ABSTRACT
An even more vivid example of Eisenstein's new method may be found in the scene of Kerensky's 'ascent' of the Jordan staircase of the Winter Palace. The staircase itself (I myself have filmed it and know it well) is comparatively small, three flights in all, yet in Eisenstein it ascends with solemn irony almost to the heavens. A minute little man in kid gloves and brand-new boots ascends the steps, on each landing the intertitles give him a new title: 'Military ... Naval ... Supreme .. .' There are a lot of landings, the titles grow, multiply and flourish luxuriantly. Architectural figures smile benevolently, marble nymphs proffer laurel wreaths. Weighed down with honours the Supreme Commander at the top of the staircase (and, according to Eisenstein, at the height of his glory) awaits while the door is opened that leads into the inner chambers of the
palace. The intertitle 'At the tsar's portals' marks the beginning of a new stage in his magnificent destiny. Kerensky waits a long time. It is remarkable how this long wait is again produced not by a real interval in time but by a purely cinematic method.
