The Brothers Karamazov

Plot

In 1870 Russia, Fyodor Karamazov, a dissipated and unscrupulous businessman, manipulates three legitimate sons, Dmitri, an army officer; Ivan, a writer; and Alexey, a monk; as well as a bastard son, Pavel Smerdyakov, who lives like a servant in Fyodor’s home.

Impractical with money, Dmitri spends on drinking, partying, and women whatever money he can wrest from his father from an inheritance his mother left him. Before giving Dimitri any money, Fyodor forces him to sign a promissory note. Alexey delivers to Dimitri a portion of the amount he has requested from Fyodor, and Dimitri proceeds to drink and wreck a tavern in a brawl.

Besides financial irresponsibility, Dimitri has an idiosyncratic sense of gallantry. The desperate daughter of a military commander, Katya Ivanova, has agreed to exchange sexual favors for five thousand rubles to replace the amount stolen from her father’s charge. When Katya presents herself to fulfill the bargain, Dimitri sardonically proposes marriage, but Katya declines, saying that would be a greater degradation. Dmitri gives Katya the money without holding her to any bargain and sends her away.

After Dmitri is arrested for the tavern brawl, Katya visits him in gratitude in a military prison. When Dimitri asserts he always intended to give her the money, Katya declares her admiration to him and takes charge. Her grandmother has given her a generous dowry, and Katya now accepts his earlier half-serious proposal. Unenthusiastically, Dmitry agrees to their betrothal. Katya then intends to settle his debts with Fyodor, but Dmitri refuses. She bails Dmitri out of prison.

When Katya asks Ivan for details of Dmitri's youth, Ivan becomes attracted to her. Fyodor presses Dmitri to pay off his notes, and Dmitri leaves town for several months. During Dmitri’s absence, Ivan visits Katya daily, while Fyodor targets young, beautiful, shrewd tavern owner Grushenka Svetlova.

Fyodor and Grushenka plot to cheat Dmitri of his inheritance. To gain Grushenka’s regard, Fyodor has given her Dmitri's notes to collect for herself. Grushenka refuses Fyodor’s advances, but has former army captain Snegiryov, an employee, buy all Dmitri's debts at fraction value and demand repayment. Unable to pay, Dmitry will go to debtor's prison, and Fyodor can keep Dmitri's inheritance legally. Dmitri confronts Snegiryov in the street, humiliating the meek man in front of his young son Illusha. Katya again offers to pay Dmitri’s debts, but Dmitri refuses. She then asks him to mail a letter containing three thousand rubles to her father, knowing that Dimitri will keep the money.

Cast

Source:

Production

Development and casting

Producer Eugene Frenke had been in talks with West German company Constantin Film to develop an adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov, with a screenplay by Niven Busch and Philip Yordan, and Joan Collins as Katya.

Marilyn Monroe was rumored to be in negotiations to play the role of Grushenka, but several conflicting accounts arose around the time the film entered production. An MGM executive said she'd turned down the role in part because she was expecting a baby, but Monroe's agent denied this and claimed that the studio had never even made her an offer. Richard Brooks said that Monroe would have made a "fine" Grushenka, but claimed that negotiations fell through "because of her contractual demands and personal troubles." Carroll Baker was the next choice for the role, but Warner Bros. put her on suspension and would not loan her out after she refused to play Diana Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon. Maria Schell stepped in instead, making her American film debut. It was also the film debut for William Shatner, Albert Salmi and Simon Oakland.

Filming

The film was shot from June to August 1957. Richard Brooks had wanted to shoot on-location in Russia, but Cold War politics meant MGM insisted on recreating Russian locales at its studios in Culver City. Location filming also took place in London and Paris.

Changes from source material

Richard Brooks wrote the screenplay based on Constance Garnett's 1912 translation of the novel. In a 1957 interview, Brooks spoke about the challenges in adapting the expansive source material (with its heavy-use of flashbacks) into a feature film.

The principal character of the novel is Alyosha (called by his proper name 'Alexey' in the film), whereas the film shifts focus to Dmitri. Brooks stated he felt Dmitri was a more action-oriented character and thus a more appropriate protagonist for a film.

In the novel, Dmitri is indebted to Katerina, not his father Fyodor.

In the novel, Katerina assists Dmitri in his escape for incarceration. In the film, Katerina submits evidence against Dmitri, thus securing his conviction, and the escape is masterminded by the other brothers.

Release

The film had its premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York on February 20, 1958. It opened at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles on February 26 and a day later at 3 theaters in Florida before expanding to 20 US cities in March.

Reception

Box office

In its opening week at Radio City Music Hall it grossed $157,000. In its third week of release, the film reached number one at the U.S. box office. According to MGM records, the film made $2,390,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $3,050,000 in other markets, resulting in a profit of $441,000.

Critical response

Contemporary reviews were mixed to positive.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "Except for a halfway happy ending that blunts the drama's irony, [Brooks] has done a good job of compressing the substance of the book...But most of all, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Berman have put upon the screen a large splash of vigorous drama and passion involving interesting, robust characters." Variety declared "Sumptuous and sensitive MGM production by Pandro S. Berman doesn't sacrifice art to entertainment nor lose entertainment in a false conception of what constitutes art. The Brothers Karamazov should be one of the year's commercial successes." Harrison's Reports wrote: "Excellent is the word for this absorbing and vigorous screen version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's epic novel...The acting is superb, with brilliant performances turned in by Lee J. Cobb, as the lecherous and crafty father, and by Yul Brynner, as his fiery, quick-tempered eldest son." For the Los Angeles Times, Philip K. Scheuer called Brynner's performance "impressive" and wrote that Cobb as Fyodor Karamazov "succeeds in striking a recognizable and responsive chord with an audience," but found that Maria Schell's Grushenka was played "with a persisting Mona Lisa smile that I felt was not only foreign to the role of the materialistic, venal harlot but was also incomprehensibly at variance with her changing moods."

In more critical reviews, John McCarten of The New Yorker declared that the film "goes on for about two and a half hours, most of which you'd be better off spending at some more rewarding pursuit...I think that Mr. Brooks, in addition to being saddled with actors who just can't stand up to the obligations they've assumed, never quite grapples with the ideas that Dostoevski was trying to propound." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "There is none of Dostoievsky's profundity or exciting exploration of motive. All the brothers emerge as quite inexplicable people. It is hard to be sympathetic to Dmitri, and not to be embarrassed by Alyosha or scornful of Ivan. The performances throughout suggest that the cast never really knew what it was all about."