Dostoevsky: Demons discussion

I found it interesting that in 1913 the Moscow Art Theatre put on a production of Demons/The Possessed which was called "Nikolai Stavrogin."

"The production of Nemirovich-Danchenko’s Nikolai Stavrogin, an adaptation of Dostoyevsky‘s novel The Possessed, became controversial after it stirred Maxim Gorky to write vehement articles in protest at MAT’s staging of a reactionary novel. The performers included Olga Knipper, widow of Anton Chekhov and Vasili Kachalov. " (As per the link below.)

Here is a description of the opening night performance as experienced by Karl Kingsley Kitchen and published in his 1914 book The Night Side of Europe, as seen by a Broadwayite Abroad. He does not give much description of the actual play but focuses more on the theater and theatergoers:
https://theatregoing.wordpress.com/ta...

An 8-page PDF analysis of the film versions of Demons can be found here: http://mundoeslavo.com/index.php/mesl...

"Demons on the screen" by Irina Kuznetsova, New Economic School July 30, 2017.
ABSTRACT:
"Dostoevsky’s Demons is arguably his most difficult novel to transpose to the cinema. Yet, in the last thirty years this novel has been adapted for the screen more frequently than any other of Dostoevsky’s works. This paper juxtaposes two most prominent Russian transformations of this novel: TV-series Demons (2014) by Vladimir’s Khotinenko and Demons: Nikolai Stavrogin (1992) by Igor and Dmitry Talankin. These films offer distinctive conceptions on adapting the novel and illustrate the major differences in approaches to adaptation of classical literary texts at the beginning of the post-Soviet period and during the so called “restoration turn” of 2000s. For example, whereas the Talankins’ film targets a limited audience and engages freely and creatively with the source novel, Khotinenko’s Demons, addresses the mass audience and adheres closely not only to the “hypotext,” but also to Dostoevsky’s letters and notebooks, bringing to the forefront the issues, associated with the “fidelity criticism”. Both films, however, underscore the ongoing relevance of Dostoevsky’s text. But whereas the Talankins’ Demons engages with Russia’s past, affecting its transitional present, Khotinenko draws on Dostoevsky in order to shape a picture of the future. In the end, both films reflect back on the periods of their making, unraveling these periods’ social, political and artistic
anxieties. ..."

"Besy"/"Demons" is Vladimir Khotinenko's 4-part TV Miniseries produced in 2014; it used to be available with English subtitles on Amazon Prime, but is not available now.

I would be interested to know if anyone has found another streaming source or availability via DVD now.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3764244/...

According to this Amazon review, it is not recommended to try watching the series as you read the book-- it starts about 20% into the novel and contains spoilers upfront:

"In most respects, the mini-series is impressively faithful to the novel: scenes, dialog, sets, and character actions (movements, facial expressions, exclamations, etc.) are reproduced exactly from the novel. Casting is nearly perfect: the actors brilliantly bring Dostoyevsky’s characters to life. Production values are very high. The language track is in Russian, of course, but the series has excellent English subtitles.

Three issues:
- Scenes often involve multiple characters speaking in rapid Russian. If you are fully focused on reading subtitles, you may miss what is happening in a scene. Therefore, you may need to view scenes more than once for full understanding.
- The mini-series starts with scenes that occur approximately 20 percent into Dostoyevsky’s novel. By skipping over the first part of the novel, the series skips over the introductory descriptions of the characters. Therefore, if you have never before read the novel, the initial scenes may be a little confusing. It might be best to read (or reread) the first 160 pages (more or less) of the novel prior to watching this mini-series.
- In the novel, the reader only learns of certain dramatic events towards the very end. In this mini-series, the director reveals some of those events very early in the production. I suppose he did this (inserted “spoilers”) to “hook” the audience and promote better understanding of events. I would have preferred a dramatization that exactly followed the novel." - SeekingTraveler

Apparently the BBC created a TV miniseries called The Possessed in 1969 that was released in the USA in 1971 through the Masterpiece Classics.
It starred Keith Bell as Stavrogin.

Episodes were called "The Sins of Others," "The Cripple," "The Convict," "The Meeting," "The Fire," and "The Last Murder."

I can't find a specific name of a director.

Here is a review written by a user on IMDb:
"I never forgot this brilliantly acted and intriguing mini-series presented by the BBC on American television (Masterpiece Theater). Classic Russian drama at its best (topped only by "Anna Karenina.") I fell in love with Keith Bell and believe that he was in more than one episode. Nikolai Stavrogan (sp) was presented as a Byronic hero who, nevertheless, was reluctant to inspire his wannabe rebellious comrades. I remember the character of his mother, but don't remember the actress's name. She, too, was a riveting character. This series, taken from the novel, "The Devils" is a classic. I've been trying to purchase a copy of "The Possessed" for years. Now I'm an old lady and still don't have this masterpiece in my home video collection."