Der Mörder Dimitri Karamasoff

Dostoyevski’s novel reduced to but a few elements: to the tense relationship between Dimitri and his father; to Gruschenka, who first turns the father’s head and then Dimitri’s; and to the murder of old Karamasov committed by Smerdiakov, the servant, which Dimitri is unjustly accused of.
“The sound film does not deny the previous work done by the silent film, nor has it dismissed it arrogantly; it has continued and developed it further. (...) The theme, the direction and the acting all work together perfectly to become one integral whole. Fritz Kortner as Dmitri Karamasoff dominates the cast but assumes the position assigned to him. His simplicity is no longer an understatement; it is completely natural and has thus become suggestive.” (Herbert Ihering, 1931)