Sinclair chides Kress for corresponding with [William] Woodward regarding Sinclair's relationship with [Sergei] Eisenstein. He writes, "I hope you will not think me uncordial if I ask you not to write to my friends about these matters without first consulting me, because otherwise you cannot possibly know what toes you may be treading on—either theirs or mine!!" Eisenstein was a Russian film producer and the director of Qué Viva México!, a 1930s film financed with money from Sinclair. The film was never released and Sinclair spent decades in a legal and financial battle with Eisenstein. Sinclair believed "Eisenstein proved himself the most unprincipled man we ever had anything to do with. . . ."