Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (Russian: ?????? ?????????? ??????????, Latvian: Sergejs Eizen?teins) (January 23, 1898 – February 11, 1948) was a revolutionary Soviet theatrical scenic designer-turned-film director and film theorist noted in paticular for his silent films Strike, Battleship Potemkin and ', which vastly influenced early documentary and narrative directors owing to his innovative use of montage.

Que Viva Mexico!

A last minute reprieve came from Charlie Chaplin, who arranged for Eisenstein to meet with a sympathetic benefactor in the person of American Socialist author Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's works had been accepted by and were widely read in the USSR, and were known to Eisenstein. Conversely, Sinclair was a major fan of Eisenstein's film work and looked forward to the opportunity to assist the artist. Between the end of October, 1930, and Thanksgiving of that year, Sinclair had secured an extension of Eisenstein's (and Alexandrov's and Tisse's) absences from the USSR, and permission for him to travel to Mexico to make a film to be produced by Sinclair and his wife, Mary Craig Kimbrough Sinclair, and three other investors organized as the Mexican Film Trust.

Related Topics:
Charlie Chaplin - Upton Sinclair - Mary Craig Kimbrough Sinclair - Mexican Film Trust

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Since at least 1920, visions of Mexico had occupied a special place in Eisenstein's imagination. The prospect of travelling there, and making a film about the land, overjoyed him. On 24 November, he signed a contract with the Trust "upon the basis of Eisenstein's desire to be free to direct the making of a picture according to his own ideas of what a Mexican picture should be, and in full faith in Eisenstein's artistic integrity". The contract also stipulated that the film would be "non-political", that immediately available funding came from Mrs. Sinclair in an amount of "not less than Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars", that the shooting schedule amounted to "a period of from three to four months", and most importantly that "Eisenstein furthermore agrees that all pictures made or directed by him in Mexico, all negative film and positive prints, and all story and ideas embodied in said Mexican picture, will be the property of Mrs. Sinclair..." A codicil to the contract, dated 1 December, allowed that the "Soviet Government may have the film free for showing inside the U.S.S.R." Verbally, it was clarified that the expectation was for a finished film of about an hour's duration.

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By the 4th of December, 1930, Eisenstein was happily en route to Mexico by train, accompanied by Alexandrov and Tisse. Preceding them was Mary Sinclair's younger brother, Hunter Kimbrough, sent along to act as a line producer.

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But if Eisenstein's experience in Hollywood had seemed a failure, his journey to Mexico was destined to be an utter fiasco. Mexico was a right-wing dictatorship with no diplomatic ties to the Soviet Union, and had insisted on censorship rights over all footage shot as a condition of admitting the Soviet filmmakers to Mexico: the process devised was to have every reel of negative sent back to Los Angeles for development, a print struck and returned to the Mexican authorities for review and comment, which they were not inclined to do in any hurry. Hunter Kimbrough was a young banker with no prior involvement in the motion picture industry, much less production. Eisenstein only knew about the subject country from what he could read, hear and see within the Soviet Union, and was rapidly, if happily, overwhelmed by the history, cultural diversity and splendor which he found upon his arrival. He had no story or subject in mind for a film about Mexico, however, even when he left Los Angeles; and embarked on a full-scale photographic expedition, filming anything and everything of personal interest without clear idea what he would be doing with it in fulfillment of his contract. He planned, however, to create something without use of a script, to utilize local "types" rather than professional actors for any human role, and to shoot the film silent. A problem with Tisse's camera was discovered when the first negatives to reach Los Angeles were developed, and ongoing delays due to adverse weather and health problems cropped up early in the game.

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Eisenstein should have, by contract, returned with the finished film by the end of April, 1931. Instead, by the 15th of that month, he could only offer up a sketchily written, abstraction-based, somewhat poetic impression of what the finished film might be. It was six months later before he produced a brief synopsis of the six-part film which would come, in one form or another, to be the final plan Eisenstein would settle on for his project. The title for the project, Que Viva Mexico! was decided on some time later still.

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As the months dragged on, Eisenstein continued to film at apparent random, completing no one of the six parts before moving to another, meticulously staging individual shots and having them photographed from various angles, and travelling to various scenic locales around the country. The Sinclairs, by this time, had managed to raise a total budget of $65,000 in dollars and pledges, with the plan of keeping $15,000 aside for post-production expenses once Eisenstein had returned to Los Angeles, where it was intended he would edit the film. Sinclair put increasing pressure on Eisenstein to define the film's "plot" and finish the filming as more and more of the money was requested from him for the party's expenses. Eisenstein responded by continuing to expose film prolifically, leaving each section in part unfinished, and not being further explicit to his producers exactly what the final product was supposed to be.

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Sinclair relaxed a little when, in November, 1931, he got an agreement from Amkino Corp., the Soviet film distributor in the United States, to put $25,000 into the venture, mostly for post-production work. He joyfully notified Eisenstein of this turn of events, and Eisenstein immediately got him to release the remaining $15,000 originally set aside for that purpose, for use in continued shooting. One month later, the Soviet film industry underwent a major reorganization, which impacted Amkino, whose new director repudiated their investment contract absolutely.

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In the meantime, Eisenstein had gotten wind that the Soviet film industry was pressing Stalin to have Eisenstein declared a deserter, due to his prolonged absence from the Soviet Union, and that Stalin was not resisting that pressure. At that point, Eisenstein chose to contact Sinclair and lay blame for the failure of the film to be long ago completed and so much money to have to be spent, on the head of Kimbrough. He accused Kimbrough, in a letter to Sinclair, of drunkeness, debauchery, and extravagant personal spending by way of explaining why the film wasn't complete yet despite expending almost all of the original budget. Between this and the Amkino double-cross, first Mary, then Upton Sinclair became ill enough from stress to require hospitalization. Sinclair finally ordered Kimbrough back to Los Angeles to discuss the accusations with the Trust. Eisenstein continued to film and spend. Satisfied by Kimbrough's version of events, the Trust returned Kimbrough to Mexico with instructions to Eisenstein to submit entirely and directly to Kimbrough in all matters regarding the film. Eisenstein was compelled to complete shooting on five of the six segments of his film which, by this time, Sinclair had concluded Eisenstein was conceiving as a series of six features.

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Almost nothing had been shot yet on one part, which was to be about the Mexican Revolution and serve as the fifth segment of the six in the completed film. Eisenstein did complete the other five segments, and planned to start on the sixth. Kimbrough supported him in this matter. However, on 5 February, 1932, Sinclair received a telegram from Soyuzkino, to forward to Eisenstein, ordering the latter immediately back to the U.S.S.R, leaving Alexandrov and Tisse to finish the film without him. On the same day, Sinclair learned that Eisenstein was still blaming Kimbrough, and now also himself and his wife, for the film's problems in correspondence to mutual acquaintances, in the hopes of getting them to pressure the Sinclairs to insinuate themselves between him and Stalin, and let him finish the film in his own way. The furious Sinclair therewith shut down production and ordered Kimbrough to bring himself, the remaining negatives, and the three Soviets back to the United States to make what they could of the film on hand: at this point, the tally of footage exposed by Eisenstein amounted to somewhere between 182,000 and 250,000 (sources vary) linear feet of film!

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