Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein, Goskino, 1925, commissioned for the twentieth anniversary of the 1905 revolution. Sailors on the Potemkin refuse rotten meat; the mutiny reaches Odessa. The steps sequence (pram, boots, the woman with the pince-nez) is assembled from short shots that do not exist as one continuous action, photographed by Eduard Tisse. Banned or cut in several countries; Goebbels later admired the form while hating the politics. Added to the National Film Registry in 1992 (U.S. prints). The ending is the point: the squadron lets the ship pass.