Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-15

theleSs, going as Tar as prac-
, ticable with the classic and
massive report on Russia's phys
zeal, mental and moral de-
generation, Richard Brooks has
made an absorbing movie of it,
Those crazy, mixed-up Kara
mazovs. Mr.. Brooks is right
in thinking, are irresistible
screen material. Their guzzling,
gambling, and lusting, their in
sistence upon testing the dead
illness of the seven deadly sins,
sets them apart in any dra-
matte form. verbal or visual.
Among the sins which the
family practices as if these
were original with the Kara
mazovs, Writer-Director Brooks
has chosen lust as the DOM
inant drive of the household.
He sees this family trait as
not merely a hunger Of the
flesh but as a greed for money,
power and place on the scale
of a capital sin.
This gives the film frenzied
tempo with a sometime I'M
happy suggestion that it is
being played for distance in
stead of depth. Moreover, the
implication is one that is not
modified by the fact that the
sound stage framework of the
production looks both artificial
and cramped.
4 \ +
In paving the Karamazov
road to He'll with evil inten-
tions, MGM's cameras are dra-
matically candid.
AS their focal point. Mr..
Brooks has chosen the mu-
tual loathing between Papa
Karamazov Gee J. Cobb and
so Dmitri (Brynner). The pri-
mary objects of the struggle
between these two are the fam
lily money and the favorS Of
Grushenka Miss SchelD,
youthful blond neighbor with
a natural aptitude for men and
an indifferent taste in them.
Dmitri, a late entrant in
the GruShenka sweepstakes, is
handicapped by vague twinges
of conscience as compared with
his father and the girl. He
is retarded in this one emo
ton by an unwilling involv-
ment with Katya Miss Bloom.
who loves Dmitri as vainly as
older brother Ivan Orchard
Basehart) loves her.
The screenplay. anyone can
see, is picking up a number
of the basic threads Of the
novel in these relationships, but
It does not stop here. Intro
duced also. if rather more
sketchily. are son Alexey will
liam ShatneD who is deeply re-
;igious. and Legitimate Smer-
dyakov albert Salmi). whose
problems are epilepsy. half
wittednesS. an animals face
and the cunning that finally
dispoSes of Papa and his tyr
amy over the family.
That the Karamazov way of
life is orgiastic is the substance
of a great deal of the narra-
tive which deals with manorial
revels, violent nights in the
gaming rooms and racy ones
in cafes. Moving as the prin-
cipal figures in these are Papa.
Dmitri and GruShenka, as tur-
bulent a threeSome as ever got
mixed up emotionally.
AS compared with the care
full detail of the original. Mr..
Brooks treatment of these may
seem abrupt and slight. Never
theless, he uses them as steps
to the brothers summit deci-
sion that the only way to ham
ole father is to kill him. and
to the climactic trial in which
the innocent Dmitri is found
guilty of the murder.
In spite of this, the film has
an implicitly happy ending.
x
Miss Schell, making her first
appearance in an American
film. is the most piquant per-
former in the picture. This is
not that her Grushenka is an
epic piece Of acting so much as
the result of her build-up. She
is. indeed, hardly the she-devil
Dostoyevsky has led one to sus-