Ivan the Terrible

By Sergei Eisentein, Sergei Eisenstein

1962

First Published

4.29

Average Rating

264

Number of Pages

8H01M

Audio Length

The Russian film-maker Sergei Eisenstein intended to present the history of the notorious Ivan IV of Russia in three parts, but he had difficulty reconciling his own vision of the film with the sensitive political requirements of the Russian Ministry of Cinematography. Part 1 was released in 1945, but the second part was banned and Eisenstein died before he could complete the re-editing. This fully illustrated version contains the original shooting script for Parts 1 and 2, and also for Part 3, plus an introduction describing conversations with Eisenstein during the making of the film, and an interview with Stalin.

Avg Rating

4.29

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

48%

4 STARS

33%

3 STARS

19%

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Authors

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958). In its 2012 decennial poll, the magazine Sight & Sound named his Battleship Potemkin the 11th greatest movie of all time. Eisenstein was among the earliest film theorists. He believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through a "linkage" of related images. He developed what he called "methods of montage": 1) Metric 2) Rhythmic 3) Tonal 4) Overtonal 5) Intellectual Eisenstein's articles and books—particularly Film Form and The Film Sense—explain the significance of montage in detail. His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers.