A masterpiece of world cinema. It really is! I go against the tide and prefer Ivan I to Ivan II. Here is a fascinating look at how Ivan overcomes the boyars, loses his best friend to his wife and loses his wife to the treachery that transforms him into The Terrible, played out in spooky places where, as Kael says, people slide in and out of the walls like giant spiders.
You need -- indeed, will want -- to watch this one more than once. At first you may indeed find the wide-eyed faces a bit comical, but the more you watch the more you appreciate Eisenstein's view that everybody in Ivan's court is a bit mad.
The context of this production is the same as that of Olivier's Henry V: Russia and England were fighting for their lives, and these movies were meant to stir their audiences with patriotic fervor. Both construct scenes as grand tableaux, Henry V like medieval paintings, Ivan like grand opera or Kabuki.
In fact, a real treat is to watch the Criterion version of both, Henry V in its sumptuousness, Ivan in its stark grandeur. Contrast the respective British and the Russian approaches to myth-making on behalf of their Great Patriotic Wars. Compare endings. I find the English the more lyrical, the Russian the more powerful. What do you think?
You need -- indeed, will want -- to watch this one more than once. At first you may indeed find the wide-eyed faces a bit comical, but the more you watch the more you appreciate Eisenstein's view that everybody in Ivan's court is a bit mad.
The context of this production is the same as that of Olivier's Henry V: Russia and England were fighting for their lives, and these movies were meant to stir their audiences with patriotic fervor. Both construct scenes as grand tableaux, Henry V like medieval paintings, Ivan like grand opera or Kabuki.
In fact, a real treat is to watch the Criterion version of both, Henry V in its sumptuousness, Ivan in its stark grandeur. Contrast the respective British and the Russian approaches to myth-making on behalf of their Great Patriotic Wars. Compare endings. I find the English the more lyrical, the Russian the more powerful. What do you think?