Fine adaptation! Among the adapted versions translated to screen this is perhaps, the most successful. This classic story deals about an impoverished student living In a rooming house who decides to murder an old pawnbroker. No matter how many times you have watched or read this brutal story. This novel was the true pivot, the great gate to the existentialist movement. Think for instance in Dostoievsky's prodigal son; Albert Camus and the Happy death: you will find similar traces. This Russian adaptation maintains the mystery and sinister poetry, where all the centuries of Czarists oppression would seem emerge with all the potency of a volcanic eruption. Filmed in glorious black and white to accent the climax.
Awesome I was lucky to find an acutal Russian movie version of 'Crime and Punishment'. It was made in the 70s, but is in black and white. The directors and producers have done a fine job here in staying faithful to the book and going into the mind of the main character. It was the very psychological book and so is the movie. The movie is not as sad as the book though because very few people could duplicate Foydor's mastery. Read the book and then watch this movie (if you can find it).
Quality Production Gauging from the numerous limitations of a Soviet era production, this is an excellent piece of work and a worhty adaptation of the original novel. I doubt that more modern, American productions could capture the Russian feel and ultimate focus that Dostoevsky was concerned about (the book, D.'s only true commercial success within his lifetime, was a reaction against various similar murders in Pertersburg in the 1860's, and a direct attack on all the radical Bazarovs. _The Demons_, written a little later, is the masterpiece culmination of the "superman, socialist, nihilist" type character(s) and plot).
The subtitles are hardly a distraction. If you know the novel, even in those scenes where the subtitles are completely whited out, then you understand what the characters are saying.
The acting ranges from good to okay to poor, good being Porfiry and Raskolnikov, okay Dunia, Sonya, and Svivdrigalov [sp]. Poor acting jobs go to Luzhin, who while the most flat and one dimensional character of the novel, was given a general lackadasial portrayal.
Obviously, there were many scenes and ideas cut (the dream about the peasant and the horse, haymarket and most of the bar scenes, Svivdrigalov's struggle at the end, and finally the entire epilogue in Siberia). But that's to be expected.
Though there are some outstanding scenes that truly live up to the novel. The classic scene where the quiet man runs up to Raskolnikov's flat and walks away, only to bark back when Raskolnikov pursues "Murderer!" is an excellent example. The concluding scenes at the police station also do justice to the final paragraphs, as well as the character of the lieutenant.
Poor Production Quality This poor quality black and white production with English subtitles makes viewing laborious for one not fluent in Russian. There's supposed to be a new English langauge production mini-series out this fall, so I'll wait for it.
Bad subtitles ruin good movie!!! A visually impressive film that is faithful to Dostoevsky's novel. However, the bad black-and-white print of the movie is made even worse by the fact that the subtitles are in white -- in most scenes, they are completely unreadable!
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