The Shifting Protocols of the Visible: The Becoming of Sergei Eisenstein’s "The Battleship Potemkin"

Radunović, Dušan

doi:10.2979/filmhistory.29.2.03

The Shifting Protocols of the Visible: The Becoming of Sergei Eisenstein’s "The Battleship Potemkin"

Radunović, Dušan

Authors

Dr Dusan Radunovic dusan.radunovic@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

This article aims to trace and articulate the extremely rich production and postproduction history of the early Soviet classic, Sergei Eisenstein's Bronenosets Potemkin (The Battleship Potemkin, 1925). By engaging Paolo Cherchi Usai's idea that early films exist as multiple objects, the paper explicates how Eisenstein's film was re-edited in three of its most important versions: the original 1925 cut; the first international cut, produced in 1926; and the 1950 cut. By elucidating the distinctive sociopolitical conditions that crucially informed all three cuts of the film, the article interprets and compares the visual transformation of Potemkin in accordance with editorial and re-editorial alterations, identifying a nexus of contributing factors that regulate the economy of the visible in Eisenstein's film. I argue that the junction at which authoritative social impulses are negotiated with Eisenstein's individual vision takes us to what might be one of the critical moments in Eisenstein's early career in which his early, avant-garde–informed approach to filmmaking is recalibrated with the rules of dramaturgy of film form.

Citation

Radunović, D. (2017). The Shifting Protocols of the Visible: The Becoming of Sergei Eisenstein’s "The Battleship Potemkin". Film history, 29(2), 66-90. https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.29.2.03

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jun 14, 2016
Online Publication Date	Jul 18, 2017
Publication Date	Jul 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Jun 14, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Jan 18, 2019
Journal	Film History
Print ISSN	0892-2160
Electronic ISSN	1553-3905
Publisher	Taylor and Francis
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	29
Issue	2
Pages	66-90
DOI	https://doi.org/10.2979/filmhistory.29.2.03

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Copyright Statement
Working paper version This article was published as Radunović, Dušan (2017). The Shifting Protocols of the Visible: The Becoming of Sergei Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin. Film History: An International Journal 29(2): 66-90. No part of this article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or distributed, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Indiana University Press. For educational re-use, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center (508-744-3350). For all other permissions, please visit Indiana University Press.