Ivan the Terrible Part II 1958
OMG
This is surreal. Part II is brilliant. I did a complete number on Part I, but this film is made by a master craftsman.
Part I was mostly awful and Part II is mostly brilliant.
Everything that was substandard, mediocre or average in Part I has gone on from the change when it – startlingly – 71 minutes into the film – suddenly became a better film.
And Part II is exceptional.
This is now the work of a master filmmaker. This is now – I can see – the man who conceived Battleship Potemkin and October.
What was crass, and worth no more than a children’s pantomime, is now perfectly judged. The terrible exaggeration of Part I is now able to be viewed outside of its original context, in the newer context of the next chapter, Part II.
