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Re: Did you see the Part II?

I saw both parts of "Ivan the Terrible" in New York back in 1980 or '82. Back then I was fascinated by the look of the works but the acting style Eisenstein draws from his cast was very off-putting to me. When I saw it later on videotape, I ran a segment of Part I without sound, and suddenly, the acting style made sense. It seems to me that Eisenstein directed the actors to move in such a way (I recall Pauline Kael called it "kabuki theatre") that words are almost unnecessary, and the action can be understood by virtually any audience even without subtitles. Knowing a little more about Russian history also helped! Since then, I have seen both parts of the work two or three times and enjoyed them immensely.

So as you can see, I have seen "Part II", and I agree, it IS a completely different film. One of the great losses in film history is Eisenstein's planned "Ivan the Terrible, Part III". What would it have been like?

"Ivan the Terrible, Part II", or "The Boyars' Plot" is scheduled to air on TCM late Friday night. I told my wife I may not wait for it to air...it may be time to buy the Criterion DVD!



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