A Timely Blogathon – Crime and Punishment (1935) – MovieRob

This post is my 8th entry in this month’s A Timely Blogathon being run by Anna of Film Grimoire and myself.

Stick around to see (at least) one new entry a day from many of the talented writers who have joined us in watching and reviewing films under 90 minutes long.

–
“Haven’t you ever committed a wrong? If you have, you must know that the worst consequences have the unforeseen ones. Its like dropping a stone in a pool. Waves spread out in all directions and touch shores you couldn’t see before.” – Grilov

Number of Times Seen – 1 (14 Jul 2016)

Brief Synopsis – After committing what he feels is the perfect murder, a criminologist tries to live with what he has done

My Take on it – This is one of those movie adaptations of a great work that I have been avoiding to watch for years for some unknown reason.

I’m actually not even sure if I ever read the book (or the cliff notes of it), but I found this to be quite a simple story about an intellectual trying to live his life after knowingly committing a dastardly crime.

I have read that this version isn’t even close to be as faithful to the novel as one would hope and knowing that made me at least feel a bit relieved that the classic book by Dostoevsky isn’t as bland as this film was.

Peter Lorre and Edward Arnold were actually quite good together during their intellectual battles of wit.

I now need to try and find a better version of this in order to better understand what the classic tale was really all about. (suggestions are always welcomed) 🙂

Bottom Line – Not as interesting as I had hoped it would be knowing that this story is suppose to be a classic. I have now realized that this version isn’t really the best one to watch in order to try and get the real story that Dostoevsky wanted us to get from his writing. Lorre and Arnold are pretty good together in their battle of wits and  I now know that I need to find a more faithful version to watch.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Josef von Sternberg was contractually obligated to make this film, and he disliked it, saying in his autobiography that it was “no more related to the true text of the novel than the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower is related to the Russian environment.” (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z