Ivan Groznyj (Ivan der Schreckliche) 2. Teil

A late triumph. What was foreshadowed in Aleksandr Nevskij has been magnificently completed here: the complete transformation of cinematic expression. The power, terror and loneliness of Tsar Ivan IV. From the radiant young man of the accession to the throne to the diabolically lurking old man: Ivan, Tsar of all Russians, founder of the Russian Empire, who has to pay for the increased power he has gained for himself and the country with the price of despotic solitude. A tyrant of Shakespearean tragedy, at the mercy of the center of his empire, which is a prison - the labyrinth of the Kremlin, from whose white walls and dark vaults the faces of painted saints seem to watch him like frozen epiphanies. The Stalin bureaucracy hated the second part of the film, which gives the title hero not only demonic grandeur but also traits of doubt and madness. Chaplin simply calls Ivan Groznyj the best historical film ever made. (Harry Tomicek)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum