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July 11, 2008

Battleship Potemkin

After dinner we decided to watch it last night; what a neat flick.

There are so many scenes and elements of this movie that are familiar, because so many directors have borrowed them from this 1925 classic. We recently watched The Untouchables, for example, and there's the baby in the carriage rolling down the steps amongst the bodies...

I must sadly admit though that in my advancing age I confuse the Potemkin with the Aurora.

With regard to the crew of the Potemkin, I think this is pretty neat (from 1987):

Ivan Beshoff, the last survivor of the 1905 mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin, a harbinger of the Russian Revolution, died Sunday, his family said today. His birth certificate said he was 102 years old, but he contended he was 104.

Born near the Black Sea port of Odessa, Mr. Beshoff abandoned chemistry studies and joined the navy, serving in the engine room of the Potemkin.

The mutiny over poor food was the first mass expression of discontent in Czar Nicholas II's military and later came to be seen as a prelude to the 1917 Russian Revolution.

The mutineers killed the captain and several officers. The entire Black Sea fleet was ordered to suppress the rebellion, but crews refused to fire on the battleship, and it sailed for 11 days before surrendering.

Mr. Beshoff had said he fled through Turkey to London, where he met Lenin. He settled in Ireland in 1913, saying he had tired of the sea.

Mr. Beshoff worked for a Soviet oil distribution company and was twice arrested as a Soviet spy, but became a beloved figure in the Irish community.

After World War II, he opened a fish and chips shop in Dublin.

What a funny world we live in.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at July 11, 2008 07:05 AM

Comments

Posted by: nightfly at July 11, 2008 10:27 AM

Posted by: tree hugging sister at July 11, 2008 12:07 PM

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at July 11, 2008 12:13 PM