Recently viewed the two films (or two-thirds of one dismembered film?) on DVD after first seeing them nearly fifty years ago at the old Brattle theater. I remembered the strong impression the films made on me then; this time through, I noticed other things that impressed me strongly, as well as aspects that made me wonder why I once thought the films were great. So I turned to this, one of the BFI monographs, but the first I've read. This book has a dual focus: how Eisenstein achieves his effects and what his notes and sketches reveal about what he hoped to achieve. Within this limited scope, Tsivian achieves his aim. ( )