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Best movie of this year hands down!

Such a frustrating disappointment

Admirable film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The admirable effort to squeeze one of the greatest novels of all time into a film has resulted in a controversial masterpiece of intensity, and Dostoievsky would have liked it. Maria Schell (Grushenka) and Lee J. Cobb (the murdered father) stand out of a congregation of an ideal acting ensemble. Yul Brunner as Dimitri, Claire Bloom as Katia, Richard Baseheart as Ivan, William Shatner as Alyosha and Albert Salmi as a perfectly loathsome Smerdyakov are all perfect in their performances leaving nothing out, the music is perfectly fitted into the constantly changing and dramatic moods of ever increasing tension, but the greatest credit goes to the writer/director Richard Brooks, who has succeeded with the impossible, to give one of the most complex and polyphonic novels a digestible cinematic form. He adds to the show by including some extra scenes to make the drama easier to grasp, like a considerable foreplay to where the real start of the novel, the family congregation at the Starets Zossima's. I saw this film some 40 years ago and have never been able to forget the performances of Maria Schell and Lee J. Cobb, and the pleasure of reviewing them in what could have been their best performances was a welcome return of a great delight. It was a special satisfaction to observe how Richard Brooks has succeeded in underscoring the romantic element of Dostoievsky, he is in fact the greatest of romantics although well covered under a massive outfit of humanity, intelligence, psychology and the faculty of anatomizing human nature. The romance here is that between Dimitri and Grushenka, totally hopeless because of the circumstances but therefore the more heightened. It is very interesting to compare this film version with the Russian complete screen adaptation of 2008, which will be reviewed later. They definitely complement each other.

It's 1870 Ryevsk, Tsarist Russia. Fyodor Karamazov (Lee J. Cobb) is a wealthy tyrannical father to four grown sons and has the mistress Grushenka (Maria Schell). The oldest Dmitri (Yul Brynner) is an officer who always fights with his father over 25k rubles left by his mother and engaged to the rich Katya (Claire Bloom) who wants to repay Dmitri for bailing out her father. Ivan (Richard Basehart) is an atheist rationalist and cool towards his family. Katya and Ivan develop feelings for each other. Alexey (William Shatner) is the saintly novice monk. Pavel Smerdyakov (Albert Salmi) is rumored to be the illegitimate son who was brought up by servants and works for Fyodor. Fyodor with Grushenka's help aims to put Dmitri in debtor's prison. Dmitri had to write IOUs to his father which he sells to Grushenka at half price.The acting style is big. Cobb does impressive drunk bombastic acting. Brynner needs a bit more emotions. He's too upright and always with that superior mannerism. The dialog is somewhat stiff. Marilyn as Grushenka would have been very interesting. Maria Schell is perfectly fine. The material feels rather like the highlights of a large Russian book. It's probably best to have read the book first. It's an impressive attempt.

This movie succeeds best in creating believable characterizations, particularly of Yul Brynner's fascinating Dimitri and Maria Schell's Druzhinka.For anyone interested in family dynamics and love relationships "Brothers" presents a web of triangulated rivalries and unrequited, seething passions -- fiction that rings powerfully true.Lee J. Cobb's debauched patriarch commands the screen and his world-weary, cynical musings ring as true as those of his sons', including an unrecognizable William Shatner as a monk who seems to walk if not on water than several inches above the earth the rest of us mortals tred.I am embarrassed to admit I haven't read this great novel -- although the movie makes me want to -- so I wasn't familiar with the story. However the movie seemed to waste the talents of beautiful Claire Bloom in the role of a masochistic yearner. And the ending seemed somehow rushed and incomplete, leaving one to wonder how Dimitri fled so easily.The movie, filmed in Hollywood, delightfully conjured rural Russia and its wonderful horse-drawn carriages and snowscapes.An excellent tribute to a classic.

Novels and movies are separate disciplines and each has its own requirements. People who want to read Dostoevsky and people who want to know what one of his books is about also have separate needs. I am a Dostoevsky lover, and have read THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV in several translations (no, I don't know Russian). This film hits all the necessary high notes to cover the book's plot, and so the screenplay serves the film well. The brothers themselves (Yul Brynner, Richard Basehart, Albert Salmi and William Shatner) turn in variable performances. Basehart comes in first place, with Brynner smoldering not far behind. A young William Shatner shows promise, while Salmi's inexplicable whine is almost unbearable, which is a shame because Salmi was a good, though underused, actor. Stealing the show from the brothers in every scene he's in is the wonderful Lee J. Cobb. Fans of the book will be disappointed at the excisions, but they were necessary to pare the story down to a workable movie. And, though I love the book and think it may be the world's great novel, I prefer the ending of the movie! Dostoevsky's book is open-ended as he intended it to be an introduction to characters he intended to use in further book -- but he died before it was written. So the movie wraps everything up nicely. Ivan's end scene is much preferable (no spoilers, though! See the movie and read the book!). Although Alexei is the main character in the book, he's basically an observer. Dmitri (perfectly captured by Brynner) is the powerhouse of the book and should be the focus in a dramatic adaptation, as he is here. A worthy effort in making an unfilmable novel filmable. If you want to know what the book is about but a thick novel is daunting, this film tells you everything you need to know.