Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Battleship Potemkin

Original title: Bronenosets Potemkin
  • 1925
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 6m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
59K
YOUR RATING
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resulting street demonstration which brought on a police massacre.
Play trailer1:33
1 Video
99+ Photos
DramaHistoryThriller

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration ... Read allIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

  • Director
    • Sergei Eisenstein
  • Writers
    • Nina Agadzhanova
    • Sergei Eisenstein
    • Grigoriy Aleksandrov
  • Stars
    • Aleksandr Antonov
    • Vladimir Barskiy
    • Grigoriy Aleksandrov
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.9/10
    59K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Sergei Eisenstein
    • Writers
      • Nina Agadzhanova
      • Sergei Eisenstein
      • Grigoriy Aleksandrov
    • Stars
      • Aleksandr Antonov
      • Vladimir Barskiy
      • Grigoriy Aleksandrov
    • 241User reviews
    • 99Critic reviews
    • 97Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win

    Videos1

    Battleship Potemkin
    Trailer 1:33
    Watch Battleship Potemkin

    Photos170

    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    A. Glauberman and Prokhorenko in Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Nina Poltavtseva in Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Aleksandr Antonov in Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Aleksandr Antonov
    Aleksandr Antonov
    • Grigory Vakulinchuk
    Vladimir Barskiy
    Vladimir Barskiy
    • Commander Golikov
    Grigoriy Aleksandrov
    Grigoriy Aleksandrov
    • Chief Officer Giliarovsky
    Ivan Bobrov
    Ivan Bobrov
    • Young Sailor Flogged While Sleeping
    • (as I. Bobrov)
    Mikhail Gomorov
    • Militant Sailor
    Aleksandr Levshin
    • Petty Officer
    Nina Poltavtseva
    Nina Poltavtseva
    • Woman With Pince-nez
    • (as N. Poltavtseva)
    Konstantin Feldman
    • Student Agitator
    Prokhorenko
    Prokhorenko
    • Mother Carrying Wounded Boy
    A. Glauberman
    A. Glauberman
    • Wounded Boy
    Beatrice Vitoldi
    Beatrice Vitoldi
    • Woman With Baby Carriage
    Daniil Antonovich
    • Sailor
    Iona Biy-Brodskiy
    • Student
    • (as Brodsky)
    Julia Eisenstein
    • Woman with Food for Sailors
    Sergei Eisenstein
    Sergei Eisenstein
    • Odessa Citizen
    • (as Sergei M. Eisenstein)
    Andrey Fayt
    Andrey Fayt
    • Recruit
    • (as A. Fait)
    Korobey
    • Legless Veteran
    Marusov
    • Officer
    • Director
      • Sergei Eisenstein
    • Writers
      • Nina Agadzhanova
      • Sergei Eisenstein(uncredited)
      • Grigoriy Aleksandrov(uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Man with a Movie Camera
    8.4
    Man with a Movie Camera
    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
    8.0
    The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
    October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
    7.4
    October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
    A Trip to the Moon
    8.2
    A Trip to the Moon
    Un chien andalou
    7.6
    Un chien andalou
    Nosferatu
    7.9
    Nosferatu
    Sunrise
    8.1
    Sunrise
    Stachka
    7.6
    Stachka
    The Passion of Joan of Arc
    8.2
    The Passion of Joan of Arc
    Metropolis
    8.3
    Metropolis
    Alexander Nevsky
    7.5
    Alexander Nevsky
    The General
    8.1
    The General

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The flag seen flying on the ship after the crew had mutinied is white, which is the color of the tsars, but this was done so that it could be hand-painted red (the color of communism) on the celluloid. Since this is a black-and-white film, if the flag had been red it would have shown as black in the film. The flag was hand-tinted red for 108 frames by director Sergei Eisenstein for the film's premier.
    • Goofs
      In the Imperial squadron near the end of the film, there are close-ups of triple gun turrets of Gangut-class dreadnought. It possibly was made this way to show the power of Imperial fleet, but battleships of 1905 were much smaller pre-dreadnoughts, with twin turrets only, just like "Potemkin". "Ganguts" entered service in 1914.
    • Quotes

      Sailor: Shoulder to shoulder. The land is ours. Tomorrow is ours.

