Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944) Ivan Groznyy (original title)

Director:

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Writer:

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Release Date:

8 March 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | History

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 | Russia | Boyar | Coronation | Wedding

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 Mikhaylov	...	Archdeacon
Vsevolod Pudovkin	...	Nikola, Simpleton Beggar
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pavel Massalsky	...	Sigismond - King of Poland
Sergei Stolyarov
Valentina Kuznetsova	...	Smiling Woman in the Church (uncredited)
Aleksandr Rumnyov	...	The Stranger (uncredited)
Semyon Timoshenko	...	Kaspar von Oldenbock, Livonian ambassador (uncredited)

Directed by
Sergei M. Eisenstein		(as Sergei Eisenstein)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sergei M. Eisenstein		(as Sergei Eisenstein)

Produced by
Sergei M. Eisenstein	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Sergei Prokofiev

Film Editing by
Sergei M. Eisenstein		(as Sergei Eizenshtein)

Production Design by
Iosif Shpinel		(as I. Shpinel)

Art Direction by
Sergei M. Eisenstein

Costume Design by
Leonid Naumov		(as L. Naumov)
Nadezhda Buzina		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Vasili Goryunov	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
I. Bir	....	assistant director
B. Bunayev	....	assistant director
Valentina Kuznetsova	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Vladimir Bogdankevich	....	sound (as V. Bogdankevich)
Boris Volsky	....	sound (as B. Volsky)

Camera and Electrical Department
Viktor Dombrovsky	....	photographer: second unit
Andrei Moskvin	....	cinematographer: interior scenes
Eduard Tisse	....	cinematographer: exterior scenes

Editorial Department
Esfir Tobak	....	associate editor

Music Department
Vladimir Lugovskoi	....	lyricist
Igor Lukovsky	....	composer: songs
Abram Stasevich	....	conductor

Other crew
Wolfgang Staudte	....	German version

Production Companies

• Mosfilm
• TsOKS

Distributors

• Artkino Pictures (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Kultur Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2005) (USA) (TV)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Corinth Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Tartan Video USA (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Velissarios (1995) (Greece) (VHS) (sell through)

Also Known As:

"Ivan Groznyy" - Soviet Union (original title)
"Ivan the Terrible, Part One" - USA

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:

Took over 3 years to make.

Goofs:

Continuity: Amount of coins in the bowls that are showered over Ivan at the end of the coronation scene.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bolshoi Ballet: Ivan the Terrible (1990) (TV)

Ivan the Terrible -- Pure Genius, but not light watching

Ivan the Terrible, Parts One and Two are films when combined) are in the top ten films of all time, and are of enormous genius, but because of this are not easy to digest. The story of the tortured Ivan the Terrible, first Czar of Russia, from boyhood to near the end of his czarhood, it was filmed with extravagated acting, and each scene having multiple symbolic interpretations. For example, all the main characters or groups of characters are portrayed with the characteristics of animals, Ivan the Terrible being a bird. The cinematography is brilliant, and strangely beautiful, relying on parallels, and close ups of the characters (this is among the first films to have this technique, now one of the most common cinematography techniques). Because this film is such a classic, it will make watchers review it, and think on the film itself. As such, it is not "light" watching. It is most definitely one of the greatest films of all time, and is worth the time without question. Do not be held back by the black and white or that it is in Russian. Also, watch both Part One, and Part Two, they were meant to work off each other. The DVD contains what remains of the incomplete Part Three, which the director Sergei Ensenstein did not finish. When told by phone that Stalin would not allow for Part Two to be distributed in Russia and be vaulted due to it's anti-Communistic implications, Ensenstien hung up the phone, and promptly died by heart attack, leaving a trilogy without its ending.