Editing Battleship Potemkin (section)

==Production==
On the 20th anniversary of the [[1905 Russian Revolution|first Russian revolution]], the commemorative commission of the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]] decided to stage a number of performances dedicated to the revolutionary events of 1905. As part of the celebrations, it was suggested that a "... grand film [be] shown in a special program, with an oratory introduction, musical (solo and orchestral) and a dramatic accompaniment based on a specially written text".<ref>{{cite book |script-title=ru:Броненосец "Потемкин." |series=Шедевры советского кино |editor=Наум И. Клейман |editor2=К. Б. Левина |page=24}}</ref> [[Nina Agadzhanova]] was asked to write the script and direction of the picture was assigned to 27-year-old [[Sergei Eisenstein]].<ref name="seton-74">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/sergeimeisenstei00seto#page/74/mode/2up |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |author=Marie Seton |title=Sergei M. Eisenstein: a biography |year=1960 |page=74 |author-link=Marie Seton}}</ref>

In the original script, the film was to highlight a number of episodes from the 1905 revolution: the [[Russo-Japanese War]], [[Armenian–Tatar massacres of 1905–1906]], [[Bloody Sunday (1905)|revolutionary events in St. Petersburg]] and the [[Moscow uprising of 1905|Moscow uprising]]. Filming was to be conducted in a number of cities within the USSR.<ref name="leyda">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/kinohistoryofrus00jayl#page/193/mode/2up/ |publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]] |author=Jay Leyda |title=Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film |year=1960 |pages=193–199 |author-link=Jay Leyda}}</ref>

Eisenstein hired many non-professional actors for the film; he sought people of specific types instead of famous stars.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/sergeimeisenstei00seto#page/79/mode/2up|publisher=[[Grove Press]] |author=Marie Seton |title=Sergei M. Eisenstein: a biography |year=1960 |pages=79–82 |author-link=Marie Seton}}</ref><ref name="leyda" />

Shooting began on 31 March 1925. Eisenstein began filming in Leningrad and had time to shoot the railway strike episode, [[horsecar]], city at night and the strike crackdown on Sadovaya Street. Further shooting was prevented by deteriorating weather, with fog setting in. At the same time, the director faced tight time constraints: the film needed to be finished by the end of the year, although the script was approved only on 4 June. Eisenstein decided to give up the original script consisting of eight episodes, to focus on just one, the uprising on the [[Russian battleship Potemkin|battleship ''Potemkin'']], which involved just a few pages (41 frames) from Agadzhanova's script. Eisenstein and [[Grigori Aleksandrov]] essentially recycled and extended the script.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gornovosti.ru/tema/other/3529-shedevr-za-dva-mesyaca.htm |publisher=Gorodskie Novosti |title=Шедевр за два месяца |access-date=5 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808104224/http://gornovosti.ru/tema/other/3529-shedevr-za-dva-mesyaca.htm |archive-date=8 August 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition, during the progress of making the film, some episodes were added that had existed neither in Agadzhanova's script nor in Eisenstein's scenic sketches, such as the storm scene with which the film begins. As a result, the content of the film was far removed from Agadzhanova's original script.

The film was shot in [[Odessa]], at that time a center of film production where it was possible to find a suitable warship for shooting.

The first screening of the film took place on 21 December 1925 at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the 1905 revolution at the [[Bolshoi Theatre]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/notesoffilmdirec00eise#page/140/mode/2up |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Publishing House (Soviet Union)|Foreign Languages Publishing House]] |author=Sergei Eisenstein |title=Notes of a film director |year=1959 |page=140 |author-link=Sergei Eisenstein}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |publisher=Iskusstvo |author=Esfir Shub |title=My Life — Cinema |year=1972 |pages=98 |author-link=Esfir Shub}}</ref> The premiere was held in Moscow on 18 January 1926, in the 1st Goskinoteatre (now called the [[:ru:Художественный (кинотеатр, Москва)|Khudozhestvenny]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kv5VfOoSDdQC&pg=PA137 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |editor=Richard Taylor, Ian Christie |title=The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents |year=1994 |pages=137 |isbn=9781135082512}}</ref><ref name="rg_watch">{{cite web |url=https://rg.ru/2013/12/05/bronenosets-site.html |publisher=rg.ru |title=Почему стоит снова посмотреть фильм "Броненосец "Потемкин"|date=5 December 2013 }}</ref>

The silent film received a voice dubbing in 1930, was restored in 1950 (composer Nikolai Kryukov) and reissued in 1976 (composer [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]) at [[Mosfilm]] with the participation of the [[:ru:Государственный фонд кинофильмов Российской Федерации|USSR State Film Fund]] and the Museum of S.M. Eisenstein under the artistic direction of [[Sergei Yutkevich]].

In 1925, after sale of the film's negatives to Germany and reediting by director [[Phil Jutzi]], ''Battleship Potemkin'' was released internationally in a different version from that originally intended. The attempted execution of sailors was moved from the beginning to the end of the film. Later it was subjected to censorship, and in the USSR some frames and intermediate titles were removed. The words of [[Leon Trotsky]] in the prologue were replaced with a quote from [[Lenin]].<ref name="rg_watch" /> In 2005, under the overall guidance of the Foundation [[Deutsche Kinemathek]], with the participation of the State Film Fund and the [[Russian State Archive of Literature and Art]], the author's version of the film was restored, including the music by [[Edmund Meisel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pravda.ru/culture/cinema/russiancinema/19-12-2008/296505-potemkin-0/ |publisher=[[Pravda]] |title="Потемкин" после реставрации |date=19 December 2008}}</ref>

The battleship ''Kniaz Potemkin Tarritcheski'', later renamed ''Panteleimon'' and then ''Boretz Za Svobodu'', was derelict and in the process of being scrapped at the time of the film shoot. It is usually stated that the battleship {{ship|Russian battleship|Dvenadsat Apostolov||2}} was used instead, but she was a very different design of vessel from that of the ''Potemkin'', and the film footage matches the battleship {{ship|Russian battleship|Rostislav||2}} more closely. The ''Rostislav'' had been scuttled in 1920, but her [[superstructure]] remained completely above water until 1930. Interior scenes were filmed on the cruiser {{ship|Soviet cruiser|Komintern||2}}. Stock footage of ''Potemkin'' was used to show her at sea, and stock footage of the French fleet depicted the waiting Russian Black Sea fleet. Anachronistic footage of triple-gun-turret Russian [[dreadnought]]s was also included.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/notesoffilmdirec00eise#page/18/mode/2up |publisher=[[Foreign Languages Publishing House (Soviet Union)|Foreign Languages Publishing House]] |author=Sergei Eisenstein |title=Notes of a film director |year=1959 |pages=18–23 |author-link=Sergei Eisenstein}}</ref><ref name="leyda" />

In the film, the rebels raise a red flag on the battleship, but the [[orthochromatic]] black-and-white film stock of the period made the color red look black, so a white flag was used instead. Eisenstein hand-tinted the flag in red in 108 frames for the premiere at the Grand Theatre, which was greeted with thunderous applause by the Bolshevik audience.<ref name="rg_watch" />