The Brothers Karamazov

Plot synopsis:
Book One: A Nice Little Family
The opening of the novel introduces the Karamazov family and relates the story of their distant and recent past. The details of Fyodor's two marriages as well as his indifference to the upbringing of his three children is chronicled. The narrator also establishes the widely varying personalities of the three brothers and the circumstances that have led to their return to Fyodor's town. The first book concludes by describing the mysterious religious order of Elders to which Alyosha has become devoted.
Book Two: An Inappropriate Gathering
Book Two begins as the Karamazov family arrives at the local monastery so that the Elder Zosima can act as a mediator between Dmitri and his father Fyodor in their dispute over Dmitri's inheritance. It was the father's idea apparently as a joke to have the meeting take place in such a holy place in the presence of the famous Elder. Dmitri arrives late and the gathering soon degenerates and only exacerbates the feud between Dmitri and Fyodor. This book also contains a scene in which the Elder Zosima consoles a woman mourning the death of her three-year-old son. The poor woman's grief parallels Dostoyevsky's own tragedy at the loss of his young son Alyosha.
Book Three: Sensualists
The third book provides more details of the love triangle that has erupted between Fyodor, his son Dmitri, and Grushenka. Dmitri's personality is explored in the conversation between him and Alyosha as Dmitri hides near his father's home to see if Grushenka will arrive. Later that evening, Dmitri bursts into his father's house and assaults him while threatening to come back and kill him in the future. This book also introduces Smerdyakov and his origins, as well as the story of his mother, Reeking Lizaveta. At the conclusion of this book, Alyosha is witness to Grushenka's bitter humiliation of Dmitri's betrothed Katerina, resulting in terrible embarrassment and scandal for this proud woman.
Book Four: Lacerations/Strains
This section introduces a side story which resurfaces in more detail later in the novel. It begins with Alyosha observing a group of schoolboys throwing rocks at one of their sickly peers named Ilyusha. When Alyosha admonishes the boys and tries to help, Ilyusha bites Alyosha's finger. It is later learned that Ilyusha's father, a former staff-captain named Snegiryov, was assaulted by Dmitri, who dragged him by the beard out of a bar. Alyosha soon learns of the further hardships present in the Snegiryov household and offers the former staff captain money as an apology for his brother and to help Snegiryov's ailing wife and children. After initially accepting the money with joy, Snegiryov throws the money back at Alyosha out of pride and runs back into his home.
Book Five: Pro and Contra
Here, the rationalist and nihilistic ideology that permeated Russia at this time is defended and espoused passionately by Ivan Karamazov while meeting his brother Alyosha at a restaurant. In the chapter titled "Rebellion", Ivan proclaims that he rejects the world that God has created because it is built on a foundation of suffering. In perhaps the most famous chapter in the novel, "The Grand Inquisitor", Ivan narrates to Alyosha his imagined poem that describes a leader from the Spanish Inquisition and his encounter with Jesus, Who has made His return to earth. Here, Jesus is rejected by the Inquisitor who puts Him in jail and then says,
Why hast Thou come now to hinder us? For Thou hast come to hinder us, and Thou knowest that... We are working not with Thee but with him [Satan]... We took from him what Thou didst reject with scorn, that last gift he offered Thee, showing Thee all the kingdoms of the earth. We took from him Rome and the sword of Caesar, and proclaimed ourselves sole rulers of the earth... We shall triumph and shall be Caesars, and then we shall plan the universal happiness of man.
The Grand Inquisitor says that Jesus should not have given humans the "burden" of free will. At the end of all these arguments, Jesus silently steps forward and kisses the old man on his lips. The Grand Inquisitor, stunned and moved, tells Him he must never come there again, and lets Him out. Alyosha, after hearing this story, goes to Ivan and kisses him softly, with an unexplainable emotion, on the lips. Ivan shouts with delight, because Alyosha's gesture is taken directly from his poem. The brothers then part.
Book Six: The Russian Monk
The sixth book relates the life and history of the Elder Zosima as he lies near death in his cell. Zosima explains he found his faith in his rebellious youth, in the middle of a duel, consequently deciding to become a monk. Zosima preaches people must forgive others by acknowledging their own sins and guilt before others. He explains that no sin is isolated, making everyone responsible for their neighbor's sins. Zosima represents a philosophy that responds to Ivan's, which had challenged God's creation in the previous book.
