Happy Labor Day
By Craig Kennedy - September 1st, 2008; 12:02 am
In honor of everyone who is still working for the man, enjoy the first 4 minutes and 38 seconds of Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike. Sure, laugh all you want at the blatant Socialist propagandizing in this seminal silent film from 1925, but enjoy the filmmaking.
The additional 22 parts are available here.
Happy Labor Day.
Filed under: Clips
Tags: Sergei Eisentsein, Strike
Related Posts: - IndieWire 2009 Critics’ Poll
- Eisner: The strike is over. Finke: Not so fast.
- Memorial Day
- Review: The Foot Fist Way (2008) ***
- Ridley Scott’s Strange ‘Nottingham’ Casting Claim
My friend who grew up in Communist Romania would be annoyed - when we watched October in a USC film class she was bothered because obviously that film leaves out the messiness that ensued - but personally, this stuff is great. My personal favorite is Man With a Movie Camera.
MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA is indeed great stuff as is STRIKE. I would add the likes of Doshenkzo’s EARTH, Pudovkin’s MOTHER, and Vertov’s ENTHUZIASM to this mix.
Yeah, I don’t take these as historical documents so much as invigorating slices of cinema.
Oh hell…
Is it September all ready…?
I HATE fall.
Christmas can’t come soon enough….
I’m in a similar spot as Jeff with these films. My Hungarian, Transylvanian/Romanian-born girlfriend detests the commie propaganda aspect of these films, and I laugh off the usually crude “messages” of these works… But all of the films Sam lists are certainly worth seeing for anyone who loves cinema.
Great clip to use, Craig, and funny in the Labor Day context.
Call me crazy but I have a real soft spot for old Soviet propaganda films, particularly Eisenstein’s. Everyone always points to BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (and deservedly so), but I even enjoyed his admittedly more hokey ALEXANDER NEVSKY. The music is glorious and the whole thing is so rousing its easy to see how people got caught up in it. That kind of persuasive power is almost scary.
See, now I didn’t even know this existed. Soviet propaganda films in general, sure, but I couldn’t have told you any specific directors or other films.
I envy you all your film classes. The only film class my college offered was, of all things, in African film, and I didn’t get to take that.
Neat stuff. Thanks for posting it, Craig. I do admire the filmmaking.
Have you seen many silents in general JB or is it just the Russian ones you weren’t familiar with?
I find I have to get myself “up” for them…they seem to exercise a different part of my moviegoing brain that tends to get flabby from disuse, but once I get warmed up they’re a lot of fun.
The great thing is that there is no language barrier like in foreign sound films and title cards allow you to enjoy the action more than subtitles. It’s easier to focus on the visuals and editing too because there isn’t always some character yammering in your ear.
I’ve seen a fair number of American silent films, the Charlie Chaplins and Buster Keatons, Fatty Arbuckle, and a few of the early dramas, but it’s not an era I know much about in general, I suppose, especially anything produced overseas. If you aren’t taking a film class and you don’t live near any art house or repertory cinemas, exposure to anything outside the mainstream is pretty damn hard to come by. You really have to seek it out. I owe a great debt to Netflix for making so many more things accessible to me. Now, the biggest probem is time.
Plus, I’ve only been going on this self-educating cinephile journey for a relatively short time. There are so many great, accessible films I’m still catching up on. Every discovery is a treat, though, however late I may come to it.