The Brothers Karamazov is a 1958 American period drama film directed by Richard Brooks from a screenplay co-written with Julius and Philip Epstein, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1880 novel. It stars Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, Richard Basehart, and William Shatner in his film debut.
The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on February 20, 1958. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, though the performances were widely praised. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and Lee J. Cobb received an Oscar nomination performance as Fyodor Karamazov. The National Board of Review ranked The Brothers Karamazov as one of its Top 10 Films of 1958.
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, 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, 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.
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.
Dmitri confronts Grushenka, but the two are strongly attracted and spend Katya’s money on a binge. Grushenka forgives Dmitri his debts when he determines not to marry Katya. Dmitri asks Alexey to speak to Katya to break their engagement. Dmitri and Grushenka start a passionate affair, but Dmitri’s obsession increasingly turns into corrosive, possessive jealousy.
Smerdyakov greatly admires Ivan, the intellectual, and in conversation both agree that if God does not exist, all behavior is permissible. Dmitri bursts in, looking for Grushenka, who he suspects is seeing his father. When Fyodor taunts him, Dmitri attacks his father, threatening to kill him if he sees Grushenka.
Alexey goes to Katya on his errand from Dmitri. He finds Grushenka with Katya, who assures Alexey that Grushenka is tired of Dmitri’s jealousy and wants to return to a Polish officer. Angered by Katya’s presumptuousness, Grushenka insists she has not promised to leave Dmitri and departs. Ivan arrives to inform Katya he is going to Moscow. When Katya urges him to stay, Ivan derides her for using him while besotted with an indifferent Dmitri.
Pawning his pistols, Dmitry asks Alexey to give the money to Snegiryov as an apology for his insult. Dmitri realizes he must take responsibility for his actions. While Dmitri collects debts owed him by army colleagues, Alexey takes the money to Snegiryov. Shamed by the insult, Illusha convinces his father not to accept the apology or the money.
Smerdyakov brags to Ivan that he is planning to arrange a confrontation between Fyodor and Dmitri and believes Dmitri will kill his father. After Ivan goes to Moscow, Smerdyakov puts his plot into action, arranging a rendezvous between Grushenka and the Polish officer. When Dmitri finds Grushenka gone, he goes to Fyodor’s, but Dmitri is unable to assault his father, even when Fyodor attacks him.
Confronting Grushenka and the Polish officer, Dmitri finds that the officer has been gambling all evening, and a neglected Grushenka realizes that he only wants her for her money. Grushenka apologizes to Dmitri and reconciles with him.
The police arrive and Dmitri is stunned to learn that Fyodor has been murdered. At his trial, Dmitri pleads guilty to a life of debauchery and debt but innocent of murdering Fyodor.
The prosecutor discloses that three thousand rubles were stolen from Fyodor the night of his murder. Katya testifies that Dmitri had taken the same amount from her but insists she did not want reimbursement. Afterward, Ivan tells Katya that he expects Dmitri will be found guilty, but he has a plan to smuggle Dmitri out of Russia.
At home, Ivan confronts Smerdyakov, wearing Fyodor’s clothes and drinking his liquor. Smerdyakov confesses to killing Fyodor and stealing three thousand rubles to implicate Dmitri but insists that Ivan was complicit when he took off knowing Smerdyakov’s plot. Ivan departs for the police. Later that evening, Alexey and Grushenka find Smerdyakov has hanged himself.
At trial, Ivan testifies to Smerdyakov’s confession and his own implication. A vindictive Katya produces a letter from Dmitri claiming he will repay her money even if he has to kill Fyodor to get it. Dmitri is found guilty.
The next day, Katya watches the train transporting prisoners to prison camp, disappointed that Dmitri is not among them. Ivan and Alexey have arranged to get Dmitri and Grushenka out of Russia.
As a last stop on their escape route, despite the obvious risks of wasting time, Dmitri visits the Snegiryov family, where Illusha lies in bed with a grave illness. First, Dmitri tries to buy the pardon of the boy with small gifts but the boy refuses and turns away.
Then Dmitri pretends it was just a duel that happened between the former captain and himself, and he was afraid for his own life, knowing the marksmanship of the former captain, and asks for forgiveness. The boy finally turns to his father and asks him to spare Dmitri’s life and release him from his bond. After this reconciliation, Dmitri and Grushenka resume their escape.
Cast
Yul Brynner as Dmitri Karamazov
Maria Schell as Grushenka
Claire Bloom as Katya
Lee J. Cobb as Fyodor Karamazov
Albert Salmi as Smerdyakov
William Shatner as Alexey Karamazov
Richard Basehart as Ivan Karamazov
Judith Evelyn as Anna Hohlakov
Edgar Stehli as Grigory
Harry Townes as Ippoli Kirillov
David Opatoshu as Captain Snegiryov
Miko Oscard as Illusha Snegiryov
Simon Oakland as Mavrayek
William Vedder as Father Zossima
Frank DeKova as Captain Vrublevsky
Jay Adler as Pawnbroker
Gage Clarke as Defense Counsel
Ann Morrison as Marya
Mel Welles as Trifon Borissovitch
Friedrich von Ledebur as Chief Judge
Ziva Rodann as Gypsy Singer
Gloria Pall as Peasant Girl
Production
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.
The film was shot from June to August 1957 in London and Paris.
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
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
