On the Occasion of Sergei Eisenstein's 100th Birthday
Son of a Riga architect, Sergei Eisenstein became a great artist of the 20th century.
The Battleship Potemkin brought him international fame.
His films Strike, October, The General Line
Que Viva Mexico, Alexander Nevsky
and lvan the Terrible are famous worldwide.
The highly talented Eisenstein was more than just a film director.
He was a teacher, a fine painter - and very charismatic.
He was an absolute authority among his friends.
However, his path was a difficult one.
Many of his films were banned, some never even filmed.
Eisenstein's greatest tragedy lay in the film
lvan the Terrible.
Stalin wanted to create a film to vindicate the tsar
who was one of the cruelest rulers in Russian history.
Eisenstein made a film on the tragedy of dictatorship,
the story of a man who destroyed himself and his homeland.
The Unknown lvan the Terrible
The film was supposed to start with a prologue, lvan's childhood.
The young tsar sees his mother murdered before his very eyes.
For the first time he hears the words: "Take him away!"
For the first time, he compares himself to the Angel of Death
and that comparison determines his future.
But the Soviet cinema bureaucracy
decided that the prologue was too gloomy.
They ordered him to start the film with the wedding scene.
Complete sections were cut out of the first part.
Later, Eisenstein introduced some of these scenes into the second part.
Now we'll see the complete prologue of lvan the Terrible.
Poisoned!
Ah! I am dying!
My son!
They've killed me!
Watch out for poison!
Beware of the boyars!
Helena Glinskaya is dead.
Get Telepnev Obolensky!
Strangle the Tsarina's lover!
Great Tsar of Moscow, help! Help!
Get him!
Lvan Vasilievich, Grand Duke of Moscow!
Answer us, Grand Duke, to whom will Moscow pay?
To the great Hanseatic league of the German merchant towns?
To the Order of Livonian Knights?
In the name of the Lord...
Grand Duke of Moscow lvan Vasilievich,
has graciously ratified a commercial treaty
and agrees to pay duties for the transit of goods via the Baltic
to the great Hanseatic league of the German merchant towns
The Grand Duke of Moscow has reconsidered his decision.
He has concluded the treaty with the Order of Livonian Knights.
Someone has certainly been lining Shuisky's pockets.
The Hansa, the Hansa, it was the Boyar Council's decision.
The Grand Duke is free to annul the council's decisions.
But he has pledged his word.
The Grand Duke is the sole arbiter of his word.
He gives it or rescinds it as he pleases.
It is the Grand Duke's will which constitutes the law!
But the will of the Grand Duke is to conclude a treaty with the Hansa!
But the Grand Duke's will is to concede the privileges
to the Livonian Order!
The Grand Duke of Moscow is weary.
Therefore, we are not able to accept you.
But the Grand Duke...
The Grand Duke's will is law.
The ocean! The ocean! Sing of the ocean.
"Ocean, sea...
blue sea..."
We must pay the Hansa!
We'll pay the Livonians.
The Hansa will be more profitable!
We'll pay the Livonians.
Don't bother the child! Leave!
The Hansa will be more profitable!
We'll pay the Livonians.
The Hansa will be more profitable for the state.
You mean more profitable for yourself.
And you have been bribed by the Livonians!
The money must go to the Hansa!
We'll pay the Livonians.
We will pay no one!
We're not obliged to pay.
The coastal towns were built by our ancestors.
Those lands are our inheritance, they must be returned to Moscow.
Who would be fool enough to give them back?
Anything that falls off the back of a wagon is lost.
If they won't return them voluntarily
we shall take them back by force. - By force?!
And where will we find this force?
You have wasted Russia's strength
it has been wasted away by the boyars.
Oh Lord! I'll die laughing.
Take it off!
Off, I say!
Get off my mother's bed.
My mother, who was murdered by you, you dogs!
A dog, am I?
Well your mother was a bitch.
She used to sleep with that dog Telepnev.
No one even knows who your father was!
Race of dogs!
Seize him!
The leading boyar handed over to the kennelmen.
The Boyar has been strangled.
I shall reign alone! Without the boyars!
I will be Tsar!
Oh Tsar, the Lord's anointed, accept from Him this scepter.
Accept it, my son.
Accept this orb from God.
Accept it, my son.
In the name of God, now and forever.
To the Tsar, the Lord's anointed
lvan Vasilievich...
of all Russias...
