The Brothers Karamazov is a 1958 American period drama film[3] directed by Richard Brooks from a screenplay co-written with Julius and Philip Epstein, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1880 novel.

It stars Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, Richard Basehart, and William Shatner in his film debut.

The desperate daughter of a military commander, Katya, has agreed to exchange sexual favors for five thousand rubles to replace the amount stolen from her father’s charge.

During Dmitri’s absence, Ivan visits Katya daily, while Fyodor targets young, beautiful, shrewd tavern owner Grushenka.

Grushenka refuses Fyodor’s advances, but has former army captain Snegiryov, an employee, buy all Dmitri's debts at fraction value and demand repayment.

Dmitri confronts Snegiryov in the street, humiliating the meek man in front of his young son Illusha.

After Ivan goes to Moscow, Smerdyakov puts his plot into action, arranging a rendezvous between Grushenka and the Polish officer.

A vindictive Katya produces a letter from Dmitri claiming he will repay her money even if he has to kill Fyodor to get it.

As a last stop on their escape route, despite the obvious risks of wasting time, Dmitri visits the Snegiryov family, where Illusha lies in bed with a grave illness.

Source:[3] Marilyn Monroe was rumored to be in negotiations to play the role of Grushenka, but several conflicting accounts arose around the time the film entered production.

An MGM executive said she'd turned down the role in part because she was expecting a baby, but Monroe's agent denied this and claimed that the studio had never even made her an offer.

[5] Richard Brooks said that Monroe would have made a "fine" Grushenka, but claimed that negotiations fell through "because of her contractual demands and personal troubles.

"[6] Carroll Baker was the next choice for the role, but Warner Bros. put her on suspension and would not loan her out after she refused to play Diana Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon.

It opened at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles on February 26 and a day later at 3 theaters in Florida before expanding to 20 US cities in March.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote "Except for a halfway happy ending that blunts the drama's irony, [Brooks] has done a good job of compressing the substance of the book...But most of all, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Berman have put upon the screen a large splash of vigorous drama and passion involving interesting, robust characters.

"[14] Harrison's Reports wrote: "Excellent is the word for this absorbing and vigorous screen version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's epic novel...The acting is superb, with brilliant performances turned in by Lee J. Cobb, as the lecherous and crafty father, and by Yul Brynner, as his fiery, quick-tempered eldest son.

"[15] For the Los Angeles Times, Philip K. Scheuer called Brynner's performance "impressive" and wrote that Lee J. Cobb as Fyodor "succeeds in striking a recognizable and responsive chord with an audience," but found that Maria Schell's Grushenka was played "with a persisting Mona Lisa smile that I felt was not only foreign to the role of the materialistic, venal harlot but was also incomprehensibly at variance with her changing moods.

"[16] In more critical reviews, John McCarten of The New Yorker declared that the film "goes on for about two and a half hours, most of which you'd be better off spending at some more rewarding pursuit...I think that Mr. Brooks, in addition to being saddled with actors who just can't stand up to the obligations they've assumed, never quite grapples with the ideas that Dostoevski was trying to propound.