---
name: "Esfir Tobak"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/esfir-tobak"
fi1m_id: "esfir-tobak"
tmdb_id: 1721685
roles: ["Editor"]
born: "27 March 1908"
died: "24 February 2004"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T03:46:35.782095+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Esfir Tobak

## Identity

Esfir Tobak

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/esfir-tobak
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** esfir-tobak
- **TMDB ID:** 1721685
- **Same entity:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1721685

Editor. Born 27 March 1908 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. Died 24 February 2004.

## Details

- **Work:** Editor
- **Born:** 27 March 1908, Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]
- **Died:** 24 February 2004
- **Also known as:** Э. Тобак, Ф. Тобак, F. Tobak
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1721685

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot*](https://film.one/film/ivan-the-terrible-part-ii-the-boyars-plot.md) (64)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Esfir Tobak (also known as Esther Tobak or Esfir Veniaminovna Tobak) was a Soviet film editor. Born in Odessa in 1908, she began working in 1924 editing negatives at the Odessa film studio. She later worked at the Kiev studio and, from 1931, at Mosfilm in Moscow, where she remained until her retirement in 1982.

Tobak collaborated closely with Sergei Eisenstein as editor or assistant on *Alexander Nevsky* (1938), *Ivan the Terrible, Part I* (1944) and *Part II: The Boyars' Plot* (1958), and *Bezhin Meadow*. She also edited *Moscow Laughs* (1934) and, with Grigori Aleksandrov, co-edited the reconstructed *¡Qué Viva México!* (1979). Among other credits, she worked with Alexander Dovzhenko on *Earth* and with directors including Mikhail Romm and Samson Samsonov. She was named Merited Cultural Worker of the RSFSR in 1974 and died in Moscow in 2004.

*Sources: womenfilmeditors.princeton.edu, ru.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot* (1958), Fi1m 64, Editor — [page](https://film.one/film/ivan-the-terrible-part-ii-the-boyars-plot.md)

## Complete filmography (22)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Soul* (1981), Editor
- *¡Qué Viva México!* (1979), Editor
- *100 grams for Bravery* (1977), Editor
- *Starling and Lyre* (1974), Editor
- *The Dear Boy* (1974), Editor
- *Residence Permit* (1972), Editor
- *Shore Leave* (1962), Editor
- *No Fear, No Blame* (1962), Editor
- *The First Date* (1960), Editor
- *Alyosha's Love* (1960), Editor
- *People on the Bridge* (1959), Editor
- *Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot* (1958), Editor — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/ivan-the-terrible-part-ii-the-boyars-plot.md)
- *Polyushko, pole* (1957), Editor
- *Behind Show Windows* (1956), Editor
- *The Grasshopper* (1955), Editor
- *In the Mountains of Yugoslavia* (1946), Editor
- *The Magic Seed* (1942), Editor
- *Alexander Nevsky* (1938), Editor
- *Lenin in October* (1937), Assistant Editor
- *Jolly Fellows* (1934), Editor
- *Men and Jobs* (1932), Editor
- *October (Ten Days that Shook the World)* (1928), Editor

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/esfir-tobak