Russian film director, Sergei Eisenstein, is most commonly associated with his early silent masterpieces Strike (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1927). His reputation as one of the first artists working within the media of film is founded on a number of film techniques, which he pioneered and developed, as well as his extensive writings on film theory. His use of montage editing, which he described as a "series of attractions or unconnected images that react to one another" is remarkable, the most notable, famous and most imitated of which is the 'Odessa Steps' sequence in Battleship Potemkin. He also developed a style of film acting he termed 'characturer' where he took an archetypal character and brought their life to film. His casting of actors was what he termed 'typage' - he cast characters to fit stereotyped images of say Russian soldiers or peasants.
Although he made few films during the 1930s he never stopped working and much of this period was dedicated to research into what he envisaged to be a trilogy of films on the life of the sixteenth-century Russian Tsar - Ivan the Terrible. The first Part of this highly stylised series was released in 1944 and Part Two was released two years later. Eisenstein died in 1948 before he could realise the end of his dream.
Eisenstein left behind a mass of papers, designs and notes on this mammoth project and author Yuri Tsivian has conducted extensive research into these archives for his BFI Film Classic on the films.
In the book's introduction Tsivian describes Ivan the Terrible as: "a complex movie - some people even think the most complex movie ever made". Over the next seventy-five pages he attempts to unravel the mysteries of the film's production, it's sociological and political position within Russian film history. Tsivian's textual analysis of the film's visual, auditory and narrative style offer a unique insight into Eisenstein's artistic vision and the painstaking research he undertook to create these visually stunning pair of films.
This is one of the most accessible books I have read within the BFI Classics series. So often the author's style and need to cram film theory into the books can make such close readings of even the most interesting of films a drag to read. Here, Tsivian's first person style and obvious passion and enthusiasm for the film and its contexts make for an engaging read. The chosen photographs and sketches add further insight into Eisenstein's production and method - most interesting are the comparisons between paintings and his translation of these into the film's mise-en-scène.
I would recommend, incidentally, that the book be read alongside or after having seen parts 1 and 2 of Ivan the Terrible, which are both available video and DVD.
Reviewed by Ellen Cheshire
