Editing Sergei Eisenstein (section)

==Career==
===From theatre to cinema===
[[File:Sadanji Ichikawa II and Sergei Eisenstein.jpg|thumb|With Japanese [[kabuki]] actor Sadanji Ichikawa II, Moscow, 1928]]
Eisenstein moved to Moscow in 1920 and began his career in theatre working for [[Proletkult]],<ref>{{harvnb|Seton|1952|p=41}}.</ref> an experimental Soviet artistic institution which aspired to radically modify existing artistic forms and create a revolutionary working-class aesthetic. His productions there were entitled ''Gas Masks'', ''Listen Moscow'', and ''[[Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Seton|1952|p=529}}.</ref> He worked as a designer for [[Vsevolod Meyerhold]].<ref>{{harvnb|Seton|1952|pp=46–48}}.</ref> Eisenstein began his career as a theorist in 1923<ref>{{harvnb|Seton|1952|p=61}}.</ref> by writing "The Montage of Attractions" for art journal ''[[LEF (journal)|LEF]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Christie|Taylor|1994|pp=87–89}}</ref> His first film, ''[[Glumov's Diary]]'' (for the theatre production ''Wise Man''), was also made in that same year with [[Dziga Vertov]] hired initially as an instructor.<ref>{{harvnb|Эйзенштейн|1968}} [http://lib.ru/CINEMA/kinolit/EJZENSHTEJN/s_moya_pervaya_filxma.txt].</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goodwin|1993|p=32}}.</ref>

''[[Strike (1925 film)|Strike]]'' (1925) was Eisenstein's first full-length feature film. ''[[Battleship Potemkin]]'' (also 1925) was critically acclaimed worldwide. Mostly owing to this international renown, he was then able to direct ''[[October: Ten Days That Shook the World]]'', as part of a grand tenth anniversary celebration of the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, and then ''[[The General Line]]'' (also known as ''Old and New''). While critics outside Soviet Russia praised these works, Eisenstein's focus in the films on structural issues such as camera angles, crowd movements, and [[Montage (filmmaking)|montage]] brought him and like-minded others such as [[Vsevolod Pudovkin]] and [[Alexander Dovzhenko]] under fire from the Soviet film community. This forced him to issue public articles of self-criticism and commitments to reform his cinematic visions to conform to the increasingly specific doctrines of [[socialist realism]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

===Travels to western Europe===
In the autumn of 1928, with ''October'' still under fire in many Soviet quarters, Eisenstein left the Soviet Union for a tour of Europe, accompanied by his perennial film collaborator [[Grigori Aleksandrov]] and cinematographer [[Eduard Tisse]]. Officially, the trip was supposed to allow the three to learn about sound motion pictures and to present themselves as Soviet artists in person to the capitalist West. For Eisenstein, however, it was an opportunity to see landscapes and cultures outside the Soviet Union. He spent the next two years touring and lecturing in [[Berlin]], [[Zürich]], London, and Paris.<ref>{{harvnb|Eisenstein|1972|p=8}}.</ref> In 1929, in Switzerland, Eisenstein supervised an educational documentary about [[abortion]] directed by Tisse, entitled ''Frauennot – Frauenglück''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993|p=16}}.</ref>

===American projects===
[[File:Eisenstein Tisse Aleksandrov Disney.webp|thumb|Aleksandrov, Eisenstein, [[Walt Disney]] and Tisse in June 1930]]
In late April 1930, film producer [[Jesse L. Lasky]], on behalf of [[Paramount Pictures]], offered Eisenstein the opportunity to make a film in the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=12}}.</ref> He accepted a short-term contract for $100,000 ($1,500,000 in 2017 dollars) and arrived in Hollywood in May 1930, along with Aleksandrov and Tisse.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alexander Dobtovinsky: I will personally publish the "Vnukovo Archive" of Lyubov Orlova and Grigory Alexandrov |url=https://bfmspb.ru/novosti/aleksandr-dobrovinskij-ya-sam-izdayu-vnukovskij-arxiv-lyubovi-orlovoj-i-grigoriya-aleksandrova |website=bfmspb.ru |publisher=Business FM |access-date=18 August 2020 |language=ru |date=14 November 2019}}</ref> Eisenstein proposed a biography of arms dealer [[Basil Zaharoff]] and a film version of ''[[Arms and the Man]]'' by [[George Bernard Shaw]], and more fully developed plans for a film of ''[[Sutter's Gold]]'' by [[Blaise Cendrars]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Montagu|1968|p=151}}.</ref> but on all accounts failed to impress the studio's producers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=172}}.</ref> Paramount proposed a film version of [[Theodore Dreiser]]'s ''[[An American Tragedy]]''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=174}}.</ref> This excited Eisenstein, who had read and liked the work, and had met Dreiser at one time in Moscow. Eisenstein completed a script by the start of October 1930,<ref>{{Harvnb|Montagu|1968|p=209}}.</ref> but Paramount disliked it and, additionally, they found themselves attacked by [[Frank Pease|Major Pease]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=167}}.</ref> president of the Hollywood Technical Director's Institute. Pease, a strident anti-communist, mounted a public campaign against Eisenstein. On October 23, 1930, by "mutual consent", Paramount and Eisenstein declared their contract null and void, and the Eisenstein party were treated to return tickets to Moscow at Paramount's expense.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|pp=185–186}}.</ref>

