Ivan Groznyy I (1944)

Director:

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Writer:

Sergei M. Eisenstein (writer)

Release Date:

8 March 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Biography

Plot:

During the early part of his reign, Ivan the Terrible faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.

Plot Keywords:

Power | Exile | Coronation | Russia | Tartar

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nikolai Cherkasov	...	Czar Ivan IV
Lyudmila Tselikovskaya	...	Czarina Anastasia Romanovna
Serafima Birman	...	Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Mikhail Nazvanov	...	Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Mikhail Zharov	...	Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma	...	Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Mikhail Kuznetsov	...	Fyodor Basmanov
Pavel Kadochnikov	...	Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Andrei Abrikosov	...	Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Aleksandr Mgebrov	...	Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Maksim Mikhajlov	...	Archdeacon
Vsevolod Pudovkin	...	Nikola, Simpleton Beggar
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pavel Massalsky	...	Sigismond - King of Poland
Sergei Stolyarov

Also Known As:

Иван Грозный (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Ivan the Terrible, Part One (USA)
Ivane Mriskhane, natsili pirveli (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
Ivan, o Terrível - Parte I (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Iivana Julma (Finland) [fi]
Iván el terrible (Spain) [es]
Ivan den förskräcklige (Sweden) [sv]
Ivan il terribile (Italy) [it]
Ivan le terrible (France) [fr]
Ivan, o tromeros (Greece) [el]
Iwan, der Schreckliche I (Germany) [de]
Korkunç Ivan (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Rettegett Iván 1. (Hungary) [hu]

Runtime:

103 min | USA:95 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the people in the village ask Ivan to come back to Moscow, some shots show people in the background standing, other shots show them kneeling.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland (1977)

Majestic operatic film, restored with glory

Eisenstein's 'Ivan the Terrible' once featured in an American book of the 50 worst films of all times, along with 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes' and 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'.

But as true cinemaniacs acknowledge, 'Ivan', along with 'Ivan the Terrible Part 2', is one of the great masterpieces of the screen. Its style is highly artificial, the acting operatic with no condescension to realism. But the viewer is swept away by the stylised pacing, the way each scene is so precisely plotted and designed -- each camera shot becomes a precious ornamented jewel. The film is, like the earlier 'Alexander Nevsky', as much a vehicle for the great Russian composer Prokofiev as for Eisenstein -- the two attained a cinematic union of image and music which has been rarely equaled since.

The two 'Image' Region 1 DVDs for Ivan Parts One and Two are spartan affairs, with no added features. The orchestral soundtrack is definitely low-fi. But the print sources must have been excellent -- the black-and-white prints are as lustrous as the finest modern movie, the images sharp and clear. And when the film suddenly switches from black-and-white and erupts in colour, the colour is dense and brilliant, unlike the bleached and pale versions usually doing the art-cinema rounds.

How fantastic to have available such treasures on DVD, in such pristine condition! Buy! Buy! Buy!