Original portrait photograph of Sergei Eisenstein

Beverly Hills, CA: United Artists, Circa 1928. Vintage portrait photograph of Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, circa 1928. Printed mimeo snipe affixed to the verso, noting Eisenstein as having secured a contract with Joseph M. Schenck, President of United Artists.

United Artists stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford traveled to Moscow after seeing Eisenstein's acclaimed 1925 film, "Battleship Potemkin," in Berlin. Fairbanks offered the director a contract, an invitation renewed a year later by Schenck. After visiting Hollywood, the director would sign a contract with Paramount, with several projects slated for production, including adaptations of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy." Ultimately, however, no films would be made, the result of public pressure against Eisenstein's Communist politics. On October 23, 1930, by "mutual consent," Paramount and Eisenstein declared their contract null and void, ending the director's short-lived career in American cinema.

8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus, slightly creased, with chips at three corners.

[Book #159783]