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Potemkin mutiny3/5/2023 ![]() She was by then obsolete and was reduced to reserve in 1918 in Sevastopol. The ship was relegated to secondary roles after Russia's first dreadnought battleship entered service in late 1915. She covered several bombardments of the Bosphorus fortifications in early 1915, including one where the ship was attacked by the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim – Panteleimon and the other Russian pre-dreadnoughts present drove her off before she could inflict any serious damage. During World War I, Panteleimon participated in the Battle of Cape Sarych in late 1914. She accidentally sank a Russian submarine in 1909 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in 1911. The mutiny later formed the basis of Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.Īfter the mutineers sought asylum in Constanța, Romania, and after the Russians recovered the ship, her name was changed to Panteleimon. She became famous when the crew rebelled against the officers in June 1905 (during that year's revolution), which is now viewed as a first step towards the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Russian battleship Potemkin (Russian: Князь Потёмкин Таврический, romanized: Kniaz Potyomkin Tavricheskiy, "Prince Potemkin of Taurida") was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. Political censorship of the cinema was most active during and between the world wars and declined rapidly after 1945.2 shafts, 2 Vertical triple-expansion steam enginesģ,200 nautical miles (5,900 km 3,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h 12 mph) Subsequently the film was reclassified PG uncut for a limited cinema re-release in 1987 and is now acknowledged as a classic. With its potential to cause political unrest diminished, especially after the death of Stalin in 1953, the film was finally classified X uncut (persons under 16 not admitted). Attempts were made to block a number of these screenings, either by the police or by local authorities.īy the time the BBFC was asked to look at the film again, in 1954, silent films were no longer commercially viable and the film was therefore likely to appeal only to a very small and select audience. ![]() Eventually the film was screened privately (for the Film Society) in 1929 and was subsequently screened a number of times, usually at private performances (eg for workers' educational groups), during the 1930s. Moves to submit the film to other local authorities were halted after the film's distributors were visited by the Metropolitan Police. However, the fact that no attempts were made to tone down the film suggested political motives. It was remarked by some at the time that, had violence been the real problem, cuts could have been made. However, the film was rejected by both councils, officially because of its violence. According to The Times, screenings of the film in Berlin had already led to unrest and a censorship battle between left wing supporters of the film and right-wing efforts to have it banned.įollowing the BBFC's rejection of the film, Potemkin was submitted to the London County Council and Middlesex County Council for certificates for local screenings. No doubt at the back of the BBFC's mind was the nine day British general strike in May 1926 which had provoked fears amongst some quarters of society of a potential revolution in the UK. The BBFC's Annual Report for 1926 mentions that the film was rejected for "inflammatory subtitles and Bolshevist Proaganda". The film was rejected when first submitted to the BBFC in September 1926, on the grounds that films should not address issues of 'political controversy' and that Potemkin's pro-Revolutionary message was therefore unacceptable for classification. The film, like many Russian silents of the time, was clearly, carefully and powerfully designed as pro-Bolshevik propaganda. Sergei Eisentein's silent classic was made in 1925 as a homage to the abortive 1905 Russian naval mutiny.
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