Ivan Groznyy II: Boyarsky zagovor (1958)

Directors:

Sergei M. Eisenstein
M. Filimonova

Writer:

Sergei M. Eisenstein (writer)

Release Date:

24 November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | History

Plot:

As Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate their Tsar.

Plot Keywords:

Boyars | Church | Russia | Power | Class Differences

Cast

Nikolai Cherkasov	...	Czar Ivan IV
Serafima Birman	...	Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Pavel Kadochnikov	...	Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Mikhail Zharov	...	Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma	...	Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Vsevolod Pudovkin	...	Nikolay (as V.I. Pudovkin)
Mikhail Kuznetsov	...	Fyodor Basmanov
Aleksandr Mgebrov	...	Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Andrei Abrikosov	...	Archbishop Philip (formerly Fyodor Kolychev)
Vladimir Balashov	...	Pyotr Volynets
Erik Pyryev	...	Ivan IV as a boy
Mikhail Nazvanov	...	Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Pavel Massalsky	...	King Sigismund of Poland
Ada Vojtsik	...	Elena Glinskaya, Ivan's Mother

Also Known As:

Boyarsky zagovor
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot (USA) (literal English title)
Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (USA)
Ivane Mriskhane, natsili meore (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
The Boyars' Plot (USA) (informal English alternative title)
Iivana Julma, II osa (Finland) [fi]
Ivan den förskräcklige II (Sweden) [sv]
Ivan le terrible 2 (Belgium: French title) [fr]
Ivan o Tromeros, meros B' (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Ivan, o Terrível - Parte II (Brazil) [pt]
Iwan, der Schreckliche II (West Germany) [de]
Korkunç Ivan II (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
La congiura dei boiardi (Italy) [it]
La conjura de los boyardos (Spain) [es]
Rettegett Iván 2. (Hungary) [hu]

Runtime:

USA:88 min | Canada:83 min (Ontario)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/6 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

Premiered in the United States at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Die verschiedenen Gesichter des Sergej Eisenstein (1997) (TV)

Eisenstein's UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

Ivan the Terrible marks the final stages of the cinema's greatest creative genius: SERGI EISENSTEIN. It is the work of a director, a supreme artist who never ceased in probing new boundires, striking out uncharted paths, and searching the outer limits of his art. In the work, Eisenstein has gone eons beyond his earlier methods of film creation and for the first time approaches a true synthesis of dance, music, poetry, painting, photography, architecture, and all other forms of aesthetic communication.

The trials and tribulations surrounding the production and distribution of Ivan have become legendary in there own right. The film drew sharp criticism from Stalin and Eisenstein was forced to publicly announce his ''formalist errors.'' Subsequently, the film was banned in Russia until 1958 and Eisenstein was ostracized for what many saw as a film full of ''excess.'' It took many years before the world would come to realize it is nothing short of his greatest masterpiece.

A true cinematic realization of the ever elusive ''total work of art.'' A concept that originated with the Ancient Greeks and was further formulated by Richard Wagner in his epic masterwork, ''THE RING CYCLE.'' The Gestanmueack or ''intragel work of art'' as Wagner called it was in essence the synthesizing of every artistic medium into a single polyphonic experience. In the 20th century Eisenstein saw Wagner's music dramas as predecessors of cinema; a cinema that synthesized elements of all of mankind's arts into a single majestic, visceral and emotional experience which could transform and transfix the spectator. Together with the world renowned composer, master Sergei Prokofiev, and his lifelong cinematographer Eduard Tisse, Eisenstein labored for years researching and planning out every camera angle, lighting scheme, musical note, costume, color palette, gesture, and perspective; until every scene in Ivan becomes an intricate and complex world of its own. A world where actors twist and bend their forms to the limits of the plastic frame, shadows conceal and light reveals, the musical notes flow with the rhythm and tempo of the visual image and in the famous banquet scene, colors are used by Eisenstein to delve into the psychological states of the character's mind and state of being. It becomes a universe composed so precisely and diligently that every frame is infused with hidden metaphorical and symbolic meanings, and serves to create the epitome of cinematic achievement.

Tragically, like Schubert's great ''Unfinished Symphony'' or the Venus di Milo, Eisenstein passed away before completing the final part of his epic masterwork. What remains of Ivan the Terrible will live forever as a testament not only to the genius of Sergei Eisenstein but also to his unparalleled contribution to the world culture of the 20th century.