Ivan the Terrible
Part two The Boyars' Plot
Written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein
This story about Ivan the Terrible
the founder of the Tsardom of Muscovy
tells of his struggle against the foes of Russian unity
In the role of Ivan the Terrible
Nikolai Cherkasov
The Oprichniki:
Malyuta Skuratov: Mikhail Zharov
Alexei Basmanov: Amvrosy Buchma
His son, Fyodor Basmanov: Mikhail Kuznetsov
Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and of all the Russias
Andrei Abrikosov
Pimen, the Archbishop of Novgorod
Alexander Mgebrov
Pyotr Volynets: Vladimir Balashov
Efrosinia Staritskaya, the Tsar's aunt
Serafima Birman
Her son, Vladimir Staritsky: Pavel Kadochnikov
Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky: Mikhail Nazvanov
Sigismund, King of Poland: Pavel Massalsky
It is the year fifteen hundred and sixty-four
the year in which the Tsar formed his special bodyguard
the Oprichniki
The year in which Tsar Ivan withdrew to Alexandrov
The year in which the people organized a procession
to beg the Tsar to return
The year in which Prince Kurbsky
committed the base treachery of surrendering
the Russian armies to the Poles
and transferred his allegiance to King Sigismund
There are certain defeats that are more resounding
than victories
The defeat of my Russian army near Revel
will spark off the revolt
Tsar Ivan has fled the wrath of the boyars
and taken refuge in Alexandrov
The Moscow boyars, the Kolychevs,
have managed to get some messages through
The Tsar is assailed on every side
like a baited bear
The boyars are seething with revolt:
the Tsar will fall without a blow being struck
and the throne of Moscow
will be free for a new Tsar well-disposed towards Poland
God in his wisdom decreed that Lithuania, Poland
and the Baltic States should serve as the outposts of Europe
in order that the civilized nations of the West
might be protected from the Muscovite barbarians
They say the Muscovites eat children alive
Russian soil is fertile. The herds are well-fed
The sub-soil conceals inexhaustible riches
Of course, the Russians have to be kept down
But a strong man on the throne of Moscow would shatter
the most cherished dreams of all the European sovereigns
We need the dim-witted Vladimir Staritsky
We must support the rebel boyars
The solitary reins of absolute power must be wrenched
from the Tsar and returned to the feudal princes
We must destroy the unity of Ivan's Russia
Once that has been done,
the Christian kings will embark on a new crusade
We will force the Muscovite to serve the West
We will drive the Russians out of Europe
and force them back to their Asian steppes
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Tsar Ivan is on his way back to Moscow!
So I've caught you!
You didn't expect me back, eh?
You were delighted by the Tsar's departure!
You've shown yourselves for what you are - traitors!
The rogues
They wanted to govern the land themselves!
Alright, if that's what you want!
From now I'll give you land to govern!
I'll give you land
But as the widower
I shall keep the widower's portion
the towns along our borders. From there
I will watch over the security of the State
and guard the integrity of Russian frontiers
And I shall stamp out treason!
I have no confidence in you boyars
Therefore as God created man in his own image
so I have created men in mine. They will carry out my orders
and only they will enjoy my confidence
that is why I have christened them Oprichniki
These plans come not from God
but from the devil
He who defies ancestral traditions
shall not remain sovereign for long
Fyodor Kolychev!
Say no more
Why are you so severe with me, Fyodor Kolychev?
Why, my good friend, are you so cruel?
You should really pity me!
I am not Kolychev, I am Philip the monk
I carry out the will of God not the designs of the Tsar
Listen
Ever since I was a child
The boyars showed their hatred of the Grand Duke of Moscow
After my father's death
My mother was killed
They have poisoned me!
Ah!... I am dying!
My son!
They have killed me!
Watch out for poison!
Beware of the boyars!
Elena Glinskaya is dead
That's how I came to be an orphan, alone and abandoned
whilst the boyars governed in my name and
handed over Russian territory to foreign enslavement
Ivan Vasilievich, Grand Duke of Moscow
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!
Lt 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
The Grand Duke's will is to concede the privileges
to the Livonian Order
The Grand Duke's will is law!
We must pay the Hansa!
No, we'll pay the Livonians!
The Hansa will be more profitable to the State!
You mean more profitable to 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 frittered away by the boyars
O 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 kennel men!
I shall reign alone! Without the boyars!
I will be Tsar!
Now... I hold great power
The people support me
My personal guard form an iron ring around me
My enemies are kept at bay
But I have no close friends
God refuses me the sweet consolations of friendship
On whose shoulders can I rest my head?
With whom can I share my joys and sorrows?