Book Seven: Alyosha
The book begins immediately following the death of Zosima. It is a commonly held perception in the town, and the monastery as well, that true holy men's bodies are incorrupt, i.e., they do not succumb to putrefaction. Thus, the expectation concerning the Elder Zosima is that his deceased body will not decompose. It comes as a great shock to the entire town that Zosima's body not only decays, but begins the process almost immediately following his death. Within the first day, the smell of Zosima's body is already unbearable. For many this calls into question their previous respect and admiration for Zosima. Alyosha is particularly devastated by the sullying of Zosima's name due to nothing more than the corruption of his dead body. One of Alyosha's companions in the monastery named Rakitin uses Alyosha's vulnerability to set up a meeting between him and Grushenka. However, instead of Alyosha becoming corrupted, he is able to earn fresh faith and hope from Grushenka, while Grushenka's troubled mind begins the path of spiritual redemption through his influence: they become close friends. The book ends with the spiritual regeneration of Alyosha as he embraces, kisses the earth outside the monastery (echoing, perhaps, Zosima's last earthly act before his death) and cries convulsively until finally going back out into the world, as Zosima instructed, renewed.
Book Eight: Mitya
This section deals primarily with Dmitri's wild and distraught pursuit of money so he can run away with Grushenka. Dmitri owes money to his fiancée Katerina and will believe himself to be a thief if he does not find the money to pay her back before embarking on his quest for Grushenka. This mad dash for money takes Dmitri from Grushenka's benefactor to a neighboring town on a fabricated promise of a business deal. All the while Dmitri is petrified that Grushenka may go to his father Fyodor and marry him because he already has the monetary means to satisfy her. When Dmitri returns from his failed dealing in the neighboring town, he escorts Grushenka to her benefactor's home, but quickly discovers she deceived him and left early. Furious, he runs to his father's home with a brass pestle in his hand, and spies on him from the window. He takes the pestle from his pocket. Then, there is a discontinuity in the action, and Dmitri is suddenly running away off his father's property, knocking the servant Gregory in the head with the pestle with seemingly fatal results.
Dmitri is next seen in a daze on the street, covered in blood, with a pile of money in his hand. He soon learns that Grushenka's former betrothed has returned and taken her to a lodge near where Dmitri just was. Upon learning this, Dmitri loads a cart full of food and wine and pays for a huge orgy to finally confront Grushenka in the presence of her old flame, intending all the while to kill himself at dawn. The "first and rightful lover", however, is a boorish Pole who cheats the party at a game of cards. When his deception is revealed, he flees, and Grushenka soon reveals to Dmitri that she really is in love with him. The party rages on, and just as Dmitri and Grushenka are making plans to marry, the police enter the lodge and inform Dmitri that he is under arrest for the murder of his father.
Book Nine: The Preliminary Investigation
Book Nine introduces the details of Fyodor's murder and describes the interrogation of Dmitri as he is questioned for the crime he maintains he did not commit. The alleged motive for the crime is robbery. Dmitri was known to have been completely destitute earlier that evening, but is suddenly seen on the street with thousands of rubles shortly after his father's murder. Meanwhile, the three thousand rubles that Fyodor Karamazov had set aside for Grushenka has disappeared. Dmitri explains that the money he spent that evening came from three thousand rubles Katerina gave him to send to her sister. He spent half that at his first meeting with Grushenka—another drunken orgy—and sewed up the rest in a cloth, intending to give it back to Katerina in the name of honor, he says. The lawyers are not convinced by this. All of the evidence points against Dmitri; the only other person in the house at the time of the murder was Smerdyakov, who was incapacitated due to an epileptic seizure he apparently suffered the day before. As a result of the overwhelming evidence against him, Dmitri is formally charged with the patricide and taken away to prison to await trial.
