Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898–1948) is considered one of the greatest directors of world cinema throughout its existence. In addition, over the past decades, his figure has acquired additional dimensions: more and more new materials are appearing in which Eisenstein appears as a historian and film theorist, art critic, philosopher, teacher, and artist. The work of British researcher Mike O'Mahony is a brief introduction to the biography this Soviet-era Leonardo. The author primarily focuses on the director's film works, on the process of their creation and on their perception by contemporaries, as well as on the political, social and cultural context of the first half of the 20th century, without which it is impossible to get a complete picture of Eisenstein's work and fate.