March 1949, Melbourne: Eisenstein in Australia

In March 1949, the Melbourne University Film Society (MUFS) launched its first ever screening program with an Orientation Week presentation of Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, promoting it as a “special treat” as well as the “most powerful and inspired work that the cinema has produced.” This was a provocative choice that should be seen in light of the rising tide of anti-communism, a cultural climate in which the state Minister of Public Information in Victoria called for the banning of films from communist nations as well as the “use of the State Film Centre for propaganda,” the formation and development of the film society movement alongside various aligned leftist organisations including the Realist Film Group, and the election of the Menzies Liberal-Country Party government in December of the same year. This chapter explores a range of issues including the controversial importation of Eisenstein’s films, the various contexts they were screened within, the place of 'art cinema' within screen culture, and the ongoing importance and relevance of Eisenstein to the film society movement and film culture in Australia . Drawing on the work of film culture scholars such as Deane Williams, Ina Bertrand, Barrett Hodsdon and Kirsten Stevens, this chapter tracks the ways in which Eisenstein’s critical reputation and visibility in Australia has shifted in relation to trends and developments in film appreciation, education and criticism. It also explores the ways in which the reception of Eisenstein and his films reflects broader political, cultural and social attitudes towards the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s in Australia.