Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Sergei Eisenstein.

Yesterday, Google doodled a tribute to the great Russian director, Sergei Eisenstein. I don't know a lot about Eisenstein, but I do know that he created two of my favorite movies, "The Battleship Potemkin," and "Alexander Nevsky."

Battleship Potemkin, had these two masterful scenes. The first called "Men and Maggots," which described the conditions in pre-Revolutionary Russia, and I suppose much of our Plutocratic world today.





The second scene is "often imitated, never duplicated." The baby stroller on the Odessa steps, in which the Czar's troops open fire on the masses. Brian De Palma tried to recreate it in "The Untouchables," but Eisenstein's version remains untouched. Give yourself a treat and watch the entire 11 minutes.


Finally, from one of my favorite movies, and favorite operas of all time, Alexander Nevsky, with music by Sergei Prokofiev: The Battle on the Ice.

See if that doesn't get your blood coursing in the morning. Dilly dilly.


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