IIC Film Club - Ivan The Terrible — Part II: The Boyars’ Plot

IIC Film Club

Ivan The Terrible — Part II: The Boyars’ Plot
(Completed 1946, released 1958; 82 min; Black-and-white with colour sequences; Russian with English subtitles)
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Music: Sergei Prokofiev

With cast Nikolay Cherkasov, Serafima Birman and Pavel Kadochnikov

Returning to Moscow, Ivan confronts conspiracies within his court and opposition from the Church. As suspicion deepens, his pursuit of absolute authority draws him into a world of vengeance and political manipulation. Banned by Soviet authorities until 1958, the concluding film offers a dark examination of tyranny, distinguished by its dramatic imagery and celebrated colour banquet sequence.