In Fernando de Fuentes’ Crimen y castigo (US: Crime and Punishment), lead actor Roberto Cañedo delivers a gripping performance as Dostoyevksy’s famous protagonist, Raskolnikov, here re-named Ramón Bernal, the impoverished, tortured young student who must live with the guilt of having gotten away with murder. Cañedo broods and writhes as well as any dramatic actor, his fear and shame torturing his mind (and voice-over narration) from the moment he spies the hatchet in the street to his final confession to police detective Marín (Carlos López Moctezuma), both scenes splendidly filmed. Lilia Prado plays Sonia, the hooker with a heart of gold whose tender love for Ramón ultimately inspires him to relieve his conscience. Produced during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, the studio sets take on a mood of romanticized penury (note Ramón’s barren loft) while endless stairwells compel ascending and descending — which way is hell? — to intensify several of the most dramatic scenes. Stahl’s cinematography deftly follows Ramón’s mental expedition, vivid close-ups and low-key lighting capturing his descent into damnation and acceptance of fate.