This SovKino production was a major early experiment in Soviet historical film about the oprichnina period of Muscovite history, combining the costumed drama and Gothic thrills of the genre with historical materialist commentary on the dialectical collision of scientific progress and patriarchal religious tyranny under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It follows a self-taught inventor from the serf class Nikishka, whose efforts to build a flying machine incite accusations of witchcraft. Nikishka and his beloved Fima are persecuted by the feudal lord Kurlyatev, who took their village in a petty land squabble. They’re rescued when Kurlyatev’s lands are taken by the Tsar in his autocratic campaign against the feudal system. Ivan puts Nikishka to work in his linen mill, where the young serf is coveted by Tsarina Maria Temryukovna, who the Tsar’s been ignoring in favor of his cupbearer Feodor. A series of harrowing intrigues wind a bloody dance through bedchamber, feast hall, cathedral and dungeon.

Directed by: Yuri Tarich
Written by: Viktor Shklovskiy & Yuri Tarich
Runtime: 73 minutes
Cast:
Ivan Klyukvin Ivan Klyukvin
Nikishka 
Nikolai Prozorovsky Nikolai Prozorovsky
Feodor Basmanov 
Leonid Leonidov Leonid Leonidov
Tsar Ivan the Terrible 
Aleksandr Zhukov Aleksandr Zhukov
Vaska Gryaznov 
Vladimir Korsh Vladimir Korsh
Tsarevich Ivan 
Lev Ivanov Lev Ivanov
Guard (uncredited) 
Advertisements:
AmazonBlu-rays, DVDs & more eBayeBay affliate link Art of the MoviesArt of the Movies MoviePoster.comBuy posters on MoviePoster.com We may receive a small commission if you buy via one of these links.
Also known as:
  • Czar Ivan the Terrible
  • The Wings of a Serf
  • Wings of a Serf
  • Iwan der Schreckliche