This book, the first in Russian, brings together numerous materials related to the conception, creation, and reception of Sergei Eisenstein's legendary film, Ivan the Terrible. In addition to documents published in scattered, often hard-to-find editions (letters, diaries, and drawings by Eisenstein and members of his film crew), the collection's editor and compiler, film historian Natalya Ryabchikova, has included previously unpublished excerpts from the director's diaries and lectures from the archives of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) and the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). Together, these materials reveal not only the dramatic 'external' story of the making of Eisenstein's final film but also the inner workings of his creative process.

Edited by N. Ryabchikova