Eisenstein was faced with being seen a failure in the USSR. The Soviet film industry was solving the sound-film issue without him; in addition, his films, techniques and theories, such as his [[formalist film theory]], were becoming increasingly attacked as "ideological failures". Many of his theoretical articles from this period, such as ''[[Eisenstein on Disney]]'', have surfaced decades later.<ref name="Disney">{{Cite book |last=Eisenstein |first=Sergei |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/990846648 |title=Sergei Eisenstein on Disney |publisher=Seagull Books |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-85742-491-4 |editor-last=Leyda |editor-first=Jay |location=Calcutta |translator-last=Upchurch |translator-first=Alan Y. |oclc=990846648}}</ref>

Eisenstein and his entourage spent considerable time with [[Charlie Chaplin]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Montagu|1968|pp=89–97}}.</ref> who recommended that Eisenstein meet with a sympathetic benefactor, the American socialist author [[Upton Sinclair]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=187}}.</ref> Sinclair's works had been accepted by and were widely read in the USSR and were known to Eisenstein. The two admired each other, and between the end of October 1930 and Thanksgiving of that year, Sinclair had secured an extension of Eisenstein's absences from the USSR and permission for him to travel to Mexico. Eisenstein had long been fascinated by Mexico and had wanted to make a film about the country. As a result of their discussions with Eisenstein and his colleagues, Sinclair, his wife [[Mary Craig Sinclair|Mary]], and three other investors organized as the "Mexican Film Trust" to contract the three Russians to make a film about Mexico of Eisenstein's design.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=188}}.</ref>

===Mexican odyssey===
{{Main|¡Que viva México! (unfinished film)}}
[[File:Russische regisseur bezoekt ons land.ogv|thumb|250px|Sergei Eisenstein visiting [[Rotterdam]] in 1930]]
On 24 November 1930, Eisenstein signed a contract with the Trust "upon the basis of his desire to be free to direct the making of a picture according to his own ideas of what a Mexican picture should be, and in full faith in Eisenstein's artistic integrity."<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=189}}.</ref> The contract stipulated that the film would be "non-political", that immediately available funding came from Mary Sinclair in an amount of "not less than Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars",<ref name = "Geduld & Gottesman, p. 22">{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=22}}.</ref> that the shooting schedule amounted to "a period of from three to four months",<ref name = "Geduld & Gottesman, p. 22" /> and most importantly that: "Eisenstein furthermore agrees that all pictures made or directed by him in Mexico, all negative film and positive prints, and all story and ideas embodied in said Mexican picture, will be the property of Mrs. Sinclair..."<ref name = "Geduld & Gottesman, p. 22" /> A codicil to the contract allowed that the "Soviet Government may have the [finished] film free for showing inside the U.S.S.R."<ref>{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=23}}.</ref>  Reportedly, it was verbally clarified that the expectation was for a finished film of about an hour's duration.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

By 4 December, Eisenstein was traveling to Mexico by train, accompanied by Aleksandrov and Tisse, and also by Mrs. Sinclair's brother, [[Hunter Kimbrough]], a banker with no prior experience in motion picture work, who was to serve as production supervisor. At their departure Eisenstein had not yet determined a direction or subject for his film, and only several months later produced a brief outline of a six-part film; this, he promised, would be developed, in one form or another, into a final plan he would settle on for his project. The title for the project, {{Lang|es|¡Que viva México!}}, was decided on some time later still. While in Mexico, he mixed socially with [[Frida Kahlo]] and [[Diego Rivera]]; Eisenstein admired these artists and Mexican culture in general, and they inspired him to call his films "moving frescoes".<ref>{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993|p=19}}.</ref> The left-wing U.S. film community eagerly followed his progress within Mexico, as is chronicled within Chris Robe's book ''Left of Hollywood: Cinema, Modernism, and the Emergence of U.S. Radical Film Culture''.<ref>Left of Hollywood: Cinema, Modernism, and the Emergence of U.S. Radical Film Culture</ref>

