AllMovie

The pre-revolution "Potemkin" incident, already immortalized on film by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, was given another cinematic go-round in Lonely White Sail. The story concerns the abortive 1905 Russian Revolution, crystallized by the mutiny aboard the Battleship Potemkin and the subsequent reprisals by the minions of the Czar. As in the Eisenstein film, Lonely White Sail comes to an inspirational conclusion as the Russian army finally expresses solidarity with the mutineers. The characters are a bit better developed than in the earlier film; refreshingly, there is no romantic subplot to clutter up the proceedings. The film was one of several commissioned by Josef Stalin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution.