Which Dostoevsky novel did Kurosawa adapt into a 1951 film?

Akira Kurosawa adapted Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot into his 1951 film The Idiot.

The Japanese title is Hakuchi, and the film relocates Dostoevsky’s story to postwar Hokkaido. Masayuki Mori plays Kinji Kameda, the Japanese counterpart of Prince Myshkin, while Toshiro Mifune, Setsuko Hara, and Yoshiko Kuga play characters corresponding to major figures from the novel.

The adaptation was unusually ambitious. Kurosawa initially made a 265-minute version intended as a two-part film, but Shochiku demanded severe cuts after a single screening. The original full-length version is considered lost; the longest surviving version runs about 166 minutes. This production history can cause confusion when viewers encounter different running times or descriptions of the film.

The film is also notable for its snowy Hokkaido setting and for featuring the Sapporo Snow Festival, which began in 1950. It was Kurosawa’s second film for Shochiku, following Scandal (1950), and remains one of his most direct engagements with Russian literature.