Ivan the Terrible, Part I( 1944)

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Overview

Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.

Top Billed 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
Amvrosii Buchma
Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Mikhail Kuznetsov
Fyodor Basmanov
Pavel Kadochnikov
Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Andrei Abrikosov
Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Alexander Mgebrov
Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Maxim Mikhaylov
Archdeacon
Vladimir Balashov
Piotr Volynetz
Vsevolod Pudovkin
Nikola, Simpleton Beggar
Semyon Timoshenko
Kaspar von Oldenbock, Livonian Ambassador
Aleksandr Rumnyov
The Stranger
Pavel Massalsky
Sigismond, King of Poland
Valentina Kuznetsova
Smiling Woman in the Church (uncredited)
Sergei Stolyarov
(uncredited)
Anel Sudakevich
Sigismond's court lady
Lidiya Naumova
Boris Feodosyev
Boyar
Vladimir Uralskiy
Archbishop

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Mon Jun 06 2022

Nikolay Cherkasov is superb in this speculative biopic of the infamous Tsar of all the Russias. Made towards the end of the Second World War, Sergei Eisenstein manages to create a magnificent depiction of just how this often barbaric, but actually rather shrewd and intelligent 16th century monarch inherited and retained his throne despite plots and intrigues from his court, his people, his nobles - basically, just about everyone. His goal? Well that is presented in an almost Stalinist style. To unite the Russian peoples and to protect them from the oppression of those who would invade their lan...