Dostoevsky on film

[dreamer]

Hi. I'm new to the forum and I am looking forward to intersting discussions.
Over the years I have seen several film adaptations of Dostoevsky novels and only recently I have managed to see the rare to non-Russian audiences "Brothers Karamazov" by Ivan Piriev, which I found to be an excellent film, beautifuly filmed and with superb performances, imensely superior to the horrible 1958 hollywood version. Actually i find it almost shocking that the american version is actually considered to be even partially succesful by many critics, as it manages to get everything wrong, even the character of Dimitri, on whom it choses to center as a protagonist (the way I see it, Yul Brynner as Dimitri is a disaster and perhaps the director is to blame,as he seems to have completely misunderdstood the character of Dimitri- shocking that almost no one seems to have noticed that on IMDB, both critics and viewers).
Any further discussion is welcome.
Other adapations that I have seen:
"Pickpocket" by R.Bresson (based on "Crime and Punishment"- excellent)
"Crime and punishment" by M.Golan with Crispin Glover(american, 2002- very bad, hardly even remember it)
"The Idiot" by A.Kurosawa (Japanese adaptation, to my mind a materpiece, a must-see for Dostoevsky lovers)
"The Idiot" By I.Piriev (Russian, satisfactory but a bit over-acted and only the first part of the novel, however with an excellent prince Miskin)
"Les possedes" by A.Wajda (in english, I really wanted to like it, but couldn't, mediocre acting and very uneven direction, with bad sense of rhythm, a pity for Wajda)
"Notes from Underground" by G.Walkow (american, quite unkown and an unexpectedly very pleasant surprise, with sensitive direction and a great performence by the leading actor)
I will see soon:
1969 Russian "Crime and Punishment"
2003 Russian "The Idiot" TV mini-series
Any comments and views are welcome

[Leo]

Hello, excellent post and I look forward to hearing more. One question though: Where do you find all these rare movies??

[dreamer]

Some of the films I have seen in art-houses and revivals, some on TVor DVD, but actually you can find some of them on the web, though english subtitles are extremely difficult to find.
Kurosawa's and Bresson's films can probably be found on DVD.

[Silvio]

I just by chance watched 'PickPocket' today. It is very
good, and while it's different in large ways, it's more
effective in making one feel the suffocating sense of
imminent arrest than most 'straight' versions.
There is an early 1935 version of Crime & Punishment
with Peter Lorre as Raskalnikov which is better than
any of the later versions. There's also Martin Scorsese
part of Manhattan Stories called Life Lessons & with
Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette. It's based on the Gambler.
Silvio

[Andrew Lapshin]

I will see soon:
...
2003 Russian "The Idiot" TV mini-series

I really envy you, dreamer, couse that's the best film I've ever seen! Actually I'm rewatching this movie now (fourth time!)... Also I may recommend for you one more great adapation -- "Crime and punishment" by Lev Kulidganov (1969) (Russian). Well, that's all... I really, really envy you!

Some links:
"The Idiot" (monologue)
"The Idiot" (a compilation from movie scenes)
"The Idiot" (scene)

[Scoundrel]

I want to buy that mini-series.... does anybody know where to find it?... with english subtitles

[Silvio]

Thankyou for those links. Lebedev could have walked
straight out of the book and apart from being able to
see the singed, rainbow coloured banknotes after
being retrieved from the flames, that scene is just
as I imagined.

[Scoundrel]

The Idiot is available on Netflix.... so I ordered it and intend to copy it when it arrives

[Frampton]

By the way, recently I've been watched Crime and Punishment by Aki Kaurismäki (1983) and it was pretty good. But don't expect original characters - the film's about Finland