Recent reviews

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  Review by Kanani ★★★

  In which Ivan Grozny points at stuff with his beard.

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  Review by JohnA ★★★½

  Eisenstein has a clear eye for composition, making the various shots engaging in and of themselves. The problem comes for me in the way those shots have been put together, as the montage approach becomes terribly(!) constraining. Eisenstein is certainly the forerunner of the modern blockbuster, with its emphasis on short shots and creating interest through continuous edits. The shots themselves are gorgeous and terrifying--I just wish I had more time to look at each of them.

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  Review by BobJordan ★★★

  Interesting if you like other Soviet silent films. Personally, I didn't care for it, but it's a great example of using Ivan the Terrible as a subtle criticism of Joseph Stalin.

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  Review by Ben Trout ★★★

  Most beneficial from the earlier work of Eisenstein - 'Ivan the Terrible, Part One' is not. There are traces of collision editing in a battle sequence and the trademark close-ups are still in tow, but Eisenstein loses the interest and energy of his craft with the explosion of film sound. It isn't just that auditory elements are a technique that Eisenstein fumbles (actually, the film doesn't necessarily sound bad, per se), but the combination of the two, as a mathematical illusion (that which Eisenstein seemed to be angling for in his 1920's propaganda films), is all but stifling. Furthermore, he creates a smoky, dreamy, almost hazy mood about the film that is at once eerie - and devastatingly slow. Clearly…

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  Review by Amanda_N_Brown ★★★

  Foreign Film, Russia, History

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  Review by Jostein Ask ★★★★★

  En mer eller mindre ukontroversiell film laget av Eisenstein denne gangen, det vil si helt til Stalin kjente seg igjen i del 2 (som ble utgitt 1958) og laget et forbud over denne. Sammenlignet med f.eks Strike og Potemkin er ikke denne en propagandafilm laget for å påvirke russerne, men en historisk film om den berryktede Tsar Ivan den Grusomme. En person jeg vil tro de fleste har hørt om. Den er også den første lydfilmen til Eisenstein og derfor noe annerledes form sammenlignet med de mer kjente stumfilmene hans. Filmen derimot har flere symboler som også brukt mye av i hans tidligere arbeid (Øye, Sol, Måne og Skygger for å nevne noen).

  Mektig åpningscene, og ekstremt dramatisk og stemningsfull…

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  Review by Catherine Stebbins ★★★½

  I know I should probably see this (as best as my Western eyes can) through the context of Russian history, but all I see is a visual feast that is gloriously over-the-top in all ways, and that is why I love it. I see it as a bizarre head-trip that never lets up. Some of the most startlingly beautiful and extravagant imagery ever to be seen in film.

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  Review by jaska ★★★

  Ivan Groznyy I

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  Review by Mostly Film

  Eisenstein’s earlier silent films focus on the crowd, not the individual, as a revolutionary force, but Ivan the Terrible evokes the loneliness and isolation of absolute power. The rushing modernity of earlier films is replaced by an eerie, choreographed stylisation. Read more at: mostlyfilm.com/2011/07/11/the-land-of-the-bolsheviks-early-soviet-cinema-at-the-bfi/