Book Ten: Boys
Boys continues the story of the schoolboys and Ilyusha last referred to in Book Four. The book begins with the introduction of the young boy Kolya Krasotkin. Kolya is a brilliant boy who proclaims his atheism, socialism, and beliefs in the ideas of Europe. He seems destined to follow in the spiritual footsteps of Ivan Karamazov; Dostoyevsky uses Kolya's beliefs especially in a conversation with Alyosha to poke fun at his Westernizer critics by putting their beliefs in what appears to be a young boy who doesn't exactly know what he is talking about. Kolya is bored with life and constantly torments his mother by putting himself in danger. As part of a prank Kolya lies between railroad tracks as a train passes over and becomes something of a legend for the feat. All the other boys look up to Kolya, especially Ilyusha. Since the narrative left Ilyusha in Book Four, his illness has progressively worsened and the doctor states that he will not recover. Kolya and Ilyusha had a falling out over Ilyusha's maltreatment of a dog: Ilyusha had fed it bread in which there was a pin on Smerdyakov's suggestion. But thanks to Alyosha's intervention the other schoolboys have gradually reconciled with Ilyusha, and Kolya soon joins them at his bedside. It is here that Kolya first meets Alyosha and begins to reassess his nihilist beliefs.
Book Eleven: Brother Ivan Fyodorovich
Book Eleven chronicles Ivan Karamazov's destructive influence on those around him and his descent into madness. It is in this book that Ivan meets three times with Smerdyakov, the final meeting culminating in Smerdyakov's dramatic confession that he had faked the fit, murdered Fyodor Karamazov, and stolen the money, which he presents to Ivan. Smerdyakov expresses disbelief at Ivan's professed ignorance and surprise. Smerdyakov claims that Ivan was complicit in the murder by telling Smerdyakov when he would be leaving Fyodor's house, and more importantly by instilling in Smerdyakov the belief that in a world without God "everything is permitted." The book ends with Ivan having a hallucination in which he is visited by the devil, who torments Ivan by mocking his beliefs. Alyosha finds Ivan raving and informs him that Smerdyakov killed himself shortly after their final meeting.
Book Twelve: A Judicial Error
This book details the trial of Dmitri Karamazov for the murder of his father Fyodor. The courtroom drama is sharply satirized by Dostoyevsky. The men in the crowd are presented as resentful and spiteful, and the women are irrationally drawn to the romanticism of Dmitri's love triangle with Katerina and Grushenka. Ivan's madness takes its final hold over him and he is carried away from the courtroom after recounting his final meeting with Smerdyakov and the aforementioned confession. The turning point in the trial is Katerina's damning testimony against Dmitri. Impassioned by Ivan's illness which she believes is a result of her assumed love for Dmitri, she produces a letter drunkenly written by Dmitri saying that he would kill Fyodor. The section concludes with the impassioned closing remarks of the prosecutor and the defense, and the verdict that Dmitri is guilty.
Epilogue
The final section opens with discussion of a plan developed for Dmitri's escape from his sentence of twenty years of hard labor in Siberia. The plan is never fully described, but it seems to involve Ivan and Katerina bribing some guards. Alyosha approves, first, because Dmitri is not emotionally ready to submit to such a harsh sentence, secondly, because he is innocent, and, third, because no guards or officers would suffer for aiding the escape. Dmitri and Grushenka plan to escape to America and work the land there for several years, and then to return to Russia under assumed American names, because they both cannot imagine living without Russia. Dmitri begs for Katerina to visit him in the hospital, where he is recovering from an illness before he is due to be taken away. When she does, Dmitri apologizes for having hurt her; she in turn apologizes for bringing up the implicating letter during the trial. They agree to love each other for that one moment, and say they will love each other forever, even though both now love other people. The novel concludes at Ilyusha's funeral, where Ilyusha's schoolboy friends listen to Alyosha's "Speech by the Stone". Alyosha promises to remember Kolya, Ilyusha, and all the boys and keep them close in his heart, even though he will have to leave them and may not see them again until many years have passed. He implores them to love each other and to always remember Ilyusha, and to keep his memory alive in their hearts, and to remember this moment at the stone when they were all together and they all loved each other. Alyosha then recounts the Christian promise that they will all be united one day after the Resurrection. In tears, the twelve boys promise Alyosha that they will keep each other in their memories forever, join hands, and return to the Snegiryov household for the funeral dinner, chanting, "Hurrah for Karamazov!"

Tags: murder

Review:
The brothers themselves (Yul Brynner, Richard Basehart, Albert Salmi and William Shatner) turn in variable performances.
And, though I love the book and think it may be the world's great novel, I prefer the ending of the movie!
If you want to know what the book is about but a thick novel is daunting, this film tells you everything you need to know..
