Simply Perfect

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Richard Brooks was a talented and versatile director, well-versed especially in adapting literary works, concerning this I loved his movies based on Tennessee Williams' works and the movie adaptation of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" but this time he totally missed the point about the story. This adaptation is almost exclusively focused on the adventurous and romantic side of the novel missing out more important aspects as the characters psychology (which is rough-sketch), the critical analysis of religion and the existence of God, the reflection about the human condition, moreover it's absolutely unbalanced in terms of characters treatment, Dmitri seems to be the absolute protagonist around which revolves the story so Ivan and Alexi are reduced to supporting characters with no substance and, interestingly enough, it's just Ivan Karamazov the most important and complex character of the book (the author himself speaks through him), although The Brothers Karamazov was conceived by Dostoyevsky as a biography of Alexi Karamazov so if there's a protagonist that's just Alexi Karamazov, however the novel is choral enough it can't identify an absolute protagonist.There's two memorable moments in the book which don't find a place in the movie, both of them involve Ivan, I'm talking of the "The Grand Inquisitor" poem and the encounter with the devil towards the end, I consider them two key passages without which The Brothers Karamazov wouldn't be so great. On the other hand I can understand why they didn't include that kind of passages in the movie, due to their verbosity I think, however The Brothers Karamazov is a verbose novel, it's an inescapable aspect which makes this novel sublime, The Brothers Karamazov is mainly a philosophical and psychological work, let it be clear, it'a a lot of things, it's a crime story, it's a love story, it's a legal thriller, but all that is absolutely marginal compared to the depth and the authenticity of the characters, it's an amazing study of human nature, well this authenticity and this depth were totally lost in the movie; the characters turn out to be stereotyped and melodramatic, except the father played by Lee J. Cobb that I liked. Richard Basehart, who played Ivan, was definitely too old for the role, Ivan is 24 years old whereas Basehart was 44 when the movie was filmed, he looked clearly older than Yul Brynner who was supposed to be the elder brother, even if the actual age of the actors is not so important it's necessary to keep a consistency with the original characters in my opinion. Yul Brynner was decent enough as Dmitri, Dmitri himself is the character more faithful to the original, however I found Brynner good in the action sequences but a little expressionless in dramatic ones. What to say about William "J. T. Kirk" Shatner? I don't consider his performance so bad, I think his role was just poorly written, this Alexi Karamazov is just without personality. In short I consider this adaptation a sort of "The Brothers Karamazov" for dummies, in the sense that it was totally deprived of its "cerebral" content, what remains of this monumental masterpiece is the umpteenth Hollywood's melodrama with the classic "and lived happily ever after" ending (which was totally overturned compared to the book's) in Douglas Sirk style. If I should indicate a director who would have been able to do a great job with this story at that time I'd say Ingmar Bergman and I'd have liked to see Marlon Brando in the role of Ivan Karamazov, only two geniuses like those ones would have been able to do justice to this story, but now they're passed away as well as the time when it was still possible to make this kind of movies.

After watching this film for the first time I can see where Jerome Weideman got the inspiration for the novel that became the basis for the films House Of Strangers and Broken Lance. The Menottis of the first film and the Devereauxs of the second were definitely inspired by The Brothers Karamazov.The feelings for the father are the only thing that unite these four distinctly different brothers. Lee J. Cobb is a hard drinking, hard wenching, two fisted patriarch who is determined to beat everyone else in the game of debauchery. He's getting good competition from son Yul Brynner and it arouses some jealousy even though Brynner is engaged to a nice girl in Claire Bloom who also has a father giving both of them a run at that game. Things do come to a head when Brynner takes an interest in another woman who Cobb is currently keeping company with. In fact Inger Stevens and Cobb have a complicated scheme to get Brynner under their thumb through his gambling debts so he's forced to marry Bloom and start living respectively.The other brothers are unique individuals themselves. Richard Basehart is a reporter for a radical newspaper with budding revolutionary thoughts. William Shatner is a pious novice monk, he and Basehart are a study in contrasts. Finally there is Albert Salmi who claims Cobb as his father and who Cobb treats like a doormat. Not that this brutish sadistic thug is worthy of anything. All of the sons suffer from a lack of a strong father figure.The climax is when Cobb is murdered and Brynner is arrested for the crime. Fyodor Doestoyevsky is not Agatha Christie, people who like murder mysteries will have that solution figured out. But Doestoyevsky was writing this novel as a character study. Each of these brothers represent an extreme in terms of a way of living be it radical politics, religion, debauchery, or even brutish strength. An amalgam character of all of them would be a well adjusted man.The Brothers Karamazov got one Oscar nomination, Lee J. Cobb for Best Supporting Actor. Papa Karamazov is certainly the kind of role that one cannot possibly overact in and Cobb feasts on enough scenery for three films. He lost the Oscar sweepstakes to another patriarchal portrayal that which Burl Ives did in The Big Country.After over 50 years The Brothers Karamazov holds up very well, it's a good film and a good introduction to the works of Doestoyevsky. Try and see it back to back to back with House Of Strangers and Broken Lance.

The earthy intense smoking emotional energy of the actors pulls in the watcher. It stamps the viewer forever. A visit through movie watching becomes a memory that stays stamped on the viewer for eternity or as in my case a lifetime.Emotional fencing supported by the physical threat of violence wrapped in raw pure need and desire fired with a tight steal corset of greed. This movie is all of this and more. Why it is not higher in the rating is certainly a puzzle.Yul Brynner is timeless, and nails his character. Yul Brynner .... Dmitri Karamazov Character of strength and entitlement nails this character.Maria Schell .... Grushenka;Claire Bloom .... Katya, The female characters played well off each other. Lee J. Cobb .... Father Karamazov Cobb unbending with favorites who anoints the chosen one with forgivenessAlbert Salmi .... Smerdjakov William Shatner .... Alexi Karamazov Star Trek Captain character is not to be seen in this role, but his promise does shine through. Richard Basehart .... Ivan Karamazov The Submarine Captain of the future TV series, his strong voice, in this role he is a great. 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 I truly enjoyed this movie, it is one of my favorites, and has stayed with me over 40 years. That being said it definably struck a fiber cord with in my being

I have never read The Brothers Karamazov. I have always been under the impression that the novel is too long, probably preachy, and most probably boring. Therefore, I put off seeing this film, even though most of my friends and family gushed about it whenever I watched anything with Yul Brynner on it (Anastasia, Ten Commandments). When I came to New York as a graduate student, though, it happened that my roommate was an even bigger Brynner fan than I, and I soon found myself in what amounted to a one week Brynner marathon. The Brothers Karamazov was the 2nd film we watched. And I loved it. It felt strange to think so back then, and it feels strange to write it now. But I loved it.As a fan of both Classic films and literary classics (I haven't read Brothers Karamazov, but I have read several other classics, and thoroughly enjoyed them), I know that the first is almost always 180º apart from the latter. No one needs to tell me this film is probably only 20% of the original novel, and changed/re-arranged to boot. Doesn't matter. I still enjoyed it. I have never watched a film classic that so moved me, drew me in, and made me forget that the year was 1958. Brynner is at his most vulnerable here, and the actors portraying his brothers all did top-notch jobs (such a good job, in fact, that I was able to watch William Shatner -Captain Kirk to anyone remotely Trekkie- without even chuckling), as well as the leading ladies. Mr. Cobb deserved his Oscar. What a wonderful performance. The man must've had a blast playing Fyodor Karamazov; he cavorts about with energy and flair. The best scenes are whenever he is on screen with all four sons around him, although I liked this film so much that, at this point, "favourite scenes" would include 90% of the film. Truly a wonderful work. Don't hesitate, as I did, to treat yourself to this cinematic jewel.