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 | Russia | Power | Decapitation | Personality Cult

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)

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:

The film features two color sequences, Ivan eating dinner with feeble-minded Vladimir while the "oprichniki" dance and sing for them and a final shot of Ivan denouncing all enemies of Russia's indepedence and unity.

Movie Connections:

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

An allegory of power, an analysis of Stalinism

Like the first part of the movie "Boyarsky Zagovor" (Conspiracy of the Boyars)is indeed a film about Stalin (who was a great admirer of Ivan the IV.) and the (seem-to-be)mechanics of power itself. The ideology, which is acted out (or reflected?!) stays much the same: one people/one leader is the ideal and necessary state of the (russian) nation, enabling it to take up with the other nations ("the Germans")The terror on the boyars and the elimination of some of them reflects Stalin's paranoiac action on comrades, subaltern party-members with the help of the "oprichniki" (here: Beriya and consorts). For instance, once in the movie, Ivan makes 'one of his best friends' the metropolit of Moscow, but in the same sequence is persuaded by the oprichniki's leader to kill his relevant to make him scared of Ivan's power. Because of this illustration of paranoiac stalinist mechanism, I can't agree on the popular notion, that the second movie is not as good as the first. One more reason: the most startling child actor ever: Erik Pyryev as the young tsar, ordering the chief boyar to be lashed.