Guilt and Atonement (1935, USA)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Crime and Punishment |
| Original title | Crime and Punishment |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1935 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Josef von Sternberg |
| script |
Joseph Anthony S. K. Lauren based on the novel of the same name (1866) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
| production | BP Schulberg |
| music |
RH Bassett Louis Silvers |
| camera | Lucien Ballard |
| cut | Richard Cahoon |
| occupation | |
| |
Guilt and Atonement is an American film from 1935 based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky . Peter Lorre plays the lead role as Raskolnikow, directed by Josef von Sternberg .
action
Radion Raskolnikow is a young law student of 23 who had to interrupt his studies because he ran out of finances. The pawnbroker Aljona Ivanovna, from whom he has to borrow money again and again, is a usurer and, as he says, tightens Rodion's air to breathe. So Raskolnikov comes up with the plan to murder the old woman. He kills Aljona with an ax. In order to give his bloody act a philosophical foundation, the intellectual Raskolnikov tries to define the murder as an act of liberation from humanitarian sentimentalism, especially since he felt the old woman as a bloodsucker. When the dead woman's half-sister, Katharina Ivanovna, arrives, he uses the same ax to split the skull of the disliked witness.
However, Raskolnikov has to recognize that there is a huge difference between the theory of murder, which he sees as justified by definition by his personal ideology, and the feeling of guilt that he has carried within himself since the crime was committed. He is not the person he believed he was without a conscience and after the double murder he falls into a feverish twilight state of several days. In the meantime the examining magistrate Porfirij has started his work and is looking for the perpetrator. The experienced lawyer’s intuition soon makes him guilty of Raskolnikov, and yet he cannot prove anything to the young Rodion. Young Sonja, with whom Raskolnikow fell in love and who prostituted herself out of bitter poverty in order to be able to support her family, advises Rodion to face himself, since he will not be able to live with this guilt in the long term. Raskolnikov listens to their advice and makes atonement for the act committed. He has to go to a penal camp in Siberia for eight years.
Production notes
Sternberg's Schuld und Atonement was written almost at the same time as the French version of the same name by Pierre Chenal . The American film opened on November 22, 1935. The film could also be seen in the Netherlands that same year. Guilt and Atonement was never shown in cinemas in Germany; the first broadcast took place on January 30, 1972 on WDR television .
Stephen Goosson designed the film structures . Louis Silvers was also the musical director. The costumes come from the hand of Murray Mayer .
Reviews
"Dark drama of the soul directed by Josef von Sternberg, especially interesting because of Peter Lorre's expressionist interpretation of the main character."
"Fascinating Hollywoodization of Dostoyevsky's novel ... Low budget but full of imaginative ideas on the part of Sternberg."
"Clumsy rendering of Dostoevsky, of some interest in terms of image design."
Individual evidence
Web links
- Crime and Punishment in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- extensive review in the New York Times