Ivan the Terrible [Part 1]

Description: Ivan the Terrible part one is Eisenstein’s boldest and most successful experiment in stylisation. It draws upon the other arts - Wagnerian opera, Marinsky ballet and Japanese Kabuki theatre. Ivan’s personal life is interwoven with the themes of his drive for empire and his alliance with the merchant class against the aristocracy. This is the first part of a trilogy; the second part is dominated by cloak and dagger intrigue; the final part, which was to be in colour, was designed but not filmed. Cinematography by Edouard Tisse and Andrei Moskvin. Music by Sergei Prokofieff. Cast includes Nikolai Cherkasov, Ludmilla Tselikovskaya, Seraphina Birman, Pyotr Kadochnikov. In russian with English subtitles.