IVAN THE TERRIBLE PT2

Details

• Release Year: 1946
• Genre: Classic, Drama, Foreign
• Plot: In 1940, Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, whose credits included 'Strike' and 'The Battleship Potemkin,' 'October,' 'The General Line' and 'Alexander Nevsky,' garnered the highest of accolades: he was named Artistic Director of Mosfilm Studios, the Soviet Union's largest and most prestigious film production facility. That same year, he commenced work on what might have been his most ambitious, imposing effort: IVAN THE TERRIBLE, oriiginally visualized as a two-part epic but later rescheduled as a trilogy. The section would be called, simply, IVAN THE TERRIBLE and would be followed by 'The Boyars,' or 'The Boyars' Plot' ('Part II') and 'Ivan's Struggles' or 'The Battles of Ivan' ('Part III'). Eisenstein was only to direct two-thirds of his project; while he earned a Stalin Prize for 'Part I,' the sequel brought him public censure. IVAN THE TERRIBLE PART II was completed by Eisenstein in 1946 but was not screened for audiences until 1958–a full decade after the filmmaker's death.; ; Both Part I and Part II feature a chrismatic lead performance by Nikolai Cherkassov, then one of the Soviet Union's outstanding stage and screen stars. PART I (which is also available on DVD and should be seen in tandem with PART II) chronicles Ivan's crowning as Tsar, marriage to Anastasia, defeat of the Mongols, near-fatal illness, and early problems with the Boyars (the Russian feudal nobility), who are lead by Euphrosinia, his aunt. PART II, however, focuses less on the character of Ivan, his relationship to his people and his plight against his enemies on a politically significant level: elements which allowed PART I to be considered politically correct and earned him his Stalin Prize. Its concern is with the dramatics of his power struggle against the Boyars. The scenario is crammed with intrigue: Ivan seeks the support of his various friends and colleagues, and there are family jealousies, an assassination plot, execution and murders. In PART II, Ivan is not so much an historical figure as a player in a grand palace melodrama.; ; Most of the sequal was shot during the production of PARTI. Eisenstein completed filming PART II during 1945; by the first months of the following year, it had been edited. But Eisenstein was felled by a heart attack while dancing at a party in celebration of the Stalin Prize honor. During the filmmaker's hospitalization, PART II was shown to the Soviet leader–who was less than pleased with its content. Supposedly, Stalin's main complaint related to Eisenstein's depiction of the Oprichniks, the secret plice who served as Ivan's protectors. Historically, they were key figures in his conflict with the Boyars; in PART II, Eisenstein portrays them in a far more passive manner, mostly as the Tsar's companions.; ; Perhaps Jay Leyda, scholar of Soviet cinema and translator of Eisenstein's theoretical writings, best accounts for the contrasting receptions accorded the films. '...the majestic, ceremonial qualities of Part One, growing more passionate towards ts conclusion, are transformed into the flaming bitterness and physical violence of Part Two,' he writes. To see Part Two by itself must have been equally a shock to the private political viewers in 1946–here was the intrigue and carnage of Hamlet's conclusion without the preparaton and artistic justificaion of the first two acts or the torture and storm of Lear without the introductory dramatic mask of ceremony and hypocrisy that Shakespeare spent scene by scene stripping away. If any of the Kremlin viewers had some parallel with Stalin in mind, or even felt the need to change the popular concept of the Terrible, one can imagine how personally insulting Ivan's drama appeared.'; ; Both parts of IVAN THE TERRIBLE form the final chapter of Eisenstein's career. Viewed today, they constitute a bold, impressive union of dialogue, music and visuals–and one can only speculate on what might have happened if fate did not intrude on his completion of his saga of Ivan the Terrible.; ; Rob Edelman
• Cast: Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Pavel Kadochnikov, Mikhail Zharov, Amvrosi Buchma, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Mgebrov, Andrei Abrikosov, Vladimir Balashov, Erik Pyryev, Mikhail Nazvanov, Pavel Massalsky, Ada Vojtsik, Aleksandr Rumnyov, Sergei Stolyarov, Semyon Timoshenko, Sergei M. Eisenstein
• Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein
• Runtime: 1:25
• Company: Image Entertainment
• Media Format: Movie