Battleship Potemkin (Delta)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: B- Film: A-
Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) is
one of the most famous and influential silent films of all. A Communist/Socialist propaganda film that
was censored in many countries for being considered too subversive at the time,
possibly causing riots among workers, it has long since endured as a work of
art above ideology. Between the graphic
pattern design of its shots, the matching of those shots with others and its ever-influential
editing, the film is one of those rare silent films people have encountered one
way or another without knowing it.
Delta has issued an inexpensive DVD that is one of the
only versions issued in the format to date, though in this case, it is from an
old analog NTSC copy that at least keeps the Odessa Steps sequence in
tact. It is sad this is not a restored
copy, though it would also cost more money if it were, so Delta now has the
most readily available copy of the film for the time being. The monophonic instrumental music that is
here is also poor and lacks depth, so keep reminding one that it is a silent
film.
The other reason to own this copy is the documentary on
the director that is about an hour, or nearly the length of the film itself,
that goes form his birth to his spectacular film career. It may lack detail in a way we are used to
now with the kinds of DVD extras we get these days, but it has many clips and
is a nice introduction to his work for those unfamiliar. Delta is good at adding such “lost extras”
and that in itself is worth a look, besides the classic main feature.
- Nicholas Sheffo
