Eisenstein at the Movies, Spring 1945

Abstract

The pioneering Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein kept a day planner in March-June 1945 listing titles of recent Hollywood films that at least partially correspond with screenings that he attended. Some of these titles re-appear in theoretical and personal writings from the final years of his life, 1946-48. This paper examines the historical circumstances of wartime American film screenings in Moscow and investigates a key subset of the films from Eisenstein’s planner for insight into the mature director’s ever-developing thoughts on contemporary cinema and American popular culture.