Rather than appreciate this masterpeice for what it is, all USA based reviewers insist in qualifying their praise by saying it is "propaganda". US Cinema from "Birth of a Nation" to "Saving Private Ryan" was, of course, not "propaganda" but objective "art"(!).

I can only surmize that the purpose of such reviews (some of which come from, apparently, respectable US academics) is to discourage the viewer of Soviet films from taking on board the internal message, which is vital to the understanding of any film (a point on which they would not disagree if they where discussing a film made in the US).

Do not be put off! This is a genuinely great film, and if you watch it without sub-intellectual prejudice, you shall enjoy it all the more.

Happy viewing.

Colin.


Only if you can get it cheap. No special features.   April 15, 2004
 13 out of 17 found this review helpful

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).


Truly outstanding DVD release   November 18, 2007
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Several years ago I bought Battleship Potemkin on DVD and was severely disappointed. In my review of the old edition, I hoped that Kino Video or Criterion would restore the film and release a DVD that would do justice to Eisenstein's brilliant propaganda piece. Kino has stepped up to the challenge and done a remarkable job.

Picture: The picture quality is a vast improvement. Previous releases were blurry, low-resolution, and generally covered with dirt and scratches. The picture on Kino's release is crystal-clear, looking better than ever.

Sound: I suppose I should say "music," but regardless, this is another vast improvement. The previous DVD release I mentioned replaced the original Edmund Meisel score with a tinny monstrosity by Shostakovich. Meisel's music has been rerecorded in beautiful stereo and re-synched to the film.

Special features: A making-of documentary covering the film and its restoration, as well as a photo gallery are both good and definitely interesting, but the major selling point on this DVD is the restored image and music.

Overall, I can say little more than that this is an outstanding treatment of a truly great film. If you've been disappointed in previous DVD releases of Potemkin or have been waiting for a good one, this is it.

Highly recommended.


At Long Last!   October 23, 2007
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

It's hard to think of a more important silent film or any major work of world cinema that has taken as long to be issued in a definitive version than BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN. It took many years and the combined efforts of several different film archives to put POTEMKIN back together again but it has been worth the wait for now it is possible to finally see the most influential movie ever made the way it's creator Sergei Eisenstein intended. Ever since the premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1925, POTEMKIN has been subject to censorship in one form or another. Not only was the film cut but the original score by German composer Edmund Meisel was discarded after the film's initial run and this had a huge impact as we can now see and hear in this restoration. The images will always retain their power but they are doubly enhanced by Meisel's propulsive driving score which sounds like Shostakovich who was 19 at the time and must have been influenced by what he heard here. It's ironic that for the film's 50th anniversary (the version most readily available until now) the music of Shostakovich provided the background and the film was cut to fit the music. All of this is covered in the excellent documentary TRACING BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN that comes with this 2 DVD set. As for the movie itself, it has never looked this good. Images are sharp and clear, the contrast of the black and white photography is excellent and the colorization of the raising of the red flag has been restored. Most important of all is the return of the edited material which changes the look and feel of certain scenes. The famous "Odessa Steps" sequence is longer, has different points of view, and is more violent than before. The recording of the original score is top notch and, as I said earlier, adds immeasureably to the total film experience. Overall this is a truly astonishing set and one no lover of film should be without. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I wish they had included the 1976 50th anniversary edition as the second disc (instead of the new version with Russian title cards) so that we could see the differences between the two and could note the changes made to bring BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN back to Eisenstein's vision.