Innovative? Maybe. Good Film? Good God, NO!

Rating: 2/10 (24 May 2003)

The version I saw was a '70's restoration that ran for 74 minutes. I understand that originally it ran 183 minutes. I could have chopped out another 20-30 minutes and lost none of the relevant content. Don't take this the wrong way; I do have a long attention span and am in no way opposed to an epic. This film is not an epic. This film is a short that has been filled out with a lot of recycled footage. For instance, The Odessan populace flowing down the steps to the waterfront is about 10 minutes long but uses about 1 minute of footage looped. This is like dead air on the radio. The same 5 second snippet of sailors brawling during the mutiny is spliced in so many times amongst other footage that I lost count. The acting and plot are horrible by silent film standards (think BAD melodrama). The only slightly redeeming quality in the film is the Odessa Steps massacre montage but, unless you are taking a class on film editing, AVOID THIS FILM.