(born Jan. 23, 1898, Riga, Latvia — died Feb. 11, 1948, Moscow, U.S.S.R.) Russian film director and theorist. He began his career at a workers' theatre in Moscow in 1920, designing costumes and scenery. After studying stage direction with
Vsevolod Meyerhold, he turned to filmmaking. In
Strike (1924) he introduced his influential concept of film montage, adding startling and often discordant images to the main action to create the maximum psychological impact. He further developed the style in
The Battleship Potemkin (1925), a commissioned propaganda film that is one of the most influential films of all time. Among his other films are
October (
Ten Days That Shook the World; 1928) and
The General Line (1929). After a frustrating period in Hollywood and Mexico (1930 – 33), he returned to the Soviet Union and made two more classics,
Alexander Nevsky (1938) and
Ivan the Terrible (2 parts, 1945 – 46).
For more information on Sergey Mikhaylovich Eisenstein, visit Britannica.com.