As happens so often with film adaptations of great novels,we have a screenplay that will focus on the events of a novel,rather than on the underlying philosophical tenets and theories that seem to be involved.Perhaps it is inevitable that this be the case.The Karamazovs are,in actuality,the fragmented aspects of the author'spersonality;a.)brutishness;b.)impulsiveness;c.)intellect;d.)spirituality;e.) depravity.(To wit;Feodor;Dimitri;Ivan;Alexis;Smerdyakov).And the real hero of the novel is Alexis.We are witnessing his growth and development as a hero against the sordid story of his family and the murder of their lustful,wicked father.It is development,particularly regarding the testing of his faith in the hard and often callous world,that marks the real journey of the story.This is minimalized in the film.I guess that this probably wouldn't have sold in 50s America.The adaptation ,given my observations,is really quite impressive.We can't fault any of the production values,efforts,and activities.And,with one exception,the cast is excellent.My one fault in this respect is with Lee J.Cobb.This outstanding character actor is much too young,virile,and attractive to portray accurately the character the author intended.Feodor Karamazov is supposed to be about 65,a physical wreck,sinister,and depraved.His physically debauched condition is intended to mirror his moral corruption.And,yet,given these attributes,he in nevertheless fascinating to women.(At least,certain kinds of women.I shudder to think what their agendas are if they find an old villain like this attractive.They must be as needy as all get-out,and viewing him through a fantasy veil that keeps out all accurate perceptions.)In my opinion,the late Donald Pleasence would have been a much more realistic choice for the part.Otherwise,given my criticism,this is a highly enjoyable film..
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.
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..
Cobb) is a wealthy tyrannical father to four grown sons and has the mistress Grushenka (Maria Schell).
The oldest Dmitri (Yul Brynner) is an officer who always fights with his father over 25k rubles left by his mother and engaged to the rich Katya (Claire Bloom) who wants to repay Dmitri for bailing out her father.
The Menottis of the first film and the Devereauxs of the second were definitely inspired by The Brothers Karamazov.The feelings for the father are the only thing that unite these four distinctly different brothers.
He's getting good competition from son Yul Brynner and it arouses some jealousy even though Brynner is engaged to a nice girl in Claire Bloom who also has a father giving both of them a run at that game.
In fact Inger Stevens and Cobb have a complicated scheme to get Brynner under their thumb through his gambling debts so he's forced to marry Bloom and start living respectively.The other brothers are unique individuals themselves.
All of the sons suffer from a lack of a strong father figure.The climax is when Cobb is murdered and Brynner is arrested for the crime.
An amalgam character of all of them would be a well adjusted man.The Brothers Karamazov got one Oscar nomination, Lee J.
Papa Karamazov is certainly the kind of role that one cannot possibly overact in and Cobb feasts on enough scenery for three films.
He lost the Oscar sweepstakes to another patriarchal portrayal that which Burl Ives did in The Big Country.After over 50 years The Brothers Karamazov holds up very well, it's a good film and a good introduction to the works of Doestoyevsky.
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-.
Nice performances by all star cast , especially by Richard Bashehart, William Shatner and Lee J.
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¨ ..
Therefore, I put off seeing this film, even though most of my friends and family gushed about it whenever I watched anything with Yul Brynner on it (Anastasia, Ten Commandments).
The Brothers Karamazov was the 2nd film we watched.
But I loved it.As a fan of both Classic films and literary classics (I haven't read Brothers Karamazov, but I have read several other classics, and thoroughly enjoyed them), I know that the first is almost always 180º apart from the latter.
Brynner is at his most vulnerable here, and the actors portraying his brothers all did top-notch jobs (such a good job, in fact, that I was able to watch William Shatner -Captain Kirk to anyone remotely Trekkie- without even chuckling), as well as the leading ladies.
It's impossible to make a film based on such a book as the "Brothers Karamzov" by F.M. Dostojevsky.Richard Brooks is a great director, but that film is on a very low level.The worst part of the film was the ending.
--> NO!!!The others characters playing in a good performance as we have to expect it from such great actors ...
I think that there are not many actors who can play this part in a better way.But as I said in the beginning: This book is unadaptable.
But I just keep the opinion that this book can't be adapted.So - 3 points:A point for the great director Richard Brooks A point for a superb performance of Yul BrynnerFinally: A point for one of the greatest writers of all time: Dostojevsky.
The Brothers Karamazov has quickly become one of my favourite books, with its riveting story, interesting and thought-provoking themes and some of the most brilliant characterisation of any book (how many pieces of literature have characters this multi-dimensional?) I've ever read.
