This is a hundred year old Russian silent film based on the true story of the revolt of the battleship Potemkin in Odessa in 1905.
Bit of a strange one, I hear you say. Well, yes! in 2004 the Pet Shop Boys were asked to write an original score to accompany this film, as its now its centenary certain cinemas were showing it again , I was intrigued with the link to the Pet Shop Boys so we went to see it.
We went to the Broadway cinema in Letchworth. An interesting building in itself, opening in 1930 its a nice example of Art Nuevo ( or is it Art Deco?) architecture though now of course its got four screens instead of one.
Supplied with Revels and a pre gig beer for the performance we settled down, we even had a sofa seat which was nice. It's a remastered film so it's all very sharp and clear. Being made in the Communist era the rise of the downtrodden sailors against the brutal ruling class of officers was played to full effect and the ham was sliced quite thickly! The acting was all dramatic looks and eyebrows but all films were like it then!
To be honest I'd misunderstood the Pet Shop Boys involvement. I first thought it was their songs being used for the film which I couldn't quite get the fit of, but as I said at the top they had written a special score for it. It worked quite well. I'd say I usually don't like modern music used for old films or films set in the past but this worked I thought. It was only an hour and ten minutes long so just as Tara started to get bored ( not that she bores easily, she is game to try anything) it ended. I'm pleased I saw it, it was quite entertaining and good to see an old film on the big screen (relatively big anyway!). I wouldn't watch it again but it was an interesting piece of cinemagraphic history.
