Eisenstein - The Sound Years (1947)

Badly Dated "Classics"

I realize that most people regard Eisenstein as a god of Soviet cinema, but let me just say that these three films are terribly crude and simplistic. The worst of the three is Ivan Part 2. The "acting" (a generous term for this film) consists of rolling eyes and glacial stares. The plot and dialogue are every bit as bad as those in a Cecil B. DeMille epic. Alexander Nevsky isn't much better. This is clearly a propoganda film and it's just as simplistic as Ivan 2. The German characters in particular are so crudely drawn that most of the time you just sit laughing. The film is so bad that it becomes an unintended comedy. As for Prokofiev's "celebrated" music, it matches the film for bombast. The best of the three films is Ivan Part I since it was impacted the least by Stalin's propoganda machine. It's also heavy handed and simplistic but at least the subject matter and Eisentein's methodology are close to each and the film isn't too far over the top.

Every one should see these films at least once just to know what the "experts" are talking about. However, it is impossible to make the case these are mature and complex films about the human condition. Eisestein's reputation was born during the first half of the 20th century when the Soviet Union was viewed by some people as a grand and hopeful experiment. For them, Eisenstein is the representative of a lost utopia. For the rest of us, these are just boring and overated films. March 16, 2008

richest film ever

Eisenstein's last film is his most visually dense, with every shot and costume and motion and set immaculately composed and every cut creating deeper resonance for the image that came before it. This is the cinematic equivalent of opera, weird and stylized and extravagant and completely un-real... it creates its own set of rules that have very little to do with the conventional rules of film. That's why it's my favorite film, but that's also why a lot of people are bored/disoriented by it. February 29, 2008

Eisentein and Stalin

Three of the great films of Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible and the Boyar's Plot are both remarkable evocations of their historical eras and of the times in which they were written. It is especially in the increasingly suspicious atmosphere of Ivan that one can begin to appreciate why Stalin eventually stopped further work - it was definitely too close to home!

Three great classic films well reproduced in this edition. December 24, 2007

Ivan the Terrible

This is a classic from which any student or teacher of film can learn. Eisenstein takes "historial license" to extremes, but it makes a great landmark.
Cost-wise - a bargain November 8, 2007

Eisenstein The Sound Years

From the cinematography to the set design, costumes to character detail, Eisenstein's operatic sound epics are world-class examples of film as high art, with vigorous storytelling adding to the dazzling, still unparalleled craftsmanship of his historic handiwork. "Nevsky," made in 1938, revived the director's flagging career, and earned him a spot as head of Mosfilm Studios. Stalin was less pleased with Part II of "Ivan," especially with its allusions to his use of secret police and unflattering portrayal of a leader in distress. Both "Nevsky" and "Ivan" star the chiseled, charismatic Cherkasov (a sort of Russian Gary Cooper), and boast magnificent set pieces: a battle on a frozen lake involving thousands of extras in "Nevsky," and an orgiastic feast (rendered in color) in "Ivan." You'd never expect cinema this lavish or lively outside classic Hollywood, but here it is, courtesy of an idealistic Communist in full command of his actors and material. June 22, 2007

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