Oktyabr (October: 10 Days That Shook The World) (1927)

Frankly, I don't think I can stomach another 90 minutes of Soviet propaganda or the misuse of Shostakovich's music. Some of the repeated excerpts come from his Symphony No 11 - which was about the 1905 revolution!

To accompany the urgent, intense music, there's lots of flags and banners (at one point, so many that Trotsky, I think, is engulfed in them); waving fists, sickles, bayonets; an animated peacock representing Kerensky; the killing of a white horse representing the suppression of the Bolshevik's peaceful demonstrations; close-ups of laughing bourgeoisie...

The director's style has an undeniable power, but it gets very wearing, and I yearn for some good old capitalist storytelling. I think I'll pass on the rest of this for now. If anyone wants to point to the critical bits I'm missing by not going beyond Kerensky mounting an almost infinite staircase in the Royal Palace, leave a comment below.