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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5060000404142
Format: PAL
Number Of Discs: 1
Region Code: 2
Sales Rank: 208028
Theatrical Release Date: March 08, 1947
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
A biography of the first czar of Russia was the final movie project of the great Sergei Eisenstein's life. It would be his undoing, as Stalin was not pleased with part II of this epic. But Ivan the Terrible, Part I still stands as a magnificent, rich, and strange achievement. This is a 'composed' film to make Hitchcock look slapdash; every frame is arranged with the eye of a painter or choreographer, the mise-en-scène so deliberately artificial that even the actors' bodies become elements of style. (They complained about contorting themselves to fit Eisenstein's designs.) If you don't believe movies can be art, this could be (and has been) dismissed as ludicrous. But Eisenstein's command of light and shadow becomes its own justification, as the fascinating court intrigue plays out in a series of dynamic, eye-filling scenes. This is not a political theorist, but a director drunk on pure cinema. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Shadow and light as stars
Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible" is a visual experience not to be missed. The acting's not anything to write home about. Nikolai Cherkasov's portrayal of Ivan is so overdone that his extravagant gestures remind one of the silent film variety. Nor is the script a particularly good one. The two parts of the film are a bit disjointed.
But what IS excellent is the cinematography. It's not wide of the mark to say that the real stars of the film are the shadows and light. In this first ... Read More
Rating: - IVAN THE WONDERFUL I
Despite having been produced over 60 years ago, IVAN THE TERRIBLE remains one of the most bizarre and compelling movies ever made. It is filmed in an ultra-expressionist style, despite the fact that expressionism had long passed its heyday in the 1920's and early 30's. Nonetheless, the style fits this almost gothic film perfectly. Religious and other symbols of power and authority are exaggerated, transformed into grotesques. The powerless peasantry, mired in the darkest ignorance, is presented as a ... Read More
Rating: - Light and Shadow
The movies "Ivan the Terrible" numbers 1 and 2 are a facinating example of the use of light and shadow which serves to enhance these stories of royal intrigue. I'm not well versed on Russian history so I don't know how much of the events described in these movies are facts and how much are Stanlinist revision. It was clear that the impact of the movies were designed to rally the besieged Russian people during the disaster that was WWII on the Eastern Front. The fact that the Russians prevailed didn't ... Read More
Rating: - The genius always finds an exit door despite the struggling iron fist!
The art is always irreverent and doesn't know about previous imposed rules. What Stalin initially considered as striking propaganda device under his absolutist, oppressive, abrasive and despotic Regime, was employed by the irreverent Eisenstein as epic saga, but that increasingly derivates what so many times has been said for many heralds before him (Shakespeare, for instance) about the irreversible and dramatic final destiny of all repressive government, so well stated by Saint Just: "The power corrupts; ... Read More
Rating: - Epic in the Grand Manner
More Operatic in style and performance than traditional film, with a simplistic manner of narrative, yet Ivan The Terrible remains a masterpiece of the Cinema, and Ivan an unforgettable character. Astonishing images abound, theatrical sets and lighting, superb costumes, a grand yet gothic sense prevades this picture. The very eye movements of the cast's remarkable faces convey much of the underlying tension and conflict. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but well worth the effort of finding out.
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