Ivan the Terrible, Part II
1958 Drama / History   
 
Credits
  • Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein, M. Filimonova
  • Script: Sergei M. Eisenstein
  • Photo: Andrei Moskvin, Eduard Tisse
  • Music: Sergei Prokofiev
  • Cast: Nikolai Cherkasov (Tsar Ivan IV), Serafima Birman (Efrosinia Staritskaya), Pavel Kadochnikov (Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky), Mikhail Zharov (Malyuta Skuratov), Amvrosi Buchma (Aleksei Basmanov), Vsevolod Pudovkin (Nikolay), Mikhail Kuznetsov (Fyodor Basmanov), Aleksandr Mgebrov (Archbishop Pimen), Andrei Abrikosov (Archbishop Philip), Vladimir Balashov (Pyotr Volynets), Erik Pyryev (Ivan as boy), Mikhail Nazvanov (Andrei Kurbsky), Pavel Massalsky (King Sigismund of Poland), Ada Vojtsik (Ivan's Mother)
  • Country: Soviet Union
  • Language: Russian
  • Runtime: 83 min; B&W and colour
  • Aka: Иван Грозный II; Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot; Ivan Groznyy II: Boyarsky zagovor; The Boyars' Plot
 
 
 
Summary
On his return to Moscow after his self-imposed exile, Ivan, the first Tsar of Russia, immediately sets about making the reforms he intended to unify and strengthen his country.  He quickly perceives the threat posed by the boyars, the court nobles who are determined to bring about his downfall.  When he realises that both his mother and his wife were poisoned by the boyars, Ivan takes revenge by executing a number of their kind.  In return, Ivan’s aunt Efrosinia conspires in an assassination attempt that will have Ivan replaced by her weakling son Vladimir...

Review
This is the second part of a landmark film by the great Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein. Its release was delayed by twelve years because the Communists deemed it to be obliquely critical of Stalin's oppressive regime.  For a detailed review see: Ivan the Terrible, Part I
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