Ivan the Terrible Pt II – The Boyars’ Plot

Ivan Groznyi

The second part of Sergei Eisenstein’s historical epic on Tsar Ivan, which was banned for over ten years in the USSR.

USSR 1946/1958
Directed by Sergei Eisenstein
With Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Pavel Kadochinov, Mikhail Zharov
Running time 88min
Certificate PG

With his historical epic on Tsar Ivan, Eisenstein tried to re-establish himself as a Soviet artist – after the ‘lost’ 1930s – but his fraught interpretation of history, more Freudian than Marxist, resulted in Part II being banned for over ten years. Here Ivan consolidates his power over the scheming boyars (nobles).

Plus Battle by the Kerzhenets (USSR 1971, dir Ivan Ivanov-Vano & Yuri Norstein, 10min).

The screening on Mon 11 Feb will be introduced by Mark Le Fanu.