The Cinema of Eisenstein - Hardcover

Bordwell, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674131371 ISBN 13: 9780674131378

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Director of classics, theorist of montage, master of the mass epic, purveyor of Soviet realism in the midst of perilous political reality: Sergei Eisenstein is possibly the key figure in film history. In "The Cinema of Eisenstein" David Bordwell takes the full measure of this filmmaker's accomplishments. Bordwell gives a complete account of Eisenstein's distinctive contributions to the art, theory and history of cinema. He takes the reader from the first silent film, "Strike", made in the upheaval of postrevolutionary Russia, through "Potemkin" and "Ten Days That Shook the World" and on to "Alexander Nevsky" which won the Order of Lenin, to the last banned part of the diptych "Ivan the Terrible". Discussing each in detail, Bordwell points out the traces of various artistic currents of the times, from Marxist Modernism to Socialist Realism to Symbolist poetics, as well as the changing influence of Soviet politics. He guides the reader through Eisenstein's theoretical writings, including major texts that have only recently appeared in English. With close attention to the texture of the filmmaker's thought and work, Bordwell uncovers new depths of artistry and implications for the the

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Review:

Bordwell gives us the best technical survey of Eisenstein's many cinemagraphic innovations that are readily available in a single volume... He puts Eisenstein's considerable achievement in historical perspective and provides detailed analysis of his innovations. "The Cinema of Eisenstein" is a magnificent achievement, an academic yet highly readable discussion of all the director's films and with a lengthy examination of Eisenstein's theoretical writings. The book briefly examines Eisenstein's life and in more detail discusses his place in Soviet cinema. David Bordwell has succeeded in drawing a picture of Eisenstein's evolution and of his major achievements... The book explores its protagonist's biography and the social and cultural context of his work, and extensively analyzes his films... It is a very competent and very balanced work which will be uses for a long time in universities as a standard work on Eisenstein. -- Mikhail Yampolsky "Slavic Review" David Bordwell continues his distinguished career with "The Cinema of Eisenstein," which should revive the flagging fortunes of this path-breaking director with a new generation of film buffs. Bordwell has a firm grasp of the Russian master's theories of film technique, and of course Eisenstein and semantics are almost synonymous. Bordwell's style is articulate and never patronizing, and his frame enlargements are crystal-sharp compared with those in most books. The last two decades have witnessed a glorious renaissance of the Russian filmmaker who must rank among the greatest ever to have taken up cinema's cause...Bordwell has provided much more than the 'straightforward introduction to Eisenstein's accomplishments' he too modestly states as his book's purpose. He sketches Eisenstein's life in the artistic and political context in which he worked. He patiently traces the complex roots of Eisenstein's film theory and pedagogy in often arcane currents of Russian and European intellectual history. Finally, Bordwell offers compelling close readings of all the major films in a way that substantially enhances our understanding of the master's methods and accomplishments. Effectively illustrated and containing a superb bibliography, this lucid and persuasive account is a model of economy and insight from which future research will proceed. Everyone from the serious general reader to the old Eisenstein hand can read it profitably. "The Cinema of Eisenstein" is a treasure in disguise. Its cover is painfully plain, contrary to the flamboyance of the great director [and] its title is awkward in English...It was only on re-reading "The Cinema of Eisenstein" that I recognized the enormity of David Bordwell's achievement. Making the complex accessible, an 'introduction' scholarly, theoretical explanations jargon-free is no mean feat, and yet Bordwell has done all these things superbly. He sketches Eisenstein's life efficiently, explicates the film theories and places them in cultural context, discusses Eisenstein's posthumous waxing and waning and waxing, and most importantly, offers such highly intelligent readings of the films that one wants to see them again even if one has watched them (as I have) many times. These analyses also serve as model illustrations to what Vlada Petric calls 'the filmic way of seeing' and bear no relation to the dry narrative descriptions that we too often find in film histories. Furthermore, Bordwell, a film scholar who is not a Slavicist (and indeed, who does not know Russian), has written a history which satisfied this historian in almost every way...In sum, Bordwell's book is the rare scholarly work that can be recommended--with enthusiasm--to students, scholars, and cine astes alike. -- David J. Youngblood "Slavic and East European Journal" "David Bordwell continues his distinguished career with "The Cinema of Eisenstein," which should revive the flagging fortunes of this path-breaking director with a new generation of film buffs. Bordwell has a firm grasp of the Russian master's theories of film technique, and of course Eisenstein and semantics are almost synonymous. Bordwell's style is articulate and never patronizing, and his frame enlargements are crystal-sharp compared with those in most books." --"International Film Guide" "The last two decades have witnessed a glorious renaissance of the Russian filmmaker who must rank among the greatest ever to have taken up cinema's cause...Bordwell has provided much more than the 'straightforward introduction to [Eisenstein's] accomplishments' he too modestly states as his book's purpose. He sketches Eisenstein's life in the artistic and political context in which he worked. He patiently traces the complex roots of Eisenstein's film theory and pedagogy in often arcane currents of Russian and European intellectual history. Finally, Bordwell offers compelling close readings of all the major films in a way that substantially enhances our understanding of the master's methods and accomplishments. Effectively illustrated and containing a superb bibliography, this lucid and persuasive account is a model of economy and insight from which future research will proceed. Everyone from the serious general reader to the old Eisenstein hand can read it profitably." --"Choice" "Bordwell gives us the best technical survey of Eisenstein's many cinemagraphic innovations that are readily available in a single volume...[He] puts [Eisenstein's] considerable achievement in historicalperspective and provides detailed analysis of his innovations." --"Reader's Review" ""The Cinema of Eisenstein" is a magnificent achievement, an academic yet highly readable discussion of all the director's films and with a lengthy examination of Eisenstein's theoretical writings. The book briefly examines Eisenstein's life and in more detail discusses his place in Soviet cinema." --"Classic Images" "David Bordwell has succeeded in drawing a picture of Eisenstein's evolution and of his major achievements...[The book] explores its protagonist's biography and the social and cultural context of his work, and extensively analyzes his films...[It is] a very competent and very balanced work which will be uses for a long time in universities as a standard work on Eisenstein." --Mikhail Yampolsky, "Slavic Review" ""The Cinema of Eisenstein" is a treasure in disguise. Its cover is painfully plain, contrary to the flamboyance of the great director [and] its title is awkward in English...It was only on re-reading "The Cinema of Eisenstein" that I recognized the enormity of David Bordwell's achievement. Making the complex accessible, an 'introduction' scholarly, theoretical explanations jargon-free is no mean feat, and yet Bordwell has done all these things superbly. He sketches Eisenstein's life efficiently, explicates the film theories and places them in cultural context, discusses Eisenstein's posthumous waxing and waning and waxing, and most importantly, offers such highly intelligent readings of the films that one wants to see them again even if one has watched them (as I have) many times. These analyses also serve as model illustrations to what Vlada Petric calls 'the filmic wayof seeing' and bear no relation to the dry narrative descriptions that we too often find in film histories. Furthermore, Bordwell, a film scholar who is not a Slavicist (and indeed, who does not know Russian), has written a history which satisfied this historian in almost every way...In sum, Bordwell's book is the rare scholarly work that can be recommended--with enthusiasm--to students, scholars, and cine astes alike." --David J. Youngblood, "Slavic and East European Journal"

About the Author:

David Bordwell is Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has written several books on film theory, history, and criticism, including On the History of Film Style (Harvard, 1997) and The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960 (with Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson, Routledge/Columbia, 1985).

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0674131371
• ISBN 13: 9780674131378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 334