IVAN THE TERRIBLE
Part Two THE BOYAR`S 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 lvan 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!
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.
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 kennelmen!
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 favor 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 around 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
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!