Ivan the Terrible by Yuri s> Tsivian October by Richard s> Taylor (review)

Abstract

336 SEER, 8i, 2, 2003 entire oeuvre' (p. 346). Maes'sreadingof Shostakovich'smajorworks,however, issensitiveandwide-ranging,discussing,amongstotherthings,hisrelationship to Musorgskii,and the strongJewish elements in variousworks. The annotation in this monograph is generally exemplary, although one early quotation is, tantalizingly, unattributed: 'Stasov considered [Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy and Berlioz's Hungarian March] Slavic because he imagined that "Hungarian" was synonymous with "Slovak"' (p. 42). The transliteration of Russian is archaic and eccentric; for example, Gavriyil (P. 42). Misprints are rare and may be silently corrected, even the at first bizarre 'Izza gor' (p. 28). Far more important than such tiny glitches, the extensive Bibliographyis an excellent resource. Francis Maes deserves the warmest congratulations for performing a necessarytaskwith such great flair, insight and scholarship.His book will be seized upon by musicians, scholars, students and, it may be hoped, many amateurs of music whose interests go beyond what Sir Thomas Beecham called 'the noise it makes'. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Tsivian, Yuri.IvantheTerrible. BFI Film Classics,63. BFI Publishing,London, 2002. 88 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Credits. Bibliography. /8.99 (paperback). Taylor, Richard. October. BFI Film Classics, 64. BFI Publishing, London, 2002. 88 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Credits. Bibliography. /8.99 (paperback). THE BFI Film Classics series offersgenerally excellent guides to students for the studyof keyfilmsin worldcinema, and featuresamong itsauthorsthe likes of Simon Callow, Colin MacCabe, Gerald Kaufman and Salman Rushdie. The contributionsof Richard Taylor and YuriTsivian are (belatedly)the first to cover Soviet films in the series, and are more than handy complements to the currentI. B. TaurisKINOfiles series. Both of these authors, of course, are established and very well-regarded scholarsof Soviet film, and so it will come as no surpriseto any readerto learn that these books are excellent in every respect. They are both profusely illustrated, the stills reproduced providing not only background illustration but also factual information and even critical commentary. Moreover, not only do both of these books offerstudentsa thoroughgroundingin the poetics of these two classicfilms,they also offerinsightsthatpush at the boundariesof accepted wisdom, offering tantalizing possibilities for further and deeper study. Both books are structuredlike othersin the BFI Film Classicsseries:a long, uninterruptedexegesis, includingplot summary,followed by notes and select bibliography. One of the majorfeaturesof YuriTsivian's book is its inclusion of archive materials, especially Eizenshtein's own drawings and sketches which show how his ideas developed, and how also his visual imaginationwas influenced and directed by art of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth REVIEWS 337 centuries, and not only Russian: Holbein's I52I painting TheBodyoftheDead Christ intheTomb shows the original inspirationbehind Ivan's troublesome (to Stalin'shenchmen) beard, and a particularlypertinentpoint is made on p. 42 on the relevance of Botticelli's I490 paintingLamentation over theDeadChrist with theSaints _Jerome, PaulandPeter to Ivan's'death'scene in PartOne. Throughout, Tsivian makesexcellent use of stillsto show Eizenshtein'smasteryof light and shadow, foregroundand backgrounddetail, and facial close-ups. He does not shy, either, from the abundant sexual and homoerotic motifs in Eizenshtein's film, and his reading of the role and persona of Maliuta Skuratov, and the section on 'BisexualImagery',are especiallyrewarding. Richard Taylor's book does not indulge quite so much in empirical interpretation, and sets its store out early with the sheer weight of factual information,dealingwith Evreinov's I920 outdoor spectacle TheStorming ofthe WVinter Palace, an inspirationfor Eizenshtein'sfilm.The authorsparesno detail in his account of the filming, editing and reception of the film, for which students of this film will be extremely appreciative. Indeed, of particular interest for film students is Taylor's close attention to Eizenshtein's visual metaphors, reproduced photographically and subjected to rigorous explication. These studies of Ivanthe Terrible and October will undoubtedly be on the booklists of most student film courses, and should also be read by all those with an interestin twentieth centuryRussianculture. University ofBath DAVID GILLESPIE Beumers, Birgit.BurntbytheSun.KINOfiles Film Companion, 3. I. B. Tauris, London, 2000. Xii +I 34 pp. Illustrations.Tables. Figures.Notes. Further Reading. fI2.99 (paperback). BURNT BY THE SUN is one of the first wave of publications in the warmly anticipated I. B. Tauris KINOfiles series devoted to key works of Russian cinema. The choice of Nikita...