''Crime and Punishment'' (French: ''Crime et châtiment'') is a 1935 French

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Pierre Chenal Pierre Chenal (; 5 December 1904 – 23 December 1990) was a French director and screenwriter who flourished in the 1930s. He was married to Czech-born French film actress Florence Marly from 1937 to 1955. Work Chenal was best known for film no ...

and produced by Michel Kagansky starring

Harry Baur Harry Baur (12 April 1880 – 8 April 1943) was a French actor. Initially a stage actor, Baur appeared in about 80 films between 1909 and 1942. He gave an acclaimed performance as the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the biopic ''Beethoven's Gr ...

, Pierre Blanchar and

Madeleine Ozeray Madeleine Ozeray (13 September 1908 in Bouillon – 28 March 1989 ), was a French stage and film actress. She appeared in many films between 1932 and 1980. She is the godmother of theater actor, dancer and singer Frédéric Norbert. Biogra ...

. It is an adaptation of the 1866 novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The same year a separate American film adaptation was made featuring

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art director Aimé Bazin. Chenal rejected Bazin's original designs as too realistic and historically faithful, as he wished to create a more

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

ambience for the film.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' in 1936,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

gave the film a moderately good review, praising the direction and the camerawork particularly during the murder scene, the fidelity of the film to the text upon which it was based, and the acting of Pierre Blanchar in portraying Raskolnikov. Of Harry Bauer's portrayal of Porphyrius, Greene described the acting as "a lovely performance, the finest I have seen in the cinema this year". For Greene, the major problem with the film was that by converting it into a film in the third party instead of approaching the tale from within Raskolnikov's mind, the film was necessarily curtailed. (reprinted in:

Cast

as Porphyre * Pierre Blanchar as Rodion Raskolnikov *

as Sonia * Lucienne Le Marchand as Dounia *

Marcelle Géniat Marcelle Géniat (1881-1959) was a French film actress.Goble p. 121 She was born Eugénie Pauline Martin in St. Petersburg, Russia, to French parents. Partial filmography * ''Le retour du passé'' (1916) * ''L'imprévu'' (1917) - Hélène Rav ...

as Mme Raskolnikov *

Alexandre Rignault Alexandre Rignault (14 February 1901 – 2 April 1985) was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films between 1931 and 1985. Selected filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rignault, Alexandre 1901 births 1985 deaths ...

as Razoumikhine *Sylvie as Catherine Ivanova *

Aimé Clariond Aimé Clariond (10 May 1894 – 31 December 1959) was a French stage and film actor. Clariond was born in Périgueux, Dordogne, France and died in Paris. Selected filmography * ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (1931) - Ivan Karamazoff * '' Amourous ...

as Loujine * as Aliona *

Georges Douking Georges Douking (born Georges Ladoubée; 6 August 1902 – 20 October 1987) was a French stage, film, and television actor. He also directed stage plays such as the premier presentation of Jean Giraudoux's ''Sodom and Gomorrah'' at the Thé ...

as Nicolas *

Marcel Delaître Marcel Delaître (1888–1963) was a French film and stage actor.Crisp p.94 Selected filmography * '' Happy Hearts'' (1932) * '' Poliche'' (1934) * ''Street Without a Name'' (1934) * ''Crime and Punishment'' (1935) * '' Girls of Paris'' (1936) ...

as Marmeladov * Catherine Hessling as Elisabeth * Daniel Gilbert as Zamiatov * as Polia * as Lieutenant Poudre * as Le Borgne * as Commissioner's assistant * as Nastassia * Léon Larive as Koch *

Charles Lemontier Charles Lemontier (1894–1965) was a French film actor.Aping p.76 Selected filmography * ''Street Without a Name'' (1934) * ''Judex'' (1934) * ''Crime and Punishment'' (1935) * '' Rigolboche'' (1936) * '' You Can't Fool Antoinette'' (1936) * '' ...

as Pestriakov

References

External links

* {{Crime and Punishment 1930s historical drama films French historical drama films 1935 crime drama films French crime drama films Films based on Crime and Punishment French black-and-white films Films scored by Arthur Honegger Films set in the 19th century Films set in Saint Petersburg 1930s French films