Set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people. Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, which was never completed due to the producer's dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether.
Николай Черкасов
as Czar Ivan IV
Людмила Целиковская
as Czarina Anastasia Romanovna
Серафима Бирман
as Boyarina Efrosinia Staritskaya
Михаил Названов
as Prince Andrei Kurbsky
Михаил Жаров
as Czar's Guard Malyuta Skuratov
Amvrosi Buchma
as Czar's Guard Aleksei Basmanov
Михаил Кузнецов
as Fyodor Basmanov
Павел Кадочников
as Vladimir Andreyevich Staritsky
Андрей Абрикосов
as Boyar Fyodor Kolychev
Alexander Mgebrov
as Novgorod's Archbishop Pimen
Maxim Mikhaylov
as Archdeacon
Владимир Балашов
as Piotr Volynetz
