Film Essays and a Lecture

by Sergei Eisenstein, Jay Leyda (Editor)

Sergei Eisenstein's greatness lies not only in his films, such as Potemkin or Ivan the Terrible, or his contributions to the technique and art of the cinema but also in his contributions as a theoretician and philosopher of the art. This edition includes a new translation of Eisenstein's essay on Orozco.

Originally published in 1982.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

236 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958). In its 2012 decennial poll, the magazine Sight & Sound named his Battleship Potemkin the 11th greatest movie of all time.

Eisenstein was among the earliest film theorists. He believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a "linkage" of related images. He developed what he called "methods of montage":
1) Metric
2) Rhythmic
3) Tonal
4) Overtonal
5) Intellectual

Eisenstein's articles and books—particularly Film Form and The Film Sense—explain the significance of montage in detail. His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers.