That film was "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein and the scene was the Odessa Steps.Clearly, you took Film 180, The Art of Cinema..
All I remember is "jump cut","iris in", "iris out" and "fade". That and we watched a film shot in Russia in the 1920's or so. Twelve hours compressed in an hour. Featured a life birth. Looked like the kid shot out.
Good lord I have a problem with this useless information retention...