Crime and Punishment (1935)

Josef von Sternberg: Crime and Punishment (US 1935) with Edward Arnold (Porfiri), Marian Marsh (Sonia) and Peter Lorre (Raskolnikov).

Rikos ja rangaistus / Brott och straff. 

    US © 1935 Columbia Pictures Corp. A B. P. Schulberg Production. 

    D: Josef von Sternberg; SC: S. K. Lauren; Joseph Anthony - based on the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky (1866). DP: Lucien Ballard; AD: Stephen Goosson; ED: Richard Cahoon; COST: Murray Mayer; M Director: Louis Silvers; 

    CAST: Peter Lorre [(Roderick Raskolnikov)], Edward Arnold [(Inspector Porfiry)], Marian Marsh [(Sonya)], Tala Birrell [(Antonia "Toni" Raskolnikov)], Elisabeth Risdon [(Mrs. Raskolnikov)], Robert Allen [(Dmitri)], Douglass Dumbrille [(Grilov)], Gene Lockhart [(Mr. Lushin)]. 

    88 min

    A print from Cinemateket / Svenska Filminstitutet. 

    Viewed at Suomen elokuva-arkisto / Josef von Sternberg retrospective: Orion, Helsinki, 13 Oct 2009.

A fine and complete print.

Revisited a rare Sternberg film that I had seen only once before, in 1972 on tv. The film has apparently not been screened in Finland since.

Reputedly one of the few unpersonal Sternberg films, one of the few films he did without autonomy.

A low budget production, but the budget is not the problem. The interpretation is too simplified and obvious, but it is worth seeing now and then. - Although an opening title announces that this story can take place anywhere, certain details (newspapers with cyrillic letters etc.) show that it happens in Russia. - At the time of filming, the "superman" idea was valid in Germany.