
Plot
This is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.
Trailer
Cast

Nikolai Cherkasov
Czar Ivan IV

Serafima Birman
Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya

Pavel Kadochnikov
Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky

Mikhail Zharov
Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov

Amvrosi Buchma
Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov

Vsevolod Pudovkin
Nikolay the Fanatic

Mikhail Kuznetsov
Fyodor Basmanov

Alexander Mgebrov
Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen

Andrei Abrikosov
Archbishop Philip (formerly Fyodor Kolychev)

Vladimir Balashov
Pyotr Volynets

Eric Pyryev
Ivan IV as a boy

Mikhail Nazvanov
Prince Andrei Kurbsky

Pavel Massalsky
King Sigismund of Poland

Ada Vojtsik
Elena Glinskaya, Ivan's Mother

Aleksandr Rumnyov
The Stranger (uncredited)

Sergei Stolyarov
(uncredited)

Semyon Timoshenko
Kaspar von Oldenbock, Livonian Ambassador (uncredited)