Crime and Punishment (1935 American film) Crime and Punishment (1935 American film) Crime and Punishment is a 1935 film directed by Josef von Sternberg for Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was adapted by Joseph Anthony and S.K. Lauren from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same title. The film stars Peter Lorre in the lead role of Raskolnikov (here named Roderick instead of Rodion). Von Sternberg, who was contractually obliged to make the film, disliked it, later writing that it was "no more related to the true text of the novel than the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower is related to the Russian environment." The Library of
The Color of Crime (1998 book) as a path-breaking book". An edition of the "American Journal of Sociology" states that Russell-Brown makes an "indispensable, intelligent, and practical contribution" to the issues of race and crime. Erica Chito Childs in "Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture" (2009) writes that the book provides an excellent analysis of the media reaction in the O. J. Simpson murder case. However, Russell-Brown, who is African-American, and the book have been criticised for being biased. Critics have said the book downplays the level of black crime and that it over-attributes black crime to a discriminatory justice system. The