The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.6/10   

Director:

Richard Brooks

Escritores:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (novel)
Julius J. Epstein (adaptation) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

26 febrero 1958 (Japan)

Género:

Drama

Plot:

Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly...

Plot Keywords:

Russia | Foreign Language Adaptation | Remake | Murder | Patricide

Premios:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Competent but decidedly superfluous

Reparto

Yul Brynner	...	Dmitri Karamazov
Maria Schell	...	Grushenka
Claire Bloom	...	Katya
Lee J. Cobb	...	Father Karamazov
Albert Salmi	...	Smerdjakov
William Shatner	...	Alexi Karamazov
Richard Basehart	...	Ivan Karamazov
Judith Evelyn	...	Mme. Anna Hohlakov
Edgar Stehli	...	Grigory
Harry Townes	...	Ippoli Kirillov
Miko Oscard	...	Ilyusha Snegiryov
David Opatoshu	...	Capt. Snegiryov
Simon Oakland	...	Mavrayek
Frank DeKova	...	Capt. Vrublevski (as Frank de Kova)
Jay Adler	...	Pawnbroker

También conocida como:

The Murderer Dmitri Karamazov
Los hermanos Karamazov (Spain) [es]

Duración:

145 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sonido:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Clasificación:

USA:TV-PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Compañía:

Avon Productions (II)

Trivialidades:

Debuts of William Shatner and Albert Salmi.

Citas:

Smerdjakov: If you'll permit a comment, sir, you're not at all like your brother Dmitri.
Ivan Karamazov: Half-brother.
Smerdjakov: You're different from all of them. I could see that the first minute you arrived yesterday. Intelligence, audacity, cleverness...
Ivan Karamazov: You've just never met anyone who lives in Moscow.
Smerdjakov: No sir, it's those magazine articles you wrote, the ones about crime.
Ivan Karamazov: [pauses] You enjoyed them.
Smerdjakov: [takes out a magazine clipping, reads it] There is nothing in the world to make man love their neighbours. If there is no God, then nothing can be immoral. Everything becomes lawful, even crime. Crime becomes not only lawful, but inevitable.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in La cité de la peur (1994)

Competent but decidedly superfluous

The optimum method for bringing a major literary work to the screen is the mini series, (though the television adaptation of Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment" was not to my liking.) There's no possible way a novel of the length and complexity such as "Brothers Karamazov" can be done justice to by the cinema, even given 145 minutes.

This 1959 Hollywood version deserves full marks for summarizing and depicting the plot faithfully, but since so much of the essence of the book is missing one cannot help feeling the pointlessness of the entire exercise.

Director Richard Brooks manages to sustain the emotion intensity of the piece, keeping the proceedings on an intimate scale, (David Lean no doubt would have blown it up to epic proportions). The cast are largely satisfactory with Yul Brynner is at his charismatic best as Dmitri and Claire Bloom is spot on as Katya. Iridescent Maria Schell is far too genteel for the earthy Grushenka, a part Marilyn Monroe somewhat misguidedly felt she was born to play, according to Hollywood lore. Lee J. Cobb tends towards hamming it up and an almost unrecognizably young William Shatner is a pleasant surprise as the mystically inclined Alexi.

While there is some enjoyment to be gained from this movie, one can only wholeheartedly offer the recommendation – read the book.