Most of the casting came off surprisingly well, but there were reservations about Maria Schell, despite her alluring appearance and her impressively played early scenes she was generally too genteel for Grushenka, a role that was in need of more earthiness and peasant-like.However, The Brothers Karamazov looks great, with lavish colour photography and an evocative re-creation of the opulent but also gritty 19th-century Russia period.
It's scored with a stirring yet also understated richness by Bronislau Kaper, and does benefit from controlled direction by Richard Brooks and a literate script that really provokes though and, even when condensed with the essence and the religious and philosophical themes missing, makes an effort to keep to Dostoevsky's tone of writing and giving the film substance.
It is not an easy job adapting a nearly 800 page book into a two-and-a-half hour film, and while not completely successful due, to feeling sometimes like highlights being present but not always to their full potential and major characters being significantly reduced (Alexei, Zosima) at the expense at focusing primarily on Dmitri, it does so laudably.
It is still mostly riveting and there wasn't much trouble following the story, with the major events depicted and structured relatively faithfully, and there is enough atmosphere, suspense, emotion and mystery to give the story some flavour.From the acting front, the film comes off surprisingly successfully considering that initially there were a couple of actors that seemed unlikely casting (i.e. William Shatner).
Richard Basehart brings many layers and nuances to Ivan, Claire Bloom is spot-on as Katya and Albert Salmi is effectively insidious as Smerdyakov.
William Shatner does suffer from a greatly reduced (in terms of how he's written) character, but surprisingly this is Shatner at his most subdued and moving, most of the time in his acting for personal tastes he's the opposite.All in all, pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is the book but it is a brave attempt.
Taking it on its own merits, which is a fairer way to judge, The Brothers Karamazov has short-comings but is a solid film overall.
In this nice and richly filmed adaptation of the great Russian Novelist,Fyodor Dostoyevsky,we get as good a rendering as Hollywood permits,given the time restraints.Lengthy works of certain novelists have to be tapered and trimmed to be watchable and affordable for a studio.One reason Proust's Remembrance of Things Past,will never be filmed,at least without true scope.Nevertheless The Brothers Karamazov is presented with a gloriously generous combination of set,costumes and individual performances that make this film a pleasant and very waychable experience.
With many Hollywood notables present,Yul Brynner being the main focus of contention among his families hierachy,competing with other siblings and mainly his strong-willed and lecherous father,who believes has cheated him out of his fair share of inheritance.So,around and around we go,as to who gets and who deserves what.Since his character is overly concerned with money and paying off previous debts,he becomes obsessed with what should be rightfully his ,from within his apparent wealthy and contented family.
Cobb plays the overly predisposed and unforgiving father ,who is more than willing to sell his one son short and also teach a lesson,at same time.In fact,he is also obsessed to achieve this calling in life.
Maria Schell plays a love interest who both steals the heart of both son and father and is seemingly content to play the field,being both her job{she mingles with guests at inn},and also her fancy,of sorts.She uses her trademark Angelic big grin-smile way too much,but it pays off in end.She didn't make many movies,as she and her brother Maximilian,tended to be very fussy about parts they would play.She does,however smile that big Maria german smile with an afforded proudness.
What's really nice about this film is the production value and its effect upon the big screen.The abstract and intensified use of color and lighting are almost perfect.The smoke-filled rooms and intricate makeup of the inside of rooms are both comforting and reassuring to the senses,knowing what bleak and cold lay outside their doors.With an almost gypsy atmosphere of drinking and gayiety,mandolin and prussian dance being played upon with fervor and flight,we are taken into the world of another time and place both distant and yet welcoming.Whether or not the snow flakes are real,the sets on real turf,or the story as true to greatness as Fyodor would have it is secondary.The important thing is ,that here lies a movie that tells a great story with good characters,and mood of surroundings,that both complement and make real enought the gist of overall intent.The main themes of love,honor and obedience,betrayal and surrender are all addressed with an application of care and concern to original story .The Bothered and bewitched elements are for viewer and yours truly to contemplate.since I have I duly credit this movie a 4 out of 5 star or 8/10 for really nice filming of fatherly love gone south for the winter.Dig Daddio's..
I thought prob like most, oh no what is Shatchtner doing here, this is a classic Russian novel type thing, and Big Shatz well, his oriented out of what?
