The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

Simply A Masterpiece

A lot of fun.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Mary Schell.she did an admirable work. she impose the flavor of novel and propose a character who transforms each of its ingredient in a spectacular show. Yul Brynner . he gives a pure Dimitri Karamazov and the only sin is the fear to nod make errors so, the best option remains for him a cold - mannerist acting. the rest - pieces of a world who, American at all, preserves a Russian spirit. not only because it is a Dostoievsky's great book but for the effort to build atmosphere with traces of obsessions. a great show more than a good film because it represents the image of a period and the force of the script. a beautiful work. not extraordinary but beautiful. like a sort of time's capsule.

This is not a review. See other comments of those who liked this film. For me, it is one of the two worst films of literary masterpieces I have ever seen, the other being The Sound and the Fury. The actors were all fine. The father is wrongly characterized but well played by Cobb. Brynner is excellent as Dmitri. They are less ambiguous and so more easily screened. There is no way that anyone could capture Ivan, though Basehart does his best. And Alexei? It's not Shatner's fault that this role is written so terribly. As you can see, I absolve the actors of the crime committed by the film. Perhaps it is not Maria Schell's fault, either, that she mugs and grins her way through her ridiculous part. But I kept wishing she would stop smiling, just once stop smiling whatever emotion she thinks she is conveying. I felt this intensely both when I saw the film in 1958 and 2010. If anything Schell is worse than Joanne Woodward in the Faulkner film when the latter says, "And this fine old house just falling to wrack and ruin about our ears" Nothing in the film Karamazov, of course, about how the "miraculously preserved" corpse of Zosima starts stinking in short order. And predictably, of course, not a hint of the Grand Inquisitor. The worst omission by far, however, is the boys shouting "Hurrah for Karamazov" at the end of the book. Critics once voted that line the greatest single line in all of literature, second only to "Look up Nicholas, look up!" in George Eliot's Middlemarch. It's not that I expect a film to capture anything but glimpses of a great work, but this film is a travesty. Marilyn Monore would have been a big plus, as she was in The Misfits. 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. Well, what can one expect from 1950s middlebrow Hollywood? It's like penciling a mustache on the Mona Lisa to make it more accessible. No thanks.

I'd heard of the novel and its heavy arguments pro/con on religion, son and father relationships, to really love a woman, etc. Having just seen this production I'm impressed w/ the casting which is well-chosen, but some things in the story-telling left me dumb-founded. For one, Basehart's character witness stand confessional made no sense. For two, Salmi's character's private confession on the eve of Brynner's trail verdict also makes little sense. For three, I enjoyed Schell's character up until she turns sweet and becomes devoted to Brynner's character. I didn't buy it and figure because this is an MGM production the transformation wasn't in the novel (which I haven't read). Finally, the ending w/ the little boy's recovery from whatever ailed him physically was also TOO MGM for my taste.That said ... this is a handsome production with excellent use of colors and lighting. Every actor is believable in his/her role. Especially Ms. Bloom, a pre-Capt. Kirk Shatner, and Mr. Cobb who chews scenery like none other!

If you have not seen this-Please do. It has action,deceit,depravity,murder and all the things you might expect. The cast does a great job and after not having seen it for 44 years, it is STILL a great film.My wife asked me to order the film 10 days ago. I did. We both watched it today.Simply a great movie. Period. Enjoy.