Filming was not accomplished in the 3–4 months agreed to in Eisenstein's contract, however, and the Trust was running out of money; and his prolonged absence from the USSR led [[Joseph Stalin]] to send a telegram to Sinclair expressing the concern that Eisenstein had become a deserter.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=513}}.</ref> Under pressure, Eisenstein blamed Mary Sinclair's younger brother, Hunter Kimbrough, who had been sent along to act as a line producer, for the film's problems.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=281}}.</ref> Eisenstein hoped to pressure the Sinclairs to insinuate themselves between him and Stalin so that Eisenstein could finish the film in his own way. Unable to raise further funds, and under pressure from both the Soviet government and the majority of the Trust, Sinclair shut down production and ordered Kimbrough to return to the United States with the remaining film footage and the three Soviets to see what they could do with the film already shot; estimates of the extent of this range from 170,000 lineal feet with ''Soldadera'' unfilmed,<ref>{{Harvnb|Eisenstein|1972|p=14}}.</ref> to an excess of 250,000 lineal feet.<ref>{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=132}}.</ref> For the unfinished filming of the "novel" of ''Soldadera'', without incurring any cost, Eisenstein had secured 500 soldiers, 10,000 guns, and 50 cannons from the Mexican Army.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

When Kimbrough arrived at the American border, a customs search of his trunk revealed sketches and drawings by Eisenstein of [[Jesus]] caricatures amongst other lewd pornographic material, which Eisenstein had added to his luggage without Kimbrough's knowledge.<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|pp=234–235}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|pp=309–310}}.</ref> His re-entry visa had expired,<ref name="Geduld & Gottesman, p. 288">{{Harvnb|Geduld|Gottesman|1970|p=288}}.</ref> and Sinclair's contacts in Washington were unable to secure him an additional extension. Eisenstein, Aleksandrov, and Tisse were allowed, after a month's stay at the [[U.S.-Mexico border]] outside [[Laredo, Texas]], a 30-day "pass" to get from Texas to New York and thence depart for Moscow, while Kimbrough returned to Los Angeles with the remaining film.<ref name="Geduld & Gottesman, p. 288"/>

Eisenstein toured the American South instead of going directly to New York. In mid-1932, the Sinclairs were able to secure the services of [[Sol Lesser]], who had just opened his distribution office in New York, [[Principal Distributing Corporation]]. Lesser agreed to supervise post-production work on the miles of negative — at the Trust's expense — and distribute any resulting product. Two short [[feature film]]s and a [[short subject]]—''Thunder Over Mexico,'' based on the "Maguey" footage;<ref>{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993|p=21}}.</ref> ''Eisenstein in Mexico;'' and ''Death Day,'' respectively—were completed and released in the United States between the autumn of 1933 and early 1934. Eisenstein never saw any of the Sinclair-Lesser films, nor a later effort by his first biographer, [[Marie Seton]], called ''[[¡Que viva México! (unfinished film)|Time in the Sun]]'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=446}}.</ref> released in 1940. He would publicly maintain that he had lost all interest in the project. In 1978, Gregori Aleksandrov released – with the same name in contravention to the copyright – his own version, which was awarded the Honorable Golden Prize at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival in 1979. Later, in 1998, Oleg Kovalov edited a free version of the film, calling it "Mexican Fantasy".{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

===Return to the Soviet Union===
[[File:Sergei Eisenstein 02.jpg|thumb|right|Eisenstein in 1939]]
Eisenstein's failure in Mexico took a toll on his mental health. He spent some time in a mental hospital in [[Kislovodsk]] in July 1933,<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=280}}.</ref> ostensibly a result of depression born of his final acceptance that he would never be allowed to edit the Mexican footage.<ref name="Leyda 1960 p=299">{{Harvnb|Leyda|1960|p=299}}.</ref> He was subsequently assigned a teaching position at the [[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography|State Institute of Cinematography]] where he had taught earlier, and in 1933 and 1934 was in charge of writing the curriculum.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993| p= 140}}.</ref>

