Soviet Montage: Crash Course Film History #8

Russia went and had a revolution in 1917 and cinema was a big part of its aftermath. Even though film stock was hard to come by, we saw the first film school started, and the study of film became hugely important. Russian filmmakers started trying to understand the power of the cut itself, thus developing a theory of filmmaking based solely around the juxtaposition of images: Soviet Montage. In this episode of Crash Course Film History, Craig talks us through some of the filmic things going on in post-revolution era Russia.

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Movies Discussed in this episode:
Battleship Potempkin: 1925 - Dir. Sergei Eisenstein

Man with a Movie Camera: 1929 - Dir. Dziga Vertov

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: 2009 - Dir. David Yates
Property of Warner Bros. Pictures

Psycho: 1960 - Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Property of Paramount Pictures

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: 1966 - Dir. Sergio Leone
Property of 20th Century FOX

Youth of Maxim: 1935 - Dir. Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg

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[AnnoyingMoose]

"The Man With The Movie Camera" is a documentary about it's own creation so it's a sort of Film-ception.

[DecayingReverie]

The montage at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly has to be my favorite montage of all time. With the length of that film, the tension and relief built up in that scene feel like such a satisfying conclusion.

[Eric_Pham]

[Russian accent]
In Soviet Russia you rob bank
In Capitalist America bank robs you

[andrijaaaaaa]

Also to mention two great Soviet artists like Vsevolod Pudovkin and Alexander Dovzhenko.
Pudovkin, like Eisenstein believed that montage is what makes movie unique, but he believed montage was rather a method of construction than a collision, like Eisenstein believed. Also his editing had both narrative and intellectual power, so he was more popular at that time than Eisenstein (Mother 1926, End of St Petersburg 1927, Storm over Asia 1928..).
On the other hand, Dovzhenko was the most inconvenient and most poetic, with stylistic movies, threaded with impressionistic montage and full of lyrical imagery (Zvenigora 1928, Arsenal 1929, Earth 1930).

[spoojeman]

I love how I come to get schooled about the history of film and always walk away with a broader general point of view.

[AtomicPeacenik]

This is my new favorite crash course series. Excellent stuff!

[anilatarannum]

I absolutely love the little comic/sarcastic 'breaks' that Craig puts in between the courses, like the one at 6:38 XD Especially the face he makes after.

[larsiparsii]

Love how you added "dank memes" to the list at 1:06! 😂

[damesfordays]

thank you for being a saint to film students who have an exam tomorrow everywhere

[DaniTheDeer]

All memes are dank, but some memes are more dank than others.

[channelmincrft]

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend; Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig." -Clint Eastwood

[Bootrick]

The way y'll cut out all of the breaths provides beautiful pacing for this crash course.

[LivEandInspirEEveR]

Dear Crash Course,
Thank you so much for your film history lessons! I'm currently a film student and sad I didn't find you guys sooner! Keep up the good work! :D

[Sinfulgaiden]

A very insightful overview, well done. I'm enjoying this series.

[darkmage]

Favorite line of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly":

"If you're gonna shoot, shoot! Don't talk!"

[HermanTG]

I look forward to these every week! :)

[xThePinkApple]

this series just fills me with so much joy

[EnhancedNightmare]

the scene on the stairs in battleship Potemkin is Very powerful, especially the cuts between the horror of the people and kossack boots on the ground.

[josetamayo]

This is awesome. I need more episodes.

[Felixkeeg]

I'm a simple man, I read soviet, I press like