Vsevolod Pudovkin

Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' 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.

Admiral Nakhimov

A biography of a famous Russian Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov.

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

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.

In the Name of the Motherland

The film deals with a Russian battalion under siege by the Germans during the Second World War.

The Living Corpse

The central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha.

The New Babylon

In the short-lived Commune of Paris, a conscripted soldier falls in love with a Communard saleswoman. As the army cracks down on the revolutionaries, the soldier is forced to fight against the Commune, and the pair's love is put to the test.

The End of St. Petersburg

Shortly before the outbreak of WWI, a peasant from rural Russia arrives in St. Petersburg to find work.

Mother

A Soviet woman is caught between her husband and son, who find themselves on opposing sides of the Russian Revolution.

The Death Ray

In a capitalist country, workers are heavily repressed but manage to get a "death ray" to fight back. (A part of the movie is lost.)

The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks

An ignorant and prejudiced American’s visit of Soviet Russia goes off the rails after his luggage is stolen and he is separated from his bodyguard.

Sickle and Hammer

A down on his luck peasant goes to fight in World War I and returns home a hero