How others will see it. This hammy epic is wordly entertaining for the foreign language film maven or the movie historian. Those interested in art direction or black and white cinematography will also find it worthwhile.
Of course, many will be alienated by its subtitles, and exaggerated acting. Cynics may find it all quite amusing, particularly the would-be puppet king Staritsky, an effeminate, stupid, and cowardly man with the maturity of an eight-year old child.
How I felt about it. Ivan the Terrible, Part II is indeed a difficult film to take seriously. Preposterously tall Ivan, with his unkempt hair and shrewd countenance, is surrounded by exactly two kinds of people: traitorous villains and Boyar-hating bodyguards. The villains make smiling faces and shift their eyes. The bodyguards are manly, and can sing and dance as well.
Any film is a reflection of its era. Ivan the Terrible, Part Two was filmed circa 1946, when Russia was a totalitarian communist country led by Stalin. It is hard not to compare Stalin with Ivan, known for his purges of the eternally disloyal Boyars. Both were paranoid and ruthless.
Stalin liked Ivan the Terrible, Part One, but not its successor, and the film was shelved until after Stalin died and was replaced with the more moderate Khrushchev. Perhaps what Stalin objected to was a scene of two presumed Boyars getting beheaded with an axe, under Ivan's supervision. Ivan piously observes his handiwork, then exclaims, "Too few!" Another scene has three teenage girls singing about the unjust Tsar condemning them to death by fire. These scenes may have come to close to home for Stalin.
Given Communism's aversion to religion, it comes as no surprise that Archbishop Philip (Andrei Abrikosov) is a pro-Boyar villain. The Church is the tool of the Boyars, whose plan is to weaken the Tsar and cede control of Russia to Poland. (Boyars are landowners, also against Communist principles.) Humorless Philip has an odd effect on Ivan, who like to have the church sanction his killing of Boyars, but it is not to be. Fortunately, the Oprichniks are not impressed by Philip, and soon set Ivan back on the true path of a strong central government (another Communist tenet).
The banquet scene is filmed in color, a costly luxury for the U.S.S.R. in 1946. This is reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera (1925), which has a color ballroom scene. Ivan's crafty foiling of the Boyar plot, and his mercy on the assasins, are ceremonial. In real life, an unknown bodyguard would never be allowed backstage.