BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
aka BRONENOSETS POTYOMKIN

Year: 1926
UK: BFI Films
Cast: Aleksandr Antonov, Grigori Aleksandrov, Vladimir Barsky, Mikhail Gomorov, Aleksandr Levshin, I Bobrov, Beatrice Vitoldi, N Poltavseva, Julia Eisenstein, Sergei Eisenstein
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Country: USSR
UK: 71 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains moderate violence
UK Release Date: 29 April 2011 (Limited Re-release)

Synopsis

Originally banned from release in Britain, the film was directed by Sergei Eisenstein in response to the Russian revolutionary leaders commemorating the Potemkin uprising.

In the film the hardship inflicted on the crew of the battleship by the officers reaches breaking point. Having returned from fighting the war with Japan, the ship sails around the Black Sea while the living conditions of the crew become increasingly dire.

When the officers single out the rebellious crew members and order a firing squad to kill them and restore law and order, their plan backfires and the crew mutiny taking control of the battleship. The news reaches the citizens of Odessa onshore, who send out supplies to the ship. But victory is short lived as troops loyal to the czar descend on the city and massacre innocent civilians in their path.

Shot in black and white.