I am alone, abandoned
I had a single close friend- Anastasia
She has left me
I had a friend, Kurbsky
He has betrayed me
No, not just myself... but our great cause
I don't fear the trouble-makers
I don't fear the sword, poison or betrayal
I fear not for myself
But I tremble for our great cause
A new cause, on which one had hardly embarked
There is no higher destiny than to reign
according to ancient traditions
As our ancestors did. Pay heed to the boyars
Share your authority with them
You lie, monk!
These are old wives' tales!
You reject the counsel of your spiritual guide? Very well!
Remain alone!
Condemned, accursed... and alone!
It is no longer the Tsar who pleads with you
but a friend crushed by the burden of authority
Don't leave me in my isolation. Stay with me
Help me to re-establish Russian power
And for this accept the office
of Metropolitan Bishop of Moscow
Will you allow me the right to plead
in favour of those you accuse?
I never accuse the innocent
Wait!
Very well. It shall be as you say
Why give the bishop such power over you?
Why let yourself be humiliated by an ignorant priest?
None of your business, dog!
I know I am a dog... But a faithful dog
You are wrong, Tsar, to prefer a priest to a dog
I know, you want friendship
You languish without friendship
For friendship you are ready to bow at his feet
Do you not see that Philip has only one idea:
to conceal your enemies under his own skirts?
A friend, eh?
He's hardly worth more than Kurbsky!
You dare pronounce that name
Ah! I know you love Kurbsky!
It's not his treachery which wounds you
It's the loss of a friend!
You don't sleep at night!
Hold your tongue, dog!
You don't show any gratitude or affection
to those who are loyal to you,
who'd give their lives for you,
who carry the weight of your power on their strong shoulders
My power is carried by the shoulders of the people
and their will is my strength
I hear the voice of God through them
and I carry out His holy designs
Tsar, I beg you, don't let the priest do as he pleases.
Don't trust anyone. You hold the power. Use it!
I understand. You've given your word to the priest
You've made him promises
You can't go back on your word
I understand
So we must see that the Tsar's word is respected
and wipe out the traitors too
It's just going back on your word that worries you, isn't it?
There is a way out... use a cat's paw
No, a red-headed dog - me, Malyuta
I'll take the Tsar's sins on my shoulders
I'll give my soul for the Tsar
I'll go to hell if need be, but I'll keep the Tsar's word
What does the hound do when the game tries to go to earth?
Flies straight as an arrow to the lair
He outwits it... heads it off
outruns it
Outstrip the priest? Is that what you're suggesting?
So he won't have time to double back?
You'd give your soul for the Tsar!
Eh, dog?
You complain the Tsar doesn't spoil you?
Be off with you!
Do what you have to do. By God's will, be judge and executioner
And to outstrip the priest
We'll start on some of his distant relatives, the Kolychevs
Kolychevs are untamed, but we'll tame them!
By what right do you set yourself as a judge, Tsar Ivan?
By what right do you wield the sword of justice?
Let me not drink of this cup
You cannot avoid it... Even though some cups contain poison!
The cup?
The goblet
They poisoned her!
They poisoned my sweetheart!
Who gave the fatal goblet to the Tsarina?
She received it from my own hands!
And who gave it to you?
Efrosinia!
Efrosinia?
Is it possible? The Tsar's aunt?
My own blood relation?
Silence! Not a word of your suspicions to anyone
until I have ferreted out the truth. Come!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
Our Sovereign Ivan Vasilievich
Tsar and Grand Duke of all the Russias
has pronounced these boyars
of the Kolychev family to be traitors
the aforementioned boyars having been in communication
with the king of Poland, with the aim
of submitting to foreign domination
Ivan Vasilievich, Tsar of all the Russias
has condemned them to be beheaded for high treason
Too few!
By God's power invested in you, bring the Tsar to heel
I charge you to excommunicate him
I shall return to my monastery
You daren't. If you don't bring the Tsar to heel
you will answer for it before God!
Ah!... my lord!
I ask for justice against the Tsar, and protection
I ask that the boyars' cause be defended
No, I do not ask, my lord, I demand!
That's not all I'm demanding
I demand that the Tsar be humbled
I do not ask,
I demand!
God be my witness
It is not for myself
nor for the members of my family who have been executed
that I take up the sword. It is on behalf of the boyars
Justice must be done against the Tsar
Beneath my priestly robes beats the heart of a Kolychev!
And a Kolychev who is a prince of the Church!
Even the Tsar can do nothing against the Church
Come tomorrow to the cathedral!
I shall humble the Tsar
I shall crush him with the weight of the Church
God be praised
Mother... What's the story of the fiery furnace?