    • Alternate versions
      Sergei Eisenstein's premiere version opened with an unattributed quote from Leon Trotsky's "1905": The spirit of mutiny swept the land. A tremendous, mysterious process was taking place in countless hearts: the individual personality became dissolved in the mass, and the mass itself became dissolved in the revolutionary impetus. This quote was removed by Soviet censors in 1934, and replaced by a quotation from V.I. Lenin's "Revolutionary Days": Revolution is war. Of all the wars known in history, it is the only lawful, rightful, just and truly great war...In Russia this war has been declared and won. The original text was restored in 2004.
    • Connections
      Edited into Seeds of Freedom (1943)

    User reviews241

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    9/10
    "The time has come for us to speak out."
    On June 14 1905, during the Russian Revolution of that year, sailors aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their oppressive officers. Frustrated with the second-rate treatment they receive, and most particularly the maggot-infested meat that they are forced to eat, the ship's crew, led by the inspirational Bolshevik sailor Grigory Vakulinchuk (Aleksandr Antonov), decide that the time is ripe for a revolution. And so begins Sergei M. Eisenstein's rousing classic of Russian propaganda, 'Bronenosets Potyomkin / The Battleship Potemkin.'

    The film itself is brimming with shining examples of stunning visual imagery: the spectacles of an overthrown ship captain dangle delicately from the side rope over which he had been tossed; the body of a deceased mutineer lies peaceful upon the shore, the sign on his chest reading "KILLED FOR A BOWL OF SOUP;" close-up shots of the clenching fists of the hundreds of spectators who are finally fed up with the Tsarist regime; a wayward baby carriage careers down the Odessa Steps as desperate onlookers watch on with bated breath (this scene was memorably "borrowed" by Brian De Palma for a particularly suspenseful scene in his 'The Untouchables'); the barrels of numerous canons are ominously leveled towards the vastly-outnumbered battleship Potemkin.

    However, the film itself is best analysed – not as a fragmented selection of memorable scenes – but as a single film, and, indeed, every scene is hugely memorable. Though divided into five fairly-distinct chapters, the entire film flows forwards wonderfully; at no point do we find ourselves losing interest, and we are absolutely never in doubt of whose side we should be sympathetic towards.

    The film is often referred to as "propaganda," and that is exactly what it is, but this need not carry a negative connotation. 'The Battleship Potemkin' was produced by Eisenstein with a specific purpose in mind, and it accomplishes this perfectly in every way. Planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the 20th century celebrations of the unsuccessful 1905 Revolution, 'Potemkin' was predicted to be a popular film in its home country, symbolising the revitalization of Russian arts after the Revolution. It is somewhat unfortunate, then, that Eisenstein's film failed to perform well at the Russian box-office, reportedly beaten by Allan Dwan's 1922 'Robin Hood' film in its opening week and running for just four short weeks. Luckily, despite being banned on various occasions in various countries, 'The Battleship Potemkin' fared more admirably overseas.

    The film also proved a successful vehicle for Eisenstein to test his theories of "montage." Through quick-cut editing, and distant shots of the multitudes of extras, the audience is not allowed to sympathise with any individual characters, but with the revolutionary population in general. Eisenstein does briefly break this mould, however, in a scene where Vakulinchuk flees the ship officer who is trying to kill him, and, of course, during the renowned Odessa Steps sequence, as our hearts beat in horror for the life of the unfortunate child in the tumbling baby carriage. The accompanying soundtrack to the version I watched, largely featuring the orchestral works of Dmitri Shostakovich, served wonderfully to heighten the emotional impact of such scenes.

    One of the greatest films of the silent era, 'The Battleship Potemkin' is a triumph of phenomenal film-making, and is a significant slice of cinematic history. The highly-exaggerated events of the film (among other things, there was never actually any violent massacre on the Odessa Steps) have so completely engrained themselves in the memory, that we're often uncertain of the true history behind the depicted events. This is a grand achievement.
    helpful•26
    13
    • ackstasis
    • Apr 5, 2007

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 24, 1925 (Soviet Union)
    • Country of origin
      • Soviet Union
    • Languages
      • None
      • Russian
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Potemkin
    • Filming locations
      • Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine(battleship scenes)
    • Production company
      • Mosfilm
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $51,198
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,641
      • Jan 16, 2011
    • Gross worldwide
      • $61,389
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 6 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.25 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Battleship Potemkin (1925)
    Top Gap
    What is the Japanese language plot outline for Battleship Potemkin (1925)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.