Ivan Groznyy
Directed by:
Sergei M. EisensteinComposer:
Sergei ProkofievCast:
Nikolai Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Mikhail Nazvanov, Mikhail Zharov, Andrei Abrikosov, Maxim Michajlov, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Pavel Kadochnikov (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Originally conceived as a historical epic in three parts, Sergei Eisenstein's epic biography of Czar Ivan IV, the murderous 16th-century unifier of the Russian people, was truncated by the director's death in 1948, as he was about to begin part three. A spectacle of impressively baroque splendor, it remains one of the great anomalies of film history. Starring Nikolai Cherkassov as the eponymous ruler, the film opens with the 16-year-old's opulent coronation in 1546. He breaks with the custom of marriage to a foreign princess by marrying a Russian girl, Anastasia Romanovna (Lyudmila Tselikovskaya), thereby offending the nobility. In an effort to expand his territory eastward, he leads an army of 100,000 to seize Kazan, succeeding only after a long and bitter campaign. After contracting a seemingly fatal illness, Ivan summons the boyars, led by his aunt Euphrosinia (Serafima Birman), but they refuse his demand to swear allegiance to his one-year-old son, greatly angering the czar. When Ivan miraculously returns to health, he begins to consolidate power in opposition to the boyars. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
Sergei Eisenstein is a giant of Russian and indeed world cinema, and Ivan the Terrible, Part One is a great costume drama, but somehow I didn't feel the grandeur I expected from it. The crowd scenes are there, as usual, but even they felt somewhat subdued as if their full potential wasn't fully realized. I didn't like the first part much, as it couldn't hold my attention.
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