The story tells how a heavenly angel led three youths
called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
out of the fiery furnace of Babylon
into which a ferocious heathen Tsar, Nebuchadnezzar,
had thrown them
Now, there are no such angels
Innocent, we were flung into the burning, fiery furnace
lit by the Chaldeans
for having disobeyed the heathen Tsar
Chaldean! Hey! Chaldean!
What is it?
Is this the Tsar's work?
The Tsar's!
They disobeyed the Tsar?
They disobeyed!
So, we are going to hurl them into the burning, fiery furnace!
We are given into
the hands of lawless princes
wretched apostates
into the hands of an unjust Tsar
who is the wickedest in the world
With her staff
the old lady... Hands off the Tsar's aunt!
She's Tsarina in her own house!
So she slapped your faces, you and your henchmen!
I recognize the family spirit right enough!
Perhaps this is the right moment
to polish off the Staritskys with one blow
They've opposed the Tsar's will!
It is not for you, Alexei, to tell the Tsar what to do
Not for you, Fyodor
to raise your hand against the Tsar's family
No harm shall come to Efrosinia
as long as she calls herself the Tsar's aunt
and does not claim to become the mother of a Tsar
a Tsar who submits to the boyars
As for you, Basmanovs... learn to keep your place!
And the poisoned goblet... have you forgotten that?
Be quiet
Be quiet, Fyodor! Don't mention that grave charge!
God grant it was not she who was guilty!
Why, shameless Chaldeans
do you serve a lawless Tsar?
Why, bewitched Chaldeans
do you serve a devilish, blaspheming and despotic Tsar?
Why do you torment us with fire?
Why do you burn us?
And now, bear witness to a miracle
The terrestrial Lord will be humbled
by the Lord of Hosts
The Tsar of all the Russias begs your blessing
I do not recognize the Orthodox Tsar in his pagan actions!
In what way, monk, do my actions concern you?
Your actions are those of a bloodthirsty beast!
Silence, Philip. If you question my sovereignty
you will incur my anger!
Now bear witness to a miracle
The terrestrial Lord will be humbled
by the Lord of Hosts
Ivan, like Nebuchadnessar, you cast
those who are close to you into the fire
But the avenging angel will descend from heaven
and free them from their prison
Silence, Philip!
Submit to the authority of the Church, Ivan!
Repent!
Dissolve the Oprichnina before it's too late!
Ivan... dissolve the Oprichnina before it is too late!
Silence!
Mother, is that the terrible and godless Tsar?
Mother, it is the terrible and godless Tsar!
It is her, Fyodor! It is her
From now on I will be just what you say I am!
I will be Terrible!
Philip has been arrested
He's been forbidden to go back to the monastery
He'll be given a savage trial
He will be condemned
In the old days
they would have handed Philip over to us for trial
We'd never have let him be humiliated
It's no good living in the past. We must find a solution
There is no solution
There is a solution. Just one
The last
Kill the Tsar
Either kill the Tsar or lay our own heads on the block
But who will do it?
Only the pure in heart would be worthy of carrying out
so elevated a mission!
Pyotr Volynets
I consecrate this mission to you
Come, my brothers
embrace for the last time
God's servant, Peter, who lately dwelt among us
He has vowed himself to the grave
He will repose beneath a cold slab
He is entering into the shades
He bids farewell to friends and relations
He will lie with the dead
He confiscated Church property
We will exterminate the beast!
We must save Philip, because he has incurred Ivan's wrath
for our sake
That will depend on Philip's judges
Who will preside at the Tribunal?
To whom must we send our gold, plate and furs?
It is I who will preside at the tribunal
That means he's saved!
That means he's lost!
Philip is more useful to our cause as a martyr
A corpse, a martyr
a saint is more valuable to our struggle
A dead man... A saint is invincible, even for the Tsar!
His cowl is white, but his soul is black
Why are you always trying to make a leader of me, mother?
Why do you want to sacrifice me?
A black beaver was bathing In the river
In the frozen Moscow River
He didn't wash himself cleaner He only got blacker
Having taken his bath, the beaver
Went off to the capital's High hill
To dry himself, Shake himself and look around
To see if anyone was coming to look for him
The hunters whistle Searching out the black beaver
The hunters follow the scent They will find the black beaver
They want to catch and skin the beaver
And with its fur then to adorn A kingly mantle
In order to array
Tsar Vladimir!
I'd suffer the pangs of your birth a hundred times over
for you to ascend the throne
To see you seated on the Tsar's throne!
Take the crown
Take the collar!
I've always been frightened of blood!
You won't have to shed it. That will be Pyotr's job!
Yes... but after
to be haunted by remorse for the rest of my life
always seeing him wherever I go, enduring his silent reproaches
Whatever else you need fear - it's not that
When the throne is yours, you will punish the regicide
and others, too
A sovereign should not stray from the path of righteousness
if he can help it
but he must be prepared
to tread the path of evil if necessary
Our great sovereign offers you a cup of wine
Moreover our great sovereign
invites his cousin Vladimir Andreyevich to the royal table
The hand of God!
