Crime and Punishment

Josef von Sternberg's 1935 film adapts Dostoevsky's novel inside the Hollywood studio system. Raskolnikov, a former student, cannot pay his rent and, considering himself above ordinary people, treats committing a murder as justified. Once the police investigation begins he is caught between concealing the crime and the urge to confess. At the centre is Peter Lorre's Raskolnikov, whose small frame and fixed stare carry the character's arrogance and panic at once. His scenes opposite Edward Arnold's inspector are the best-transferred parts of the novel. The adaptation shortens the book heavily and removes almost all of its religious dimension; the result is not a philosophical text but a studio picture that builds tension through psychology. Who it's for: viewers who like classic Hollywood adaptation and Peter Lorre. Who it's not for: anyone expecting fidelity to the novel; the film leaves most of it out.