(2 of 2)
The finest moments in Ivan come when Eisenstein gets his head out of the ideological window for a breath of simple poetic excitement—with no ax-grinding to do. Ivan's deathbed scene has deep spear thrusts of grandeur, savagery and terror; and during the coronation scene there are wonderful surprises. Historians will find plenty of room for argument over whether Eisenstein's Ivan is 1) a whitewashing job—with a low bow to Stalin, 2) restitution towards a maligned monarch, or 3) a little of both. Under political attack, Eisenstein confessed that Ivan was even less terrible and more progressive than he shows him, and he is revising Part II accordingly.