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October (Ten Days That Shook the World)

Oktyabr

Soviet Union

1928

103 Min
Black and White
1.33:1
Silent
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov

SCR Grigori Aleksandrov, Sergei Eisenstein, John Reed

DP Vladimir Nilsen, Vladimir Popov, Eduard Tisse

CAST Vladimir Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko, Boris Livanov, Nikolai Padvoisky, Eduard Tisse

PROD DES Vasili Kovrigin

MUSIC Edmund Meisel

Berlinale (Retrospektive)

Synopsis

In documentary style, events in Petrograd are re-enacted from the end of the monarchy in February of 1917 to the end of the provisional government and the decrees of peace and of land in November of that year. Lenin returns in April. In July, counter-revolutionaries put down a spontaneous revolt, and Lenin’s arrest is ordered. By late October, the Bolsheviks are ready to strike: ten days will shake the world. While the Mensheviks vacillate, an advance guard infiltrates the palace. Anatov-Oveyenko leads the attack and signs the proclamation dissolving the provisional government. —IMDb

Director

Original

Sergei Eisenstein

The son of a shipbuilder, Eisenstein chose a career in the arts over engineering or architecture. After W.W. I he worked as a designer and a director in the theater, where he developed his theory of “Soviet realism.” One of his plays was staged not in a theater but in a gasworks. It was inevitable that Eisenstein would gravitate toward cinema, with its natural potential for realism.

His 1st film, Strike (1924), was so inventive and vigorous that it drew immediate attention. The 27-year-old director filmed Potemkin in 2 months. It is remarkable for its maturity and masterly use of camera techniques. Eisenstein was also a pioneer in film editing, and the film is a virtual textbook of this art. In a famous scene, a baby carriage rolls down a long flight of steps while a horrified student watches helplessly from below. The images are intercut and the action slows down, alternating the separate images into one shocking scene. So original was his style that even though it has been… read more

Original

Grigori Aleksandrov

Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (Russian: Григорий Васильевич Александров – original family name was Мормоненко or Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 – 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet film director who was named a People’s Artist of the USSR in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950.

Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter and actor, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova.

Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev’s films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for Stalin-era USSR.

Aleksandrov was born Grigori Vasilyevich Mormonenko in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 1903. Starting… read more

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Picture of T. J. Harman

T. J. Harman

19Oct12

Amazing government agitprop. A masterpiece of action editing as is anything Eisenstein. Underrated in his body of work IMHO.

Picture of Iskandar

Iskandar

5Sep11

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeIn8AduwTg

crmantao and 2 others like this

sabrina, DT

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msmichel

20May11

Eisenstein, who was so far ahead of time in terms of innovation, recreated the revolution here in his state sponsered film. Often brilliant yet perhaps overly simplistic in terms of storytelling at times. Great use of extras with well thought out framing and editing. Various dp's offered several looks to the picture. It's no "Potemkin" or "Ivan" but is an important piece of film history regardless.Thanks to mosfilm

crmantao likes this

Picture of Lopezz

Lopezz

21Dec10

A formally brilliant, ahead of its time film, although hard to follow at times.

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Berlinale 2012. Restored "October" + 12 "Special" Additions

By David Hudson on January 17, 2012

The Special will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Positif and the 50th of the Oberhausen Manifesto.

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Technique triumphs over story

By Michael Harbour on January 13, 2012

Eisenstein’s Tenth Anniversary recreation of the October Uprising certainly isn’t designed to educate about the event, it is meant to stir the passions of remembrance. Someone unfamiliar with the events…  read review

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