Ivan the Terrible, Part 1

First of all, I don't think that I would have been able to tell that this was directed by Eisenstein, even after seeing Battleship Potemkin. I would probably think that the director of Ivan the Terrible was influenced by Eisenstein. Over the rather long period of time between these two movies, I think that Eisenstein developed into much more of a creative director. I saw alot more creativity and personal feelings being shown in this film. Potemkin had a very clean cut, clear message. It didn't really lead you astray, it was straightforward. On the other hand, this film contained alot more elusiveness and was not near as straightforward. The "sound" Eisenstein seems to be much more expressive with his own feelings and opinions, making the movie more his own, than the usual Socialist Realist type movie. The montage was alot different in this movie. He did still use alot of different shots, changing the angles and moving the camera, but I think that in this film he used much better camera angles to get better shots, making him not have to change scenes so much.

One of the themes from the traditional idea of the Socialist Realist movies that was also in this film was the idea of having the whole country come together to succeed. I think that Ivan the terrible is presented in both a positive and a negative manner. On one hand, he is trying to bring the nation of Russia together because it is the only way that they will survive and protect the motherland. On the other hand, he is portrayed very power hungry. He says that it is all for Russia, but it seems like he really enjoys having all of the power. I can't even begin to explain how similar Ivan seems to be like Stalin. He is trying to bring Russia together, in a socialist manner. He is eliminating those with power closest to him and pulling peasant like people up into their spots because he can trust them. Stalin did this same exact thing when he was reigning.

The Boyars are presented to be much more wealthy and more of the evil characters of the film. At least in my eyes, the Boyars are very villainous. They all seem very self-centered. They care more about themselves than the people. Ivan might be like this as well, but atleast he says that he is doing it for the Russian people. He is atleast trying to consolidate the Russians in attempt to save them all.

After reading the article on the Japanese Kabuki theatre, I think that it influenced the style of the acting and of the actors themselves in this film. The actors, specifically the wealthier men were dressed very lavishly and over the top. They crown and the globe and the staff were all covered in jewels. Everything was very highly sylized. It was also a very dramatic film. The drama of the film was displayed at an unordinary amount. Alot of emotion was shown in faces and body movements and gestures.

I think that the cross in the film was a recurring visual image that was used quite frequently. Religion seemed to be a rather large aspect of the film in the beginning, then it slowly faded out. The cross remained a large part of the movie. It was shown all over the place, and they would do the sign of the cross alot. Another thing that I really noticed was the shadows in the film, especially Ivan's. When he had is robe or cloak on, he almost seemed like an animal. I'm not really sure why this was. He was shown with very long, unhuman like arms. I kind of felt like the times when they would show this image, it might have been a change in his character, when he became a little bit more aggressive during a couple of parts in the film, when he becomes more power hungry than compassionate.