It is usually fashionable to attack film versions of famous novels for their indifference to their source. Certainly The Brothers Karamazov was not allowed to escape the critical treadmill. However, I do not propose to discuss how much greater the film might have been if it did this or didn't do that, but how it actually is: Virtue number one is John Alton's photography - easily the finest in color yet seen. Notice how he contrives to illumine Katya's face as a pale, waxy texture; how Smerdyakov's features are lined with green, Feodor's with red; how he makes great play with shadows; how pleasingly he always lights the charming contours of Grushenka.Virtue number two is William A. Horning and Paul Groesse's art direction: cluttered claustrophobic interiors contrast muddy streets and drifting snow.Virtue number three: Bronislau Kaper's music with its richly reminiscent aura of Tsarist Russia.Virtue number four: Richard Brooks, though hardly our choice for the production, handles his material with great assurance and considerable competence.Virtue number five: Pandro S. Berman for his decision to film in Technicolor Metroscope rather than CinemaScope.Finally, the acting: Lee J. Cobb's is a juicy amalgam of Johnny Friendly and the Yiddish Art Theatre; Yul Brynner's is forceful and sensually elegant; Claire Bloom's is effective as the somewhat unrewarding Katya. It is nice to see Richard Basehart in a role he can handle (after La Strada and Moby Dick I was beginning to doubt his ability).Maria Schell is superb as the celebrated Grushenka: her hand-kissing scene with Katya is brilliantly realised.Newcomer Albert Salmi makes Smerdyakov a notable example of creative interpretation.As for Alexey, his position is somewhat honorary; he appears as a draped figure of hovering solicitude and some inscrutability; now and then he lays on a restraining hand, tears rise repeatedly in his eyes. He is impersonated, with no pretensions whatever, by a young actor named William Shatner, who, it is safe to guess, will have no truck with the teen-age trade.To sum up: It may not be perfect Dostoveski, but as a film - a definite must.

I was reading The Brothers Karamazov when this movie came on TCM. I recorded it and then watched it after I finished the book. There is no way that any movie could have duplicated this long, rambling book full of digressions, religious and psychological discussions, Russian nationalism, and satirical descriptions of inept doctors and lawyers. As a movie, it follows the basic plot well enough, ironing out the complexities and complications to make it a movie. A basic movie plot.Well, it's not all that much of a story by itself. The romance is unconvincing; there is little suspense or mystery. The production values are okay. It looks like we are in backwoods 19th century Russia, but, at the same time, it is hardly impressive.Lee Cobb makes a caricature in the book into a real person. Maria Schell plays a character who is supposed to have an infectious smile, but she smiles so much in the movie that it seems like a psychiatric condition. The rest of the cast is okay. Without the book's long back stories the characters have no depth in this movie and their motivations can be bewildering.

It's impossible to make a film based on such a book as the "Brothers Karamzov" by F.M. Dostojevsky.Richard Brooks is a great director, but that film is on a very low level.The worst part of the film was the ending. Well, let's think of the book. In the end we have the "guilty" Dimitrij Karamazov. Afterwards they sent him to Siberia. In the end, the famous epilogues of Dostojevsky, the friends and family making a plan to save him. But that's it ... a nd now the film takes two steps more and shows us an illusion ending of the escape of Dimitry and Gruschenka(I think). just from the moral point I'm sure that Dostojevsky would finish the book with an open end because one the one hand he is not guilty(Smerdjakov is the real murderer) and so he have to be a free man. But on the other hand he goes to his father to kill him, so he has decided to commit the crime... that's a moral dilemma and so the following point is an open end...well, for real ,it's just not full open.William Shatner as Aljoscha Karamazov... I'm sorry! --> NO!!!The others characters playing in a good performance as we have to expect it from such great actors ... In front of course a superb performance of Yul Breynner as Dimitrij. I think that there are not many actors who can play this part in a better way.But as I said in the beginning: This book is unadaptable. It never should be film in two hours that's impossible. I think that there are some 'longer films, so maybe they could do the right thing... But I just keep the opinion that this book can't be adapted.So - 3 points:A point for the great director Richard Brooks A point for a superb performance of Yul BrynnerFinally: A point for one of the greatest writers of all time: Dostojevsky

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.