Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Yul Brynner | ... | ||
Maria Schell | ... | ||
Claire Bloom | ... | ||
Lee J. Cobb | ... | ||
Albert Salmi | ... | ||
William Shatner | ... | ||
Richard Basehart | ... | ||
Judith Evelyn | ... | ||
Edgar Stehli | ... | ||
Harry Townes | ... | ||
Miko Oscard | ... | ||
David Opatoshu | ... | ||
Simon Oakland | ... |
Mavrayek
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Frank DeKova | ... |
Capt. Vrublevski
(as Frank de Kova)
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Jay Adler | ... |
Pawnbroker
|
Ryevsk, Russia, 1870. Tensions abound in the Karamazov family. Fyodor is a wealthy libertine who holds his purse strings tightly. His four grown sons include Dmitri, the eldest, an elegant officer, always broke and at odds with his father, betrothed to Katya, herself lovely and rich. The other brothers include a sterile aesthete, a factotum who is a bastard, and a monk. Family tensions erupt when Dmitri falls in love with one of his father's mistresses, the coquette Grushenka. Two brothers see Dmitri's jealousy of their father as an opportunity to inherit sooner. Acts of violence lead to the story's conclusion: trials of honor, conscience, forgiveness, and redemption. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Hollywood rendition of the classic novel by Feodor Dostoyesky deals about the Karamazov family. It starts in Ryevsk, 1870, the father named Fyodor is a selfish libertine , he brutalizes and mistreats his sons . His four grown sons are Dimitri(Yul Brynner), an attractive, wealthy officer who is betrothed to rich Katya (Claire Bloom), the monk is named Alexi(William Shatner), a writer named Ivan (Richard Basehart) and the bastard (Albert Salmi). Dimitri falls in love with a beautiful woman named Grishenka(Maria Schell), but she's the father's lover. Then emerge the tensions , drama and tragedy when brothers and father struggle with their desires for the same women.
One of the most interesting films based on the novels by the fascinating Russian writer Feodor Dostoevsky - Crime and punishment-. The writers Julius and Philip Epstein -Casablanca- kicked out most of the psychological undertones of the original. This overlong picture is confined by the demands of melodrama and packs some flaws and gaps. Nevertheless it is full of masterly touches and unexpected flashes of intelligence. Nice performances by all star cast , especially by Richard Bashehart, William Shatner and Lee J. Cobb does an overacting. And Maria Schell who does a sensible and smiling performance as Grushenka, whose role Marilyn Monroe attempted desperately to get. Colorful cinematography by John Alton, a noted cameraman expert on noir cinema.
Good and intense direction by Richard Brooks. He was a fine writer/director so consistently mixed the good and average which it became impossible to know that to expect from him next. Firstly he worked regularly as a Hollywwod screenwriter. After that, his initial experience of directing was one of his own screenplays called ¨Crisis¨. The Richard Brooks films that have the greatest impact are realized during the 50s and 60s as ¨Cat on a hot tin roof, Something of value, Elmer Gantry, Sweet bird of youth, In cold blood, Lord Jim and the Professionals¨ and of course ¨The brothers Karamazov¨ .