Our cause prospers!
You will accompany Pyotr to the banquet
And don't forget to wear your new kaftan
I'll remind him!
The hand of God!
Our cause prospers!
It's empty!
Holla! Holla!
Faster! Faster!
Bravo! Bravo!
Ah, Brother Vladimir, you don't love me
You don't care that I am so alone,
that I'm just a poor, abandoned orphan whom no one pities
It's not right for the Tsar to fraternize with the landowners
and above all not with the Staritskys!
It is not for you, Alexei to teach the Tsar his business
nor to raise your hand against the Tsar's relations
But it was you who taught me to weed them out
The Tsar's connections outshine all other connections
As the celestial tamarind outshines homely oak
Aren't we the new forest growing about you?
I don't hack down oaks to make room for wretched aspens
Don't touch the Tsar's relations!
The ties of blood are sacred!
Aren't we who are closest to you bound to you by other blood-
blood which has been shed?
You're no relation of mine
You are my slaves
I raised you from the dust to crush the boyar traitors
I express my will through you
Your function is to serve me, not to teach me how to behave
Keep to your place, Basmanovs!
You are beginning to catch the boyars' sickness
You are beginning to get ideas about rank
Would you like to put yourself beside the Tsar?
I've sworn never to fraternise with the boyars
nor with the landowners
I am alone,
a poor orphan
No one loves or pities me!
The guests have assembled In the courtyards of the boyars
The axes skim the necks of the boyars
The axes, the axes
Come along! Come along!
What happens next? What happens next?
Come on, tell us more
Strike with the axes
The gates have split down the middle
Down the middle
The golden goblets pass from hand to hand
From hand to hand
Come along. Come along
What happens next? What happens next?
Come on, tell us more, Come on, tell us more
Strike with the axes!
Oh, you are wrong, Tsar of all the Russias
- you have friends. - I haven't one.
-Yes, you have! -Don't lie.
- I'm not lying. - Then who is my friend?
- Well, me for one. - I don't believe you!
I swear it!
Don't swear it. Prove it by your actions!
I will prove it!
And when the guests are parting Having drunk their fill
Drunk their fill
They set fire to the castle
Set fire to the castle
Come along. Come along
What happens next? What happens next?
Come on, tell us more, Come on, tell us more
Strike with the axes!
What is Archbishop Pimen's man doing amongst the servants?
Pimen assigned him to the service of Vladimir Andreyevich
You lie... You won't prove anything!
I will... I will prove it to you!
You sit here celebrating
and you don't even know some people want you out of the way
- Is that so? - I swear it!
And who do they want in my place?
You'd never guess!
I said to her: who'd want to be Tsar?
Plots... executions
As for me... I'm just a peaceful man; all I ask of life is to
drink and live in peace
Indeed, who'd want to be Tsar?
The task is a heavy one!
That's exactly what I said
Why do I want to be Tsar? But she insists
Take it... take the crown
Take the collar!
Take the collar... Take the crown
Take it!
Take it! Why not? Take it, cousin!
Bring the Tsar's regalia!
He likes it,
this lackey of the Poles!
The farce is over
Enough of this ungodly revelry!
Brothers, let's address ourselves to the Almighty!
Let us think upon our last hour!
Awake, my soul, Awake
Lead us to the cathedral!
A Tsar does not draw back
The Tsar is always first to enter!
Ivan is no more!
Good people, look!
Ivan is no more!
The brute is dead!
Russia shall flourish under a boyar Tsar! Vladimir!
Holy Mother of God...
No!
Torture me!
Execute me!
You'll never make me speak!
I won't give anyone away
Why are you holding him?
It was not the Tsar he killed... only the fool!
Let him go
And it was not only a fool he killed
but the Tsar's worst enemy!
My grateful thanks!
As for her
They want to catch
and skin a beaver
And with its fur then to adorn
A kingly mantle for... for...
Tsar Vladimir
As for her...
A black beaver was bathing...
I swear before God to accomplish
in Russia, my royal mission
to purge the Motherland of her savage enemies
to shed with my own hands the blood of the guilty
without mercy, either to myself or others
For the sake of the great land of Russia
A Tsar must always weigh and assess
Mercy and gentleness for the good
Cruelty and torment for the wicked
A Tsar who hesitates in this will never make a Tsar!
Today in Moscow, we have struck down
the enemies of Russian unity
My hands are free!
From now on the sword of justice shall flash against those
who dare to oppose from without the greatness of Russian might
We will not let Russia be abused!