Dalbert Pringle (Movie Quote) - "You will answer for this before God!" And, was "Ivan The Terrible" terrible movie-making? No. As a matter of fact, it wasn't.Starting off with an incredibly freakish and super-surreal opening sequence, "Ivan The Terrible" (filmed in the mid-1940s, in 2 parts, totalling 187 minutes) is particularly notable for its position in foreign-movie history.Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, this lavish and equally bizarre film was actually commissioned by Soviet Premier, Joseph Stalin (who admired and identified himself with the title character). (It was later, though, that Stalin condemned said-film once Eisenstein had completed Part 2)I mean, you really have to see this wacky production for yourself to believe it. It certainly is loaded to the rafters with all sorts of hammy performances and unintentionally laughable scenes that are sure to provide some worthy moments of entertainment.Heavy-as-lead with religious and political ideology, this film's most outstanding asset was, of course, its striking cinematography that, at times, was like witnessing a historical nightmare as seen through the collective eyes of the highly subjective Russian citizens.

threepines It's a stupid propaganda flick. The characters are absurd and disappointingly cartoonish. They skulk, they glower, they orate, they stare off into the far distance with madly lit faces in heroic or sinister half-profile, they faint -- an amazing amount -- or just collapse in a heap, or fling themselves around the room, and generally overact in a forced and completely unbelievable way at all times. It doesn't help that the subtitles are continually drawing your eye down to the bottom of the screen (only to find yourself reading script lines even more retarded than the acting and the pacing and the bizarre settings). It is in fact a ridiculous, contemptible film & almost unbearable to watch, except in a so-bad-its-good kind of a way. You have to sneer, scoff, make up your own sappy dialogue, etc. But you keep watching.By the end of part two (which is even stranger, what with Ivan's beard and the demented, totally gay colour sequence) it is clear that the only thing left to do is to watch the whole thing again from the beginning, which is a weird response. This time around though, everything has changed -- or else you have -- because it is now spellbinding, moving, way better than good. It is in fact one of the most remarkably satisfying movies ever made, even without Part III, and pretty much everything that was crap about it turns out to have been your fault, a result of your own blinkered inability to see what was in front of you all the time.I don't get it, but wow . . . not half impressive. And as a bonus, the extras on the Criterion DVD (especially the second disc) will even help you start to understand what the hell just happened.

chuck-526 Part I of Eisenstein's masterpiece "Ivan the Terrible" (Part III of the intended trilogy wasn't completed). (Also see my review of Part II for additional comments.) The storyline may be unfamiliar and the film is heavily "episodic". So first skim Wikipedia articles "Ivan the Terrible" and "Ivan the Terrible (film)", and understand the terms "Tsar" and "third Rome".This is not just a simple wartime morale booster. It explicates Eisenstein's personal theories of "what made Ivan tick?" (although this theme may be obscured by censor-required changes, especially in Part I): childhood trauma, the heavy burden of power, great power inevitably corrupts, force of personal will overpowered good sense, "Great Rusian State" too abstract and unrealistic a goal, even a possible Faustian bargain. The recently prominent biological possibilities (sublethal dose of his wife's poison; near-death illness; regular use of mercury-based pain medication; inherited manic-depressive cycles) aren't even considered.The Netflix DVD contained an early transfer from Corinth Films, Inc. The barely acceptable sound quality did no favors to Sergei Prokofiev's excellent score, and the hard to read subtitles were burned right into the picture itself. A DVD from Hong Kong (via eBay) was the same mediocre transfer with the same burned in English subtitles, and again no commentary nor bonus materials. The Criterion version image transfer was much better, and the sound had more consistent loudness and less hiss (but the net sound quality -apparently inherited from the original- still wasn't very good). New similar (if somewhat more literally translated) subtitles are easier to read and control. There's both a commentary and lots of helpful bonus materials, including some lengthy alternate sequences.(The Criterion version is part of "Eisenstein: The Sound Years" - avoid the titles "Ivan the Terrible, Parts I and II" which are the old Corinth transfer!)

fbmorinigo I have two comments to make about some disparaging remarks made by other contributors: First, it is naive to condemn this film as "propaganda" -- GONE WITH THE WIND is all propaganda about how great the Old South was and how great the Ku Klux Klan was. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is propaganda about how heroic and clever the English were and how corrupt the Turks were. DR STRANGELOVE is all propaganda, too. THE ALAMO and other John Wayne films are propaganda about how great the conquest of the West was, how heroic the ethnic cleansing against the Indians was, and how corrupt the Mexicans were. So spare me your hypocritical condemnation of this film as "Stalinist Propaganda".Secondly, what definitions can there be for whether a film is "great" or not? I suggest the use of two criteria: (A) Is viewing the film multiple times worthwhile and interesting? (B) Does viewing the film represent a memorable life experience? With these criteria, it does not matter whether the film is "dated" or the acting is "overdone" or whether the sound is flawed or in this or that quality. I certainly find IVAN THE TERRIBLE more interesting the more times I view it. On the other hand, there are movies that I consider "great" even though I refuse to watch them ever again, because I found them unbearably sad -- recent examples are SCHINDLER'S LIST and MILLION DOLLAR BABY.