Eisenstein at Ninety

Sergei Eisenstein has long been taken for granted as one of the legendary pioneers of the early cinema: an admirer of Griffith, Chaplin and Fairbanks who won their admiration-and world-wide fame - with The Batleship Potemkin in 1926.

But as his later projects were blocked and banned by Stalin, he turned increasingly to teaching, theory and drawing.

This book, published to mark the 90th anniversary of his birth and accompany a major touring exhibition on his life and work draws on the most recent discoveries in Soviet archives to chronicle his career in fresh detail. It focuses on the neglected mainsprings of his genius - theatre, drawing and the passionate study of the psychology of art- as well as offering new perspectives on the celebrated films.

The Eisenstein that emerges is brilliant, outrageous and witty. An admirer of Disney as well as of. Joyce; an inspired improviser in words and drawing no less than in film, and very much our contemporary -- at 90.