Doctor Zhivago, in comparison, is a turgid, sentimental nostalgia-fest.Yul Brynner owns this movie about 3 and a half brothers bullied and manipulated by their father - Lee J Cobb, who not only chews the scenery, he has it with vodka chasers.
Maria Schell's grin starts to make your own face ache, but at least she's a real character, as is Claire Bloom, who turns out to be the real b*tch.More gypsies!
Even the angelic-looking 1958 William Shatner, as the brother with spiritual leanings, manages to avoid rolling his eyes too much.A film to watch with plenty of booze to hand..
The Brothers Karamazov is a beautiful film with a solid script taking the most important parts of Dostoevsky's novel from the page to the screen.
Maria Schell & & Yul Vrynner are the most appealing, followed by Richard Basehart.
Cobb is a rather annoying character (although generally I like Lee J.
Admirable effort to squeeze one of the greatest novels of all time into a film..
The admirable effort to squeeze one of the greatest novels of all time into a film has resulted in a controversial masterpiece of intensity, and Dostoievsky would have liked it.
Yul Brunner as Dimitri, Claire Bloom as Katia, Richard Baseheart as Ivan, William Shatner as Alyosha and Albert Salmi as a perfectly loathsome Smerdyakov are all perfect in their performances leaving nothing out, the music is perfectly fitted into the constantly changing and dramatic moods of ever increasing tension, but the greatest credit goes to the writer/director Richard Brooks, who has succeeded with the impossible, to give one of the most complex and polyphonic novels a digestible cinematic form.
I saw this film some 40 years ago and have never been able to forget the performances of Maria Schell and Lee J.
It is very interesting to compare this film version with the Russian complete screen adaptation of 2008, which will be reviewed later.
I was reading The Brothers Karamazov when this movie came on TCM.
It looks like we are in backwoods 19th century Russia, but, at the same time, it is hardly impressive.Lee Cobb makes a caricature in the book into a real person.
Maria Schell plays a character who is supposed to have an infectious smile, but she smiles so much in the movie that it seems like a psychiatric condition.
Without the book's long back stories the characters have no depth in this movie and their motivations can be bewildering..
Richard Brooks was a talented and versatile director, well-versed especially in adapting literary works, concerning this I loved his movies based on Tennessee Williams' works and the movie adaptation of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" but this time he totally missed the point about the story.
On the other hand I can understand why they didn't include that kind of passages in the movie, due to their verbosity I think, however The Brothers Karamazov is a verbose novel, it's an inescapable aspect which makes this novel sublime, The Brothers Karamazov is mainly a philosophical and psychological work, let it be clear, it'a a lot of things, it's a crime story, it's a love story, it's a legal thriller, but all that is absolutely marginal compared to the depth and the authenticity of the characters, it's an amazing study of human nature, well this authenticity and this depth were totally lost in the movie; the characters turn out to be stereotyped and melodramatic, except the father played by Lee J.
Richard Basehart, who played Ivan, was definitely too old for the role, Ivan is 24 years old whereas Basehart was 44 when the movie was filmed, he looked clearly older than Yul Brynner who was supposed to be the elder brother, even if the actual age of the actors is not so important it's necessary to keep a consistency with the original characters in my opinion.
In short I consider this adaptation a sort of "The Brothers Karamazov" for dummies, in the sense that it was totally deprived of its "cerebral" content, what remains of this monumental masterpiece is the umpteenth Hollywood's melodrama with the classic "and lived happily ever after" ending (which was totally overturned compared to the book's) in Douglas Sirk style.
I was not expecting to like this movie...I usually don't care for movies that are 2 1/2 hours long and are based on a classic Russian novel.
William Shatner (in his earliest starring role) is fun to watch because every so often one can see Captain Kirk in him.
The story of greed, living life to its fullest, deception, and shame drives the story along at a good pace.The film probably does not follow the book closely (as most Hollywood production tend to change things around), however, this film stands alone as a powerful movie, regardless of how little it followed the book..
The first time I saw this film, I hadn't even read the book, which I've since read many times and tend to think is one of the world's greatest novels.
He is impersonated, with no pretensions whatever, by a young actor named William Shatner, who, it is safe to guess, will have no truck with the teen-age trade.To sum up: It may not be perfect Dostoveski, but as a film - a definite must..