Der falsche Dimitry (1922)

Tsar Ivan’s reign is drawing to a close around 1584, and the ruler is worried that he has no suitable successor. His eldest son, Fedor, a pious man chiefly interested in ringing great church bells, shows little interest in the office. Ivan’s seventh wife, Marfa, would like to see her underage son Dimitry on the tsar’s throne, and tries to arrange this with Boris Godunov’s help. When the ruler’s court astrologer predicts that his end is near, Ivan appoints five boyars, including Godunov, and decrees that they are to govern until his son Fedor comes of age. As soon as Tsar Ivan dies, Godunov begins making preparations to put himself on the throne. A letter from Marfa, actually addressed to the council, is passed to him by the boyar Bityagov. In it, she complains about Godunov, who has banished her from court. When Bityagov tells him that he saw Dimitry and his friend Grigory shooting arrows at an effigy of him, Godunov seizes on this as a pretext to order the boys’ deaths. Bityagov is horrified and does not know what to do, especially since Grigory is his son, born of his relationship with Anna, Dimitry’s nurse. He must keep their affair strictly secret because of their difference in social rank. Not knowing how to circumvent Godunov’s order, Bityagov has Dimitry murdered during the spring festival in Uglich. His own son Grigory, however, is spared and sent to Poland, where he will be safe for the time being. Beforehand, they hang around Grigory’s neck the cross that belonged to Dimitry. The voivode Mischek finds the boy outside his castle. A letter warns him not to try, under any circumstances, to discover the boy’s origins. The cross he wears will solve the mystery of his parentage at the proper time. In Moscow, preparations are underway for the funeral ceremonies for Ivan’s son Fedor, who has died unexpectedly, when news arrives that Dimitry has been murdered. Godunov immediately has himself proclaimed the new tsar. He is also brazen enough to ask Marfa to marry him, hoping this will strengthen his position. When she refuses, Godunov banishes her to Chudov Monastery. Bityagov, too, who helped Godunov come to power, suffers a bitter disappointment: instead of thanking him, Godunov has him thrown into prison. The boyar swears that he will have his revenge if an opportunity arises. Because Godunov wields his power with great ruthlessness, people throughout the country suffer under his iron grip. After many years, Bityagov manages to escape from prison, but he is already very weak and close to death. From the voivode Mischek, he learns that his son Grigory has been raised with great love, and that he is in love with Mischek’s daughter Marina. Marina, however, is already engaged to another man, who called Grigory a bastard, whereupon Grigory left the house in a fit of anger. Feeling that his end is near, Bityagov swears to Mischek that Grigory is in fact the tsar’s son Dimitry, who was not murdered after all. In this way, he hopes to take revenge on Godunov. At the same time, Grigory gets into a quarrel at an inn near the Polish military camp with Count Jaro Lenski, who is making crude advances to the dancer Nastya. When soldiers overpower Grigory, Nastya manages to free him from Lenski’s tent. They flee together and, after some time, come upon Mischek’s army. Then, to Grigory’s surprise, something extraordinary happens: he is told that he is Tsar Ivan’s son. Mischek promises Grigory his support in the fight against the usurper Godunov. And, all of a sudden, Marina discovers that she loves Grigory now that he is in such an influential position. Grigory completely forgets that there is a woman who truly loves him: Nastya. News that the tsar’s son is alive quickly spreads across the country. Godunov’s desperate attempts to disprove that Dimitry is still alive come to nothing, especially as Marfa, whom he has summoned back from the seclusion of the monastery, resists his pressure. Certain that the Polish army has by now taken the city, she assures him that she will publicly acknowledge Grigory as her son Dimitry. She makes one condition, however: Godunov must be killed. Grigory and Marina then celebrate a grand wedding, and the people cheer them. Marfa reminds Grigory of his promise to ensure that Godunov is killed. Marina, however, who wanted only a position beside a powerful man, returns to her former fiancé and lover. But things get worse: the boyars, seeing their influence diminish, foment an uprising and free Godunov from prison. They then overthrow Grigory, who fights bitterly but cannot overcome their superior numbers. Nastya is there again and does everything she can to stand by him, but in the end there is nothing more she can do. All she can do is kneel beside Grigory’s corpse with his mother, Anna, and endure the crowd mocking him even in death.