Ivan the Terrible, Part I

Dir: Sergei M. Eisenstein

1944

*****

Ivan the Terrible is a two-part historical epic about Ivan IV of Russia that was commissioned by Joseph Stalin, who admired and identified himself with Ivan, to be written and directed by the filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Part I was released in 1944 and begins with Ivan's coronation as Tsar of all the Russias, amid protest from the boyars. Ivan makes a great speech proclaiming his intent to unite and protect Russia against the foreign armies outside her borders and the enemies within - a reference to the boyars, who are already seen as discontented with his coronation. Shortly after, Ivan marries Anastasia Romanovna. This causes him to lose the friendship of his two best friends, Prince Andrei Kurbsky and Fyodor Kolychev. The latter receives Ivan's permission to retire to a monastery, while Kurbsky attempts to resume his romance with the Tsarina, who repels his advances. The marriage feast is interrupted by news of the burning of several boyar palaces, carried into the Tsar's palace by a mob of the common people who also complain that the Tsar is being led astray by the Tsarina's family (the Romanovs), the Glinskys and the Zakharins. Ivan calms the crowd, but is interrupted by envoys from the khanate of Kazan, who send him a ceremonial knife with the suggestion that he do himself a favor by using it to commit suicide. Ivan immediately proclaims that his kingdom is at war with Kazan. The siege of Kazan, in which Ivan's army digs saps underneath the city and fills them with gunpowder, is an epic piece of cinema, certainly one of Eisenstein’s finest. Kurbsky, nominally in command, is reprimanded by Ivan for senseless brutality (he ties Tartar prisoners to palisades within earshot of the walls of Kazan and tells them to shout to the city to surrender; the defending archers immediately shoot the prisoners). The city of Kazan soon falls to the Russian army. During his return from Kazan, Ivan falls seriously ill and is thought to be on his deathbed; Orthodox priests come to give him the last rites before he dies. Ivan sends for his relatives and orders them to swear allegiance to his son, the infant Dmitri, reminding them of the need for a single ruler to keep Russia united. They demur, with Ivan's aunt, Efrosinia Staritska, openly urging the others to swear allegiance to her son, Vladimir, instead. Emotionally overwrought, Ivan collapses and is thought dead. The relatives, celebrating, all begin to swear allegiance to Vladimir, the "boyar tsar" they have hoped for; meanwhile, Kurbsky is uncertain of his own loyalty, trying to decide between the two sides. However, when the Tsarina says, "Do not bury a man before he is dead," Kurbsky realizes that Ivan is still alive, and hurriedly swears his allegiance to Ivan's infant son, Dmitri. He is sent, as a reward, to the western border of the kingdom to defend against the Livonians and Poles. At the same time, Ivan dispatches Alexei Basmanov, a commoner he sympathizes with, to the south to take care of the Crimean border. The Tsarina now falls ill, and while Ivan is receiving bad news from all fronts, the boyars plot to kill her. Efrosinia comes into the palace with a cup of wine hidden in her robes, in which she has put poison. Just as the royal couple receive word that Kurbsky has defected to the Livonians, Efrosinia slips the cup of wine into the room and listens from behind a wall. The Tsarina has a convulsion and Ivan, looking around for a drink to calm her, takes the poisoned wine and gives it to her. We then see the dead Tsarina lying in state in the cathedral, with Ivan mourning beside her bier. While a monk reads biblical verses over the body, Ivan questions his own justifications and ability to rule, wondering if his wife's death is God's punishment on him. However, he recovers and sends for Kolychev. At this point, Alexei Basmanov arrives, suggesting that Ivan surround himself with men he can trust - "iron men," the Oprichnina - and offers his unexpectant son, Fyodor, for service. Ivan accepts, and sets about recouping his losses. He abdicates and leaves Moscow, waiting until the people beg him to return, saying that he now rules with absolute power by the will of the people. A rousing finish that sets up part II of the story perfectly. Eisenstein was one of many Moscow-based filmmakers who were evacuated to Alma Ata, in the Kazakh SSR during World War II. There, Eisenstein first considered the idea of making a film about Tsar Ivan IV, aka Ivan the Terrible, whom Stalin admired as the same kind of brilliant, decisive, successful leader that Stalin considered himself to be. Aware of Eisenstein's interest in a project about Ivan, Stalin ordered the making of the film with Eisenstein as author-director. It was filmed between 1942 and 1944, and released at the end of that year. The film presented Ivan as a national hero, and won Joseph Stalin's approval and gained Eisenstein a Stalin Prize. The story show Ivan more as monarch than man, detailing his struggles to unite Russia and his difficulties in overcoming the traditional, boyar-run government. While not exactly sympathetic, Ivan is shown as having to fight fire with fire - having to be ruthless and brutal for the good of the country. In some ways, he is a victim of the boyars, especially during flashbacks to his childhood and early adolescence. The film also details Ivan's gradual slide into suspicion and paranoia. He is played superbly by Nikolay Cherkasov although Serafima Birman steals most of the film as Ivan's aunt Efrosinia, the real villain of the story who is willing to do anything to get her son Vladimir on the throne.