Ein Leben für den Zaren
The tsars, who had been previously anathematized by the Bolsheviks, returned to favour under Stalin. In 1937, the feature film "Peter the First" was released to the public and was personally sanctioned by Stalin. The following year saw the release of Alexander Nevsky and in February 1939 the opera A Life for the Tsar was performed under the new name Ivan Susanin. Yet Stalin wanted more, arranging his aides to produce a film about another Russian tsar, Ivan the Terrible.