Sergei Eisenstein

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

Navigating the deadly waters of Stalinist politics, Eisenstein was able to film two parts of his planned trilogy about the troubled sixteenth-century tsar who united Russia. Visually stunning and powerfully acted, Ivan the Terrible charts the rise to power and descent into terror of this veritable dictator. Though pleased with the first installment, Stalin detested the portrait in the second film—with its summary executions and secret police—and promptly banned it.

Film Info

  • Soviet Union
  • 1944
  • 103 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • Russian
  • Spine #88

Special Features

  • Multimedia essay on the history of Ivan the Terrible by Joan Neuberger, director of the Center for Soviet Studies at the University of Texas at Austin
  • Deleted scenes
  • Drawings and production stills
  • New English subtitle translation

Available In

Collector's Set

Eisenstein: The Sound Years

Eisenstein: The Sound Years

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$55.96

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • Multimedia essay on the history of Ivan the Terrible by Joan Neuberger, director of the Center for Soviet Studies at the University of Texas at Austin
  • Deleted scenes
  • Drawings and production stills
  • New English subtitle translation
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Cast
Nikolai Cherkasov
Ivan the Terrible
Lyudmila Tselikovskaya
Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna
Serafima Birman
Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Pavel Kadochnikov
Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Mikhail Zharov
Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma
Alexei Basmanov
Mikhail A. Kuznetsov
Fyodor Basmanov
Mikhail Nazvanov
Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Andrei Abrikosov
Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Vsevolod Pudovkin
Nikola, a simple beggar
Credits
Director
Sergei Eisenstein
Written by
Sergei Eisenstein
Producer
Sergei Eisenstein
Cinematography
Andrei Moskvin
Cinematography
Eduard Tisse
Original music by
Sergei Prokofiev
Lyricist
Vladimir Lugovskoi
Production design
Issac Shpinel
Costume design
Leonid Naumov
Makeup
V. Goryunov
Sound
Vladimir Bogdankevich
Sound
Boris Volsky

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Irecently had occasion to show Ivan the Terrible in a course on forties world cinema I’m teaching at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute, and found it more mind-boggling than ever. This has always been the Eisenstein feature that’s given me t…

By Jonathan Rosenbaum