CRIME AND PUNISHMENT USA

US, 1959, 78 minutes, Black and white.
George Hamilton, Mary Murphy, Marian Seldes, Frank Silvera, John Harding.
Directed by Dennis Sanders

Crime and Punishment USA is a small-budget film produced by Terry Sanders and directed by his brother, Dennis Sanders. They were later to make War Hunt and a documentary about Elvis Presley, This is Elvis. The screenplay was written by Walter Newman, adapting Dostoevsky's classic novel and making a brief American updated version. It works quite well.

The film introduced George Hamilton to his long career in film and television. He is the young man, a sociopath, impressed by his own abilities and seeing himself as beyond good and evil and human judgment. Frank Silvera is the policeman who pursues him, understands him, finally elicits a confession from him. Mary Murphy, who appeared with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, is the prostitute equivalent of Sonia in the original. Here she is Sally.

The novel was made a film in Russia. In the United States it was filmed in the mid-'30s with Peter Lorre and Edward Arnold.

1.A small-budget American film? A film of the '50s? The young film-makers and stars and their interest and enthusiasm?

2.Black and white photography, location photography in Los Angeles - a realistic portrait of the suburbs? The musical score?

3.The title, the basis in Dostoevsky, the quality of the adaptation, the use of the plot, updating it, finding American equivalents of the characters? The philosophy of the central character, beyond good and evil and judgment?

4.The adaptation of the plot: the ideas of the law, crime, the afterlife, the super man being beyond the law? The reality of personal responsibility? Bob's discussions with Porter about crime? The discussions with Weston and themes of eternity? Weston as a mirror image of Bob - his moving in, being close to Bob, the lunch, the amoral attitudes, the blackmail?

5.George Hamilton as Bob, his age, family background, the student, in need of money, dropping out of law, yet his legal knowledge? His fainting at the sight of the corpse? Rafe and his friendship, support? The irony then of his having the money, the wrench? The reality of his murdering the old money-lender? His attitude towards her? Condemnation? The irony of the injured man, Bob helping him home, the encounter with Sally? Porter and the discussions? The $10,000?

6.Rafe, his friendship, a mirror image of the possibility of Bob being a gentle man?

7.Porter and the police, the shrewdness, the interrogation of Bob, the second visit and his fishing? The discussion of the hypothesis of what had happened? The visit to the apartment, speculating about the motive? The discussions about the Age of Anxiety? The urging of the criminal to confess?

8.The visit of Bob's family, his mother and her caring? Debbie and her being tense, the story of her engagement? Her being engaged to enable Bob to be free to do his studies? Financially free? The encounter with Weston in the company, his harassment and her reaction? The restaurant and the champagne? The set-up and the man accusing Bob of being a murderer and Bob's pursuit of him? (As later explained by Porter?)

9.Bob, the effect of the murder on him, his mother and sister visiting, the encounter with Weston? His walking alone, meeting the girl and the coffee? Sally and her aspect about her father? The dying kiss and the flower? Her interest in Kahlil Gibran and "the prophet"? Her wanting to be a friend? The revelation of her life as a prostitute and his reaction? His falling in love with her? Their sexual relationship? His revelation about himself, a terrible sinner, the discussions about God, religion and the prophet?

10.His fencing with Porter, the confession to Sally? His wanting to go away? The effect of the suicide of Weston (and the audience knowing the truth, his approach to Debbie, her rejection of him)? Sally and her reaction, going to wait for him and go away with him, the packed suitcases? His ultimate decision to confess, "When nobody looks at you, you don't exist"? His walking away from Sally, his going into the police station and confessing?

11.A film of young film-makers of the '50s, tackling serious subjects with the basis in Dostoevsky? The impact decades later?