What's black and white and red all over? "Battleship Potemkin"!

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2016)

As is true with so many films, silent and sound both, "Battleship Potemkin" gains classic, indeed iconic, status very much because of the accompanying score.
I have seen "Battleship Potemkin" several times, including a (I think) tenth-year anniversary edition with a new score, and one I remember very admiringly. (I saw it in a film class at Los Angeles Valley College.)
However, on the night of 13 November 2016, Turner Classic Movies presented "Battleship Potemkin" with what is billed as the original 1926 score, "newly recorded."
Magnificent!
Extraordinary!
The pounding beat accelerates with the action, matching perfectly with what is seen, and urging the audience into edge-of-the seat anticipation.
As many times as I have seen, and been enthralled by, "Battleship Potemkin," I do not remember seeing the one colorized shot. It is, yes, part of the communist propaganda, but actually adds to the drama of the movie.
Bear in mind, please, that my earliest years included membership in Young Americans for Freedom, as well as a dose of common sense, so even the greatest communist propaganda finds no fertile soil in my heart or mind. But every time I see "Battleship Potemkin" I am tempted, however briefly, to seek out a CPUSA membership form.
Director Sergei Eisenstein proclaimed his admiration of D.W. Griffith and never hesitated to credit Griffith with having taught him the art and skill of editing.
"Battleship Potemkin" uses editing in part to propagandize, but more so to advance the story.
In addition to skilled and dramatic editing, Eisenstein used a brilliant moving camera, especially at The Steps (if you haven't seen this before, I don't want to give anything away, but you'll see quickly what I mean) to, again, tell the story, but to tell it in so dramatic a fashion, any thoughtful person, and even just the person seeking a movie to relax and enjoy, will be caught up and moved and excited and fascinated.
Eisenstein was his own editor, and this was only his second feature film, and that he was a rare genius is immediately obvious.
Bear in mind this was financed by the Soviet government, for its own purposes, so Eisenstein's huge crowds and the availability of the Soviet navy are understood, but they help make this one of the greatest movies of all time.
As propaganda, "Battleship Potemkin" is occasionally obvious, even blatant, but as a movie, it is simply -- to repeat -- one of the greatest of all time.
I cannot stress too much how strongly I recommend "Battleship Potemkin."
Probably there are several versions around for home consumption, but do try to see the one with the enhanced original score. Composer Edmund Meisel has very little information given about him at TCM, but there is a Wikipedia article on him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Meisel
Probably Turner Classic Movies will present this again, and I'm hoping it will be available On Demand. Please, for your own enjoyment and edification, do try to watch it.