The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

Drama based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's homonymous novel about the proud Karamazov family in 1870s Russia.

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel), Julius J. Epstein (adaptation)

Stars:

Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yul Brynner	...	Dmitri Karamazov
Maria Schell	...	Grushenka
Claire Bloom	...	Katya
Lee J. Cobb	...	Fyodor Karamazov
Albert Salmi	...	Smerdjakov
William Shatner	...	Alexi Karamazov
Richard Basehart	...	Ivan Karamazov
Judith Evelyn	...	Mme. Anna Hohlakov
Edgar Stehli	...	Grigory
Harry Townes	...	Ippoli Kirillov
Miko Oscard	...	Ilyusha Snegiryov
David Opatoshu	...	Capt. Snegiryov
Simon Oakland	...	Mavrayek
Frank DeKova	...	Capt. Vrublevski (as Frank de Kova)
Jay Adler	...	Pawnbroker

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

russia | death | gambling debt | envy | betrayal | 

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Taglines:

A Man of Violent Passions...The woman he loved and the woman who betrayed him!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Polish Russian

Release Date:

26 February 1958 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Murderer Dmitri Karamazov

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$2,727,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,390,000, 31 December 1958

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,440,000, 31 December 1958

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avon Productions (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

145 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) Mono (Perspecta Sound)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Shatner, Richard Basehart, and Albert Salmi all appeared in " The Andersonville Trial"

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Goofs

(at around 38 mins) There's not a cloud in the sky but still it is snowing.

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Quotes

Smerdjakov: If you'll permit a comment, sir, you're not at all like your brother Dmitri.
Ivan Karamazov: Half-brother.
Smerdjakov: You're different from all of them. I could see that the first minute you arrived yesterday. Intelligence, audacity, cleverness...
Ivan Karamazov: You've just never met anyone who lives in Moscow.
Smerdjakov: No sir, it's those magazine articles you wrote, the ones about crime.
Ivan Karamazov: [pauses] You enjoyed them.
Smerdjakov: [takes out a magazine clipping, reads it] There is nothing in the world to make man love their neighbours. If there is no God, then ...

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Connections

Edited into Meine Schwester Maria (2002)

User Reviews

It's impossible....

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. Well, let's think of the book. In the end we have the "guilty" Dimitrij Karamazov. Afterwards they sent him to Siberia. In the end, the famous epilogues of Dostojevsky, the friends and family making a plan to save him. But that's it ... a nd now the film takes two steps more and shows us an illusion ending of the escape of Dimitry and Gruschenka(I think). just from the moral point I'm sure that Dostojevsky would finish the book with an open end because one the one hand he is not guilty(Smerdjakov is the real murderer) and so he have to be a free man. But on the other hand he goes to his father to kill him, so he has decided to commit the crime... that's a moral dilemma and so the following point is an open end...well, for real ,it's just not full open.

William Shatner as Aljoscha Karamazov... I'm sorry! --> NO!!!

The others characters playing in a good performance as we have to expect it from such great actors ... In front of course a superb performance of Yul Breynner as Dimitrij. 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. It never should be film in two hours that's impossible. I think that there are some 'longer films, so maybe they could do the right thing... 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 Brynner

Finally: A point for one of the greatest writers of all time: Dostojevsky