Ivan the Terrible- Part One, a 1944 film directed by renown Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, is a film that was created near the end of World War II, or as it was known in Russia, the Great Fatherlands War. During this time, less emphasis was placed on the socialist aspects of the Soviet Union and more was placed on merely defending their homeland from invading Nazi Germany. This allowed Eisenstein to escape the restrictive barriers placed upon him by the Soviets, and create a film that could still be considered Socialist Realism, but was not blatantly so.
Looking at Eisenstein as a director, the differences in both Battleship Potemkin and Ivan the Terrible- Part One personally did not allow me to discern his directing style; Ivan the Terrible-Part One being of a different caliber than Battleship Potemkin. It did not utilize the same style of montage as has become so well known with Eisenstein's films. I believe this is due to the fact that this film made use of sound whereas Battleship Potemkin did not. In order to better convey the plot of the film, Eisenstein most likely made the montage aspects of Battleship more exaggerated, and since sound was available in Ivan, he did not need to do so. When comparing the two, I actually enjoyed Battleship Potemkin more than Ivan the Terrible- Part One, because of Battleship's avid use of montage and the emotional scene on the Odessa Steps amongst other things.
His style was definitely changing toward the end of his life--both in terms of his montage technique (or lack thereof toward the end) and in terms of acting style.
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