In 1935, Eisenstein was assigned another project, ''[[Bezhin Meadow]]'', but it appears the film was afflicted with many of the same problems as ''¡Que viva México!''. Eisenstein unilaterally decided to film two versions of the scenario, one for adult viewers and one for children; failed to define a clear shooting schedule; and shot film prodigiously, resulting in cost overruns and missed deadlines. [[Boris Shumyatsky]], the ''de facto'' head of the Soviet film industry, called a halt to the filming and cancelled further production. What appeared to save Eisenstein's career at this point was that Stalin ended up taking the position that the ''Bezhin Meadow'' catastrophe, along with several other problems facing the industry at that point, had less to do with Eisenstein's approach to filmmaking as with the executives who were supposed to have been supervising him. Ultimately this came down on the shoulders of Shumyatsky,<ref>{{Harvnb|Seton|1952|p=369}}.</ref> who in early 1938 was denounced, arrested, tried and convicted as a traitor, and shot.

===Comeback===
Eisenstein was able to ingratiate himself with Stalin for 'one more chance', and he chose, from two offerings, the assignment of a biopic of ''[[Alexander Nevsky (film)|Alexander Nevsky]]'' and his victory at the [[Battle on the Ice|Battle of the Ice]], with music composed by [[Sergei Prokofiev]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.culturalresuena.es/2016/05/warhol-prokofiev-eisenstein-la-musica |title=Warhol, Prokofiev, Eisenstein y la música – Cultural Resuena |last=González Cueto |first=Irene |date=2016-05-23 |newspaper=Cultural Resuena |language=es-ES |access-date=2016-10-12 }}</ref> This time, he was assigned a co-scenarist, [[Pyotr Pavlenko]],<ref name="Bordwell, p. 27">{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993|p=27}}.</ref> to bring in a completed script; professional actors to play the roles; and an assistant director, [[Dmitri Ivanovich Vasilyev|Dmitri Vasilyev]], to expedite shooting.<ref name = "Bordwell, p. 27" />

The result was a film critically well received by both the Soviets and in the West, which won him the [[Order of Lenin]] and the [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]].<ref name="Bordwell, p. 28">{{Harvnb|Bordwell|1993|p=28}}.</ref> It was an allegory and stern warning against the massing forces of Nazi Germany, well played and well made. The script had Nevsky utter a number of traditional Russian [[proverb]]s, verbally rooting his fight against the Germanic invaders in Russian traditions.<ref>Kevin McKenna. 2009. "Proverbs and the Folk Tale in the Russian Cinema: The Case of Sergei Eisenstein's Film Classic ''Aleksandr Nevsky''." ''The Proverbial «Pied Piper» A Festschrift Volume of Essays in Honor of Wolfgang Mieder on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday'', ed. by Kevin McKenna, pp. 277–92. New York, Bern: Peter Lang.</ref> This was started, completed, and placed in distribution all within the year 1938, and represented Eisenstein's first film in nearly a decade and his first sound film.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

Eisenstein returned to teaching, and was assigned to direct [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Die Walküre]]'' at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]].<ref name="Bordwell, p. 28" /> After the outbreak of war with Germany in 1941, ''Alexander Nevsky'' was re-released with a wide distribution and earned international success. With the war approaching Moscow, Eisenstein was one of many filmmakers evacuated to [[Almaty|Alma-Ata]], where he first considered the idea of making a film about Tsar [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]]. Eisenstein corresponded with Prokofiev from Alma-Ata, and was joined by him there in 1942. Prokofiev composed [[Ivan the Terrible (Prokofiev)|the score]] for Eisenstein's film ''[[Ivan the Terrible (1945 film)|Ivan the Terrible]]'' and Eisenstein reciprocated by designing sets for an operatic rendition of ''[[War and Peace (Prokofiev)|War and Peace]]'' that Prokofiev was developing.<ref>{{harvnb|Leyda|Voynow|1982|p=146}}.</ref>

===Ivan trilogy===
Eisenstein's film ''[[Ivan the Terrible (1945 film)|Ivan the Terrible]], Part I'', presenting [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV of Russia]] as a national hero, won Stalin's approval (and a [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]]),<ref>{{harvnb|Neuberger|2003|p=22}}.</ref> but the sequel, ''Ivan the Terrible, Part II'', was criticized by various authorities and went unreleased until 1958. All footage from ''Ivan the Terrible, Part III'' was confiscated by the Soviet authorities whilst the film was still incomplete, and most of it was destroyed, though several filmed scenes exist.<ref>{{harvnb|Leyda|Voynow|1982|p=135}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Blois |first1=Beverly |title=Eisenstein's "Ivan The Terrible, Part II" as Cultural Artifact |url=http://www.ctevans.net/Nvcc/HIS241/Documents/Ivan.pdf}}</ref>