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Rent Russia in Revolt: October 1917 (1927)

October 1917, Eisenstein’s third major film, is a marvelous reconstruction of the events from February leading up to the Revolution, the Bolshevik’s overthrow of the Czarist’s and Kerensky’s provisional government in October. True to the communist philosophy, there were no main stars: the proletariat providing the heroic "star" quality, with the ultimate victory belonging to the revolution. On the Tenth Anniversary, when this film was made, Leningrad, its streets and buildings, the Winter Palace and the corridors of the Smolny were still the same as that fateful year.
October 1917 thus renders a stirring eye-witness account of the early days of the revolution. Nikolai Podvolsky, one of the leaders of the armed uprising, together with red guards, soldiers and sailors of the revolution, appeared in the film. Eisenstein’s research was extremely thorough and he disallowed contemporary events to influence his production – though at least one quarter of the film was lost to editing, as demands were made for the removal of footage featuring Trotsky, Stalin’s political adversary.