 1898 |
| Sergei
Mikhailovich Eisenstein, born January 23rd in Riga (Latvia). His
father, Mikhail, whom he was later to describe as a 'domestic tyrant',
was a Civil Engineer of Jewish origin while his mother, Julia Ivanova,
was the daughter of a wealthy shipping magnate. |
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| 1905 |
| Eisenstein's
parents separate, Sergei lives with his father and learns to speak fluent
English, French and German. |
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| 1906 |
On a visit to Paris
with his parents, Eisenstein sees his first film, Melies' Les 400 Farces
du Diable, and visits the tomb of Napoleon. |
1909
|
While visiting his
mother who, after her separation moved to St Petersburg, Eisenstein experiences
his first taste of the circus. |
1915 |
After finishing
secondary school, Eisenstein enrols at an institute for Civil Engineering
in Petrograd. |
1917 |
Eisenstein works
on the front-line during the February and October Revolutions. In
February he joins the city militia and watches three Meyerhold productions
at Alexandrinsky Theatre in Petrograd. He takes part in the 'July Days'
Bolshevik protests and helps in the defence of Petrograd as General Kornilov's
army advances. He also designs his first theatre
sets for Goldoni's
La putta onorata and begins to write his
own plays (Dawn of the Red Alarm and The Evolution of a Witch). |
| 1918 |
Enlisted in the
Red Army, Eisenstein works as a poster designer. His father joins
the White Army. |
1920 |
With the Civil war
at an end, Eisenstein moves to Moscow and studies the Japanese
language and culture. These studies form a major influence upon his
theories of dialectical montage. |
| 1921 |
| Having
been appointed to the collegium of the Proletkult Theatre, Eisenstein observes,
with its author, the rehearsals of Meyerhold's Mystery Bouffe. He
enrols with the State Higher Theatre Director's Workshop (GVYRM) headed
by Meyerhold. |
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1922 |
In the autumn, Eisenstein
works as an assistant director on Meyerhold's production of Tarelkin's
Death. His first cinema article, 'The Eighth Art. On Expressionism,
America and, of course, Chaplin' written in conjunction with Sergei Yukevitch,
is published. |
1923 |
| Attends
Lev Kuleshov's Film Workshop for three months and produces a play, The
Mexican, within which he includes as an interlude, a short film, Gloumov's
Diary. He publishes 'The Montage of Attractions', a manifesto on montage
in both cinema and theatre, in
LEF. |
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|
1924 |
Eisenstein puts
forward to Goskino (Soviet Film organisation) proposals for a cycle of
seven films which would work 'Towards the Dictatorship of the Proletariat'.
The fifth of these proposed films is Strike which begins filming
in July and is completed by December. |
1925 |
Strike
is
premiered on 28th March. Eisenstein begins work on The Battleship Potemkin
in July, the film is completed in December. |
1927 |
Having been commissioned
by the October Revolution Jubilee Committee to make a film based upon John
Reed's popular book, Ten Days That Shook The World, Eisenstein films
October. After an indifferent reponse to the film from Sovkino,
he begins re-editing. |
1928 |
The
revised version of October is given its first public showing on
14th March. Eisenstein begins work on The General Line which
is completed by 7th November.
In August, Eisenstein
watches a Kabuki play, performed by a Japanese theatrical group. |
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|
1929 |
Stalin urges Eisenstein
to change the title of The General Line. The film is renamed
The
Old and the New. Along with his partner Grigori Alexandrov and
cameraman Edouard Tisse, Eisenstein embarks on a foreign tour, visiting
Berlin, Lausanne, Paris, London, New York and finally Hollywood.
The aim is to study developments in sound film. |
1930 |
While in Hollywood,
Eisenstein links up with Ivor Montagu and plans several projects, among
them an adaptation of Theodore Drieser's An American Tragedy.
Paramount turns down all his ideas. He then meets the American novelist
Upton Sinclair who agrees to finance a film in Mexico. |
1932 |
| In
the middle of filming Que Viva Mexico which has, by now, run vastly
over budget, Eisenstein is ordered to stop shooting by Sinclair. |
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|
1934 |
Eisenstein marries
his long time associate, Pera Atasheva. With the failure of Que
Viva Mexico behind him, he takes up a teaching post at the Moscow Institute
of the Cinema. |
1935 |
After being criticised
during the Assembly marking the fifteenth anniversary of Soviet Cinema,
a number of other directors call upon Eisenstein to make another film or
retire immediately. In response to these calls he begins shooting Bezhin
Meadow. |
1937 |
Criticised by the
director of Soviet Cinema, Shumiatsky, for his extravagance and subjectivism,
Eisenstein's work on Bezhin Meadow is in interrupted and finally
halted. He publishes a criticism of himself, entitled 'The Mistakes of
Bezhin Meadow' in April. Eisenstein starts work on Alexander Nevsky,
premiered in November 1938 and for which he receives the Order of Lenin. |
1941 |
With Moscow threatened
by the advancement of Hitler's army, Eisenstein flees to Alma-Ata in central
Asia where he writes the scenario for Ivan The Terrible. In
August he works upon an English version of a study charting the influence
of D.W. Griffith's films upon both his, and
Soviet cinema's, methods of montage. |
1944 |
| After
almost two years of shooting, Ivan The Terrible is finally completed.
The film is premiered on January 16th 1945 and is greeted with enthusiasm. |
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|
1945 |
The second part
of Ivan The Terrible is completed with the last few scenes in colour.
In 1946, Eisenstein receives the Stalin Prize for the first part but the
second part is condemned and , in October 1946, he publishes yet another
self-criticism. |
1948 |
| On
February 10th, while writing an essay on colour for a new edition of Kuleshov's
Fundamentals of Film Direction, Eisenstein suffers a fatal heart
attack. He is buried on February 13th 1948 in Novodevichi Cemetery,
Moscow. |
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