Hurrah for Karamazov!
Sep. 28th, 2010 05:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerTwo of my favorite films of all time are completely frickin' unavailable in the US.
One is The Brothers Karamazov, a worthy adaptation of my favorite book of all time. Purists might balk at that assessment, since it does away with most of the explicit existentialist theological philosophy (for some, the main purpose of the book), stripping it down to its main familial plot elements and murder mystery storyline. But I love stories of fucked-up families and relationships between flawed, humane characters with an ultimately hopeful conclusion, so I loved the movie so very, very much.
True Hollywood Story: according to Robert Osborne (can you guess where I first saw the film?), the film got made thanks to Marylin Monroe, who inadvertently popularized the idea of a Brothers Karamazov film when she expressed an interest in playing Grushenka. She was mocked, of course, but anyone who'd actually READ the book would tell that she'd have been fucking brilliant in the role. As it is, we have Maria Schell instead, but I ain't complaining. When I showed the film to my Dad nearly a decade ago, he said that Ms. Schell had a smile that just made a man melt. She certainly has that effect on me, even if apparently no one else sees the attraction.
Besides Schell, we have an all-somebody cast of Yul Brenner, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Baseheart, Albert Salmi, Claire Bloom, and an absolutely adorable William Shatner, all of whom absolutely rock the house. This is a three-hour film which I found completely engrossing each of the four times I watched it as a teenager, and I've been anxious to revisit it with Henchgirl, but it's been nowhere.
Recently, I found it all on YouTube, with Romanian subtitles, split in 22 parts:
... but it just isn't the same. It needs to be seen on a bigger screen, if not on the Big Screen (and why it doesn't get play at the AFI alongside other epics of the era is beyond me, as I'd much rather see this than Lawrence of Arabia).
Finally, I started thinking like a human being of the late 90's and went, hey, why not check eBay? Lo and behold, there's a decently-priced Korean version. Victory shall be mine. Soon, I shall sit down Henchgirl with some vodka and we'll have ourselves a grand movie night in.
Unfortunately, the other favorite film continues to elude me. I'll give that one its own post.
One is The Brothers Karamazov, a worthy adaptation of my favorite book of all time. Purists might balk at that assessment, since it does away with most of the explicit existentialist theological philosophy (for some, the main purpose of the book), stripping it down to its main familial plot elements and murder mystery storyline. But I love stories of fucked-up families and relationships between flawed, humane characters with an ultimately hopeful conclusion, so I loved the movie so very, very much.
True Hollywood Story: according to Robert Osborne (can you guess where I first saw the film?), the film got made thanks to Marylin Monroe, who inadvertently popularized the idea of a Brothers Karamazov film when she expressed an interest in playing Grushenka. She was mocked, of course, but anyone who'd actually READ the book would tell that she'd have been fucking brilliant in the role. As it is, we have Maria Schell instead, but I ain't complaining. When I showed the film to my Dad nearly a decade ago, he said that Ms. Schell had a smile that just made a man melt. She certainly has that effect on me, even if apparently no one else sees the attraction.
Besides Schell, we have an all-somebody cast of Yul Brenner, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Baseheart, Albert Salmi, Claire Bloom, and an absolutely adorable William Shatner, all of whom absolutely rock the house. This is a three-hour film which I found completely engrossing each of the four times I watched it as a teenager, and I've been anxious to revisit it with Henchgirl, but it's been nowhere.
Recently, I found it all on YouTube, with Romanian subtitles, split in 22 parts:
... but it just isn't the same. It needs to be seen on a bigger screen, if not on the Big Screen (and why it doesn't get play at the AFI alongside other epics of the era is beyond me, as I'd much rather see this than Lawrence of Arabia).
Finally, I started thinking like a human being of the late 90's and went, hey, why not check eBay? Lo and behold, there's a decently-priced Korean version. Victory shall be mine. Soon, I shall sit down Henchgirl with some vodka and we'll have ourselves a grand movie night in.
Unfortunately, the other favorite film continues to elude me. I'll give that one its own post.
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Date: 2010-09-28 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-02 05:06 pm (UTC)There's also a Russian many-more-parter that came out just last year, which I know even less about, except that it's not out on DVD yet.