"Long live the Tsar!
"Long live...
"Long
"live!"
"Long live..."
Eisenstein didn't want to slavishly recreate the 16th century.
Instead, he created an image of dictatorial rule
which transcended simple historical detail.
He based it on the Russian fresco tradition
on Shakespearean drama,
on many other sources from world cultures.
One such source was the Russian folk theater, "Reisnik."
Which inspired the characters of the gunners,
Foma and Erema.
They prepared the guns for the siege of Kazan
and took part in the bombing of the Khan capital.
The parts that were cut out, relating to Foma and Erema,
show the rage of the Tsar, who didn't understand
the gunners' technique and thus
ordered them to be hanged.
"How Foma grinds his ax
"and Erema makes guns.
"The men slide well, they are wonderful, yes, wonderful!
"My coach is ruined. All four wheels gone.
"Get ruined, coach of mine. All four wheels."
The jester is nice. What's his name?
He's a jolly good fellow.
Yes, he is.
Wolf! Lion! Singer! Vasilisk!
"The men slide well.
"They are wonderful! Yes, wonderful!
"Get ruined, coach of mine. All four wheels..."
I'll remember the name of he who hates the boyars.
"Here stands Foma with a rope
"and Erema with a candle.
"Get ruined, coach of mine. All four wheels.
"Get ruined..." - "Coach of mine."
"All four... wheels..."
lvan the Terrible is known as a film of genius.
Collaborating with Eisenstein were
the great composer Sergei Prokofiev,
the great producers Eduard Tisse and Andrei Moskvin,
great painters, make-up artists, dressers, great actors.
The toughest role was assigned to Nikolai Cherkasov.
He had to play the role of the tsar
from his youthful exuberance to an old age plagued by madness.
Eisenstein was extremely careful
with lvan's visual appearance.
He meticulously examined the make-up,
trying to combine the man in the portraits
with historical associations.
These are examples of make-up used to relate him to
the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar,
one of the worst tyrants in world history.
Eisenstein made high demands on himself.
When he wasn't pleased with the results,
he would completely refilm entire scenes.
You're watching a chronicle of the filming of the scene at Alexandrov.
In this scene, lvan was filmed in make-up and costume
different from the final versions in Part One.
Ivan was filmed in the hardest war evacuation conditions
in a community center, which in no way resembled a film studio.
Often they filmed at night
because by day, electricity could only be used by weapon factories.
The scenes of all three parts were filmed simultaneously.
For part 3, they began preparing scenes with Queen Elizabeth.
For the role of the Virgin Queen, Eisenstein cast director Mikhail Romm.
He wanted the smart and witty director to play Bess the redhead,
her well-known cruelty, charisma, and profligacy.
At that time, Mikhail Romm
was chairman of the Film Union.
Suddenly an order arrived from Moscow, from Minister Bolshokov:
"The Chairman of the Film Union will not play a female role."
These are the only scenes that remain, miraculously preserved.
At Alma-Ata, Eisenstein managed to film
more than 20 minutes of Part Three of lvan the Terrible.
Unfortunately, everything was destroyed in 1951.
Miraculously, one short scene was saved,
one of which highlights the artistry of cameraman Moskvin.
This scene hints at the nightmarish atmosphere planned for Part Three.
The royal court with the torture chamber in the cellar
shows Russia ruled by a madman.
One character planned for Part Three was
an historical character, the German knight Heinrich Staden.
A wandering knight and spy for the German Kaiser,
he was employed by lvan as a bodyguard
in spite of his suspicions.
Eisenstein cast Oleg Zhakov in the role of Staden.
I'm Heinrich Staden,
a knight well-known throughout the Christian kingdoms.
I agree to teach the Russian Army the art of fighting.
An unwanted guest,
we can defeat the enemy on our own, praised be God.
If he is not allowed to teach,
Sir Staden is willing to live at the royal court.
Why does a foreign cock
render favors to a stranger?
Yet at the border you gave us false information about yourself!
It doesn't fit.
Wasn't there once a stranger here
who gave false information to the Tsar?
May he rest in peace.
Even if he is not of the same religion as we are.
That's not true.
The information is not false.
So our Tsar is a liar? He sins for you, foreign dog?
It doesn't fit. At the border he said his mother
was Katherine of Prussia, but here he only said Katherine!
Take him away!
He shall be a bodyguard!