Complete credited cast: | |||
Peter Lorre | ... | Roderick Raskolnikov | |
Edward Arnold | ... | Insp. Porfiry | |
Marian Marsh | ... | Sonya | |
Tala Birell | ... | Antonya Raskolnikov | |
Elisabeth Risdon | ... | Mrs. Raskolnikov | |
Robert Allen | ... | Dmitri | |
Douglass Dumbrille | ... | Grilov | |
Gene Lockhart | ... | Lushin | |
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Charles Waldron | ... | University president |
Thurston Hall | ... | Editor | |
Johnny Arthur | ... | Clerk | |
Mrs. Patrick Campbell | ... | Pawnbroker | |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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A. Gest | ... | Clerk |
Roderick Raskolnikov, a brilliant criminology student and writer, becomes embittered by poverty and his inability to support his family. When he sees a desperate prostitute, Sonya, degraded by a vicious pawnbroker, Raskolnikov, a proponent of the idea that some people are imbued with such intelligence that the law cannot be applied to them as to other people, decides to rid the world of the pawnbroker and thus save his family and Sonya as well from the fate poverty forces on them. When Porphiry, the police detective investigating the murder, encounters Raskolnikov, he finds a man nearly crippled by the guilt and paranoia his deed has burdened him with. But Raskolnikov clings with as much coldness and calculation as he can muster to his guiding idea, that some crimes ought not to be punished. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Columbia Pictures updated Fydor Dostoyevsky's classic novel "Crime and Punishment" from its original era and set it during the bleak years of the Great Depression. The updating works due to an excellent director and a superb cast. Josef von Sternberg guided the production along with his usual flair, making "Crime and Punishment" an entertaining motion picture. In the film, Roderick Raskolnikov (Peter Lorre) murders a haggish, old pawnbroker and soon discovers that he hasn't committed the perfect crime. Inspector Porfiry (Edward Arnold) is on to him and starts a cat and mouse game with Roderick that nearly drives Roderick insane. Also, a sympathetic prostitute, Sonya (Marian Marsh), falls in love with Roderick and begs him to give himself up and face the punishment that is coming to him. Although clearly a B-Film (notice that there are not many extras in the cast), "Crime and Punishment" is a good example of how an entertaining film can be made on a limited budget.