One user says Stalin had it destroyed, and another user says it wasn't finished because Eisenstein died. Personally, I prefer the story of it being subject to the wrath of Stalin, but I'd like to know the truth.
Anyone have some evidence?
Stalin greenlit Ivan Groznyy Part III, so he did approve it. He didn't like the direction the trilogy took in Part II but Eisenstein managed to agree to take it to a more conventional direction in Part III, basically saving his ass.
There's much confusion about what happened because a lot of the papers surrounding that period of Russian history hasn't been de-classified yet. Eisenstein was getting severely ill and I don't think he was in a condition to finish the trilogy and eventually with the war ending(and the Cold War in the oven) Stalin felt that there was no more audience for a self-aggrandizing myth for his cult-of-personality and lost interest.
So I'd say it's both.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
I recommend Kristin M. Thompson's "Ivan the Terrible and Stalinist Russia: A Reexamination," Cinema Journal 17, no. 1 (1977): 30-43.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1225468
She argues that Eisenstein's view of Ivan is entirely consistent with the official perspective, and the conflict with the authorities was only over the execution of the film. While Ivan certainly could have been intended to be seen in part as an allegory on Stalin's rule, there is no good reason to see it as anti-Stalin. If Eisenstein has intended it to be entirely a commentary on Stalin, or to be an attack on Stalin, there are many events from Ivan's life he could have chosen that would have been more appropriate subject matter, such as class conflict in Ivan's Russia and Ivan's building and use of the Oprichnina against noble families.
While Ivan certainly could have been intended to be seen in part as an allegory on Stalin's rule, there is no good reason to see it as anti-Stalin.
The good reason is simply that Stalin shelved the second part of a film that he had earlier awarded a big prize to, was an international hit and was made by the most famous and respected film-maker from Russia.
... and the conflict with the authorities was only over the execution of the film.
And the execution essentially critiques and subverts the story.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes