Sergei Eisenstein was commissioned by the Soviet government in 1925 to direct a film commemorating the 20th anniversary of the unsuccessful revolution of 1905. Eisenstein originally envisioned this project as an eight-part episodic film which would cover events including the Potemkin mutiny, a famous railworkers strike, battles in the Russo-Japanese War, the massacre of Armenians in 1905-07, and others. Weather and technical difficulties made shooting some of these events impractical, and Eisenstein decided to give up on Nina Aghadzhanova’s original script.
The result was that Eisenstein made a film only focusing on the mutiny, which became Battleship Potemkin. Eisenstein cast mostly non-professional actors, preferring an ensemble which reflected the look and feel of common folk. He also put into practice the developing Soviet theory of montage, using new editing techniques to illustrate character traits and communicate ideas without making them explicit with title cards or other methods.
The film was first screened for Soviet officials in Moscow on December 21, 1925 and had its public premiere on January 18, 1926. The film was fairly popular in Russia, but received a much more enthusiastic response in foreign countries, where filmmakers and cinephiles proclaimed the film as a major leap forward for the art of cinema.
Different versions of the film were released in the Soviet Union over the years based in part on the changing political attitudes of Communist Party officials. Most notably, a quote by Soviet philosopher and politician Leon Trotsky was removed from the film after Trotsky was exiled for his opposition to Joseph Stalin’s governing policies. Subsequent restorations of the film after the end of Stalin’s regime have generally adhered to Eisenstein’s original cut.
The film has consistently been held up by critics and filmmakers as one of the greatest films of all time. It has placed in the top 12 of the Sight and Sound critics poll for the greatest films of all time in every edition of the poll since its inception in 1952, peaking at third place in 1972.
