Ivan the Terrible

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by Yuri Tsivian

British Film Institute

Due/Published May 2001, 96 pages, paper

ISBN 085170834X

Although conceived of as a trilogy, Sergei Eisenstein's epic film chronicle of the reign of Tsar Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1946), never reached its third installment. The first part was an instant success, winning the approval of the Kremlin and a Stalin Prize. But the second, completed shortly before Eisenstein's death, was banned and not released until 1958, after legendary discussions involving Molotov, Zhdanov, and Stalin himself. With detailed cultural and aesthetic commentary, Tsivian shows how this landmark in Soviet cinema sheds light on both Stalinism and Russia's imperial past

Series: BFI Film Classics