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 Ivan the Terrible, Part II (1957)
Director:
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Stars: Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Pavel Kadochnikov
Release Company:
The Criterion Collection
MPAA Rating: NR
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Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) and Vsevolod Pudovkin (1893-1953) During Filming of Ivan the Terrible
Giclee Print
Russian...
Buy at AllPosters.com
 
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Eisenstein completists should search out Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II, now packaged as a three disc set along with the far superior Alexander Nevsky by the Criterion Collection, which includes essays on Eisenstein, the history of the films, and background on the Eisenstein-Prokofiev collaboration. The Ivan the Terrible films comprise some of the weakest films Eisenstein ever created and are primarily interesting for political and historical content. At least Eisenstein contrasts drastically with the controversial Leni Reisenstahl, since he doesn't follow the agenda of the dictator who sponsored the films.
Ivan the Terrible was commissioned by Joseph Stalin after the Soviet dictator was impressed with Eisenstein's pro-nationalistic take on Alexander Nevsky. The director was expected to give similar revisionist credibility to Russia's first czar. Apparently the political motivation was to make Stalin's brutality more tolerable, since Ivan the Terrible had embarrassed Russians with his cruelty and insanity three centuries earlier.
Part I of Ivan the Terrible was released in 1945, receiving the Stalin Award for excellence, but Stalin wasn't pleased with Eisenstein's Part II. It implied much more blatant criticism of the barbaric brand of Bolshevism practiced by Stalin (beheadings, internal power struggles, and the use of personal bodyguards, for example). Ivan the Terrible, Part II (Ivan Groznyj II)was outright banned, not appearing publicly until 1958. Eisenstein's planned second and third sequels never made it to the screen at all, which is just as well.
Beginning in the middle of the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible, Part I shows Ivan (Nikolai Cherkassov—also the title character in Alexander Nevsky) being crowned Tsar of Russia. Ivan's coronation is opposed by the noble boyars, who fear their power and wealth will decrease. Of course, the boyars plot against the Tsar, and Ivan will learn that he has no real friends and that no one can be trusted. The film delivery is pedestrian, surprisingly so after the signature montage work in Battleship Potemkin and the juxtapositioning and camera movement evident in the icy battle scenes in Alexander Nevsky. Instead, the camera remains still, only shifting from close-ups of one talking head to another, and battles are shown with the dreaded "messenger" technique, convenient for theatrical plays but a supreme letdown for cinema audiences. Not all the failings can be attributed to Eisenstein, however. Stalin demanded that a crucial flashback to Ivan's childhood (depicting the treacherous poisoning of his mother by a jealous relative) be cut out of Part I.
Thankfully, the flashback is re-inserted into Part II, providing the background necessary to make Ivan a more sympathetic character. Certainly, he doesn't gain the full trust of the audience through the wooden and melodramatic acting, through the plot that shows him asking for more beheadings, or through his visual appearance (picturing his devolution from youthful good looks to a bearded old crone). Attempts to make him appear psychologically needy are not entirely successful, either; although Ivan has been deceived by family members and his closest allies, it's too much to believe that he would grovel to the priest, or that he'd base his decisions on his loneliness and need for friendship. His saving grace is that his ideal remains to create a united Russia—that he desires the "third Rome" to stand forever. As some boyars declare privately that Ivan will never succeed, another pair knowingly says that he will—as long as he is strong enough.
A sign that the film isn't as strong as it should be comes in the first minutes of Part II (also called The Boyars' Plot,) with a narrator understandably supplying a synopsis of Part I, but then going on to explain what you will see in this narrative. Had Eisenstein been confident that audiences would follow his languid pacing, this preview of the plot wouldn't be necessary.
Still, Ivan the Terrible, Part II contains more cinematic enjoyment than the tepid first film. Injecting life into the screenplay is that crucial flashback and a lively feast and dance scene with Ivan's oprichniki (proletariat bodyguards) which create the most camera movement in the two films. The sequence is also (surprisingly) filmed in 1950s Kodachrome color, providing a visual contrast with the rest of the film. An even more shocking moment occurs when young Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky (Pavel Kadochnikov) declares that he doesn't want to be the Tsar, and his Lady MacBeth-like mother, Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya (Serafima Birman) bursts into Broadway song to declare her hopes for him. This uncharacteristically awkward moment is not something Eisenstein devotees will cite as a career highlight, but it does lend unintentional comedy to the film.
It's plain to see why Criterion has chosen to box the three films into an Eisenstein Sound Years collection. Although Alexander Nevsky can stand on its own merits, very few will seek either of the Ivan the Terrible films for multiple viewings. Of the two, the second part works better as a film due to its variety and better pacing towards the end, and these both offer interesting historical perspective and help complete the work of a true cinematic genius.
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