This is an attempt by his assistant, Alexandrov, to reconstruct Eisenstein’s unfinished film ‘Que Viva Mexico’. While it is obviously not a realisation of Eisenstein’s vision (one doubts, for example, that Eisenstein would have approved of Alexandrov’s selection of music) it is the closest we are likely to come to it. Although around 30 hours of unedited film shot in 1930-1932 remains, Alexandrov confined his reconstruction to reworking the four hours of footage used by Jay Leyda in his compilation. Alexandrov provides an introductory commentary. Two other films have been edited from the ‘Que Viva Mexico’ footage: Marie Seton’s ‘Time in the Sun’ and the producer’s ‘Thunder Over Mexico’. Also available on VHS.
Credits: Director, Sergei Eisenstein ; script, Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Alexandrov ; photography, Eduard Tisse ; editors, Grigori Alexandrov, Nikita Orlov.
Cast: Grigori Alexandrov.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
F000044
Language
Unknown
Subject categories
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Mexico
Documentary → Documentary films - Soviet Union
Feature films → Feature films - Soviet Union
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)