Bratya Karamazovy (1969)

Three brothers, one spiritual and living at a monastary, one a gambler, and one an intellectual, work out their problems in 19th century Russia.

Directors:

Kirill Lavrov, Ivan Pyryev,

Writers:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel), Ivan Pyryev

Stars:

Mikhail Ulyanov, Lionella Pyryeva, Kirill Lavrov

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mikhail Ulyanov	...	Dmitri
Lionella Pyryeva	...	Grushenka
Kirill Lavrov	...	Ivan
Andrey Myagkov	...	Alyosha
Mark Prudkin	...	Fyodor Pavlovich
Svetlana Korkoshko	...	Yekaterina Ivanovna
Valentin Nikulin	...	Smerdyakov
Pavel Pavlenko	...	Zosima
Andrei Abrikosov	...	Samsonov
Gennadi Yukhtin	...	Father Paisi
Anatoli Adoskin	...	Examining magistrate
Rada Volshaninova	...	Gipsy
Tamara Nosova	...	Marya Kondratyevna
Nikita Podgorny	...	Rakitin
Ivan Lapikov	...	Lyagavyj

Storyline

The 1968 film shows Fedor Karamazov as a stingy old man, who's three sons are after his money. The Karamazov brothers, Dmitri, a gambler, Ivan, a thinker, and Aleksei, a monk, are living through their different problems. Ivan is trying to save the world by making a story of "The Great Inquisitor". Dmitri, who lost money in gambling, is begging his father to help him. But the father gives a lot of money to his mistress Grushenka.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

12 July 1969 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Brothers Karamazov

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

232 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

User Reviews

A mixed bag

Some good performances, particularly Mark Prudkin as Fyodor Pavlovich, but the film's overbearing theatricality works against the drama of Dostoevsky's novel. The staginess is also not supported by the production design so the storm and stress performances feel ill matched to their realistic backgrounds. There's not much of a cinematic style to the film either and what there is is rather unimaginative. There's very little humor in the film for an adaptation of a novel that can be deeply and unsettlingly funny. And then there's the strange, wrong headed casting of Andrey Myagkov as Alyosha, arguably the central point of view of the novel. Myagkov's Alosha is a doltish void, somewhat of a holy fool, a characterization that might be found in other Dostoevsky novels but not in this one. All in all, a disappointment, not as embarrassing as the Yul Brenner adaptation but just as vulgar in its own way.