welles, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, all named this film among their top ten. In fact, it's revolutionary ideas trancended language barriers, and in the '20's became a hit in cinemas around the world, including the U.S. The brilliant Eisenstein had created a "universal language" through which his ideals could be conveyed to all. That his ideals were nothing less than Communist propaganda cannot tarnish the genius of his grasp of cinematic grammar. His striking use of image and rapid cutting to tell the (partly fictitious) story nearly render the dialogue cards redundant; narrative velocity is relentless; every character portrait is convincing and touching; riveting suspense and atmosphere is summoned beautifully; it's photography was recently named by "American Cinematographer" as one of the screen's 25 finest ever; and finally, the Shostakovitch score (written sometime after it's release) is fittingly nationalistic and epic in scope. That film students speak of "gleaming nuggets of montage" from it's superlative framework (such as the magnificent "Odessa Steps" sequence) really do the film injustice; for surely "Potemkin's" greatest triumph is the tremendously successful union of it's many excellent parts (an achievement that "Citizen Kane" does not attain, among others). For any film fan interested in either silent cinema, or just cinematic art, this is one those handful that are required viewing! P.S.: For the best of "montage" in sound pictures, see David Lean's "Oliver Twist"; particularly Nancy's murder, and the scenes bordering it. I review the Criterion DVD edition of this film at Amazon!
Rating:
Summary: A classic of Russian silent cinema
Review: The sailors, fed up with the poor rations they must eat while the officers dine in splendor, stage a mutiny and take over the Potemkin. In the fray, the leader of he sailors, a Bolshevik named Vaculinchuk, is killed. The sailors take his body to the shores of Odessa where they lay his body in tribute. The people of Odessa flock to see his body when they learned of the events on the Potemkin. Enraged at the treatment by the government, the citizens of Odessa rebel against the tsarist government.
This films is probably the best example of a propaganda film ever made, showing the perceived menace of the Russian government back at the turn of the century. The message seems to be that the citizens need to band together, that all Russians are brothers and sisters and must rise up against tyranny and fight for their freedoms. While the story isn't completely engaging today, it does contain one of the most startling sequences in a silent film: the Odessa Steps. As the citizes of Odessa start to gather, the Cossacks ride in resulting in one of the bloodiest slaughters to reach the screen. Directors Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein knew how to use this medium of film to get their message across, and this is one of the most effective scenes you'll ever see on screen.
It's a remarkable piece of cinematic history.
Rating:
Summary: Eisenstein has won the Battle of Cinema Brilliance.
Review: This is the most important film ever made. It set the foundation for both artistic and technological endeavors for the past 80 years of cinema. The editing and music is so overpowering that you forget that it's a silent black and white movie. The experience during "BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN" is one of a kind. Any one seriously considering to pursue any aspect of filmmaking must view this film at least once (see it as much as you can!). This shows how film "can" be an artform. This was a feat ahead of it's time and still holds an intensity today. One of my many inspirations as a director. Buy it and enjoy a film unlike anything you've ever seen (or heard) before. This DVD edition retains the closest resemblence to the director's vision. The cuts in the legendary Odesa Steps sequence is as close to the original as possible.
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