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The Somerset Maugham novel should be read by everybody at a certain age (say, early twenties), and this 1946 movie adaptation of The Razor's Edge stays faithful to the book's questing spirit. Despite its apparently uncommercial storyline, it was a pet project of Fox honcho Darryl F. Zanuck, who saw the spiritual journey of Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) as an "adventure" movie. Power, who was newly returned to Hollywood after his military service in World War I, does his most soul-searching work as the WWI vet who needs to find something in life deeper than money and conformity. The search takes him away from fiancee Gene Tierney and her skeptical uncle Clifton Webb and into Parisian streets and Himalayan mountain ranges. Herbert Marshall deftly plays the role of "Somerset Maugham," the observing author, and Anne Baxter picked up the supporting actress Oscar for her brassy turn as a floozy. The picture has the careful, glossy look of the studio system's peak years (you can sense Zanuck "classing it up" and squeezing the life out of it), and Edmund Goulding's tasteful approach is hardly the way to dig deep into the soul of man. If it seems a little staid today, its square sincerity nevertheless holds up well--and it just looks so fabulous. The really amazing thing about the movie is that it was made at all. A 1984 remake, with Bill Murray, is an extremely weird variation on the material. --Robert Horton
Description
Narrated by on-screen observer Maugham (Herbert Marshall), this intriguing tale centers on a soul-searching World War I veteran (Tyrone Power) who finds he can not settle back into the world of the upper class. Shunning his planned marriage and career, he travels abroad to seek the meaning of life and career, he travels abroad to seek the meaning of life and causes his distraght fiancee (GeneTierney) to seek solace with another man (John Payne).
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Close-up For A Bodhisattva,
By "colonelblitzcritic" (Seattle, In The Rain) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Razor's Edge (VHS Tape)
I've just been rewatching this with my daughter. It's an example of a film that does justice to its book. No, it exceeds that. The film's structure is leaner than Maugham's book. You know, less 'novelistic' and more 'cinematic'. In this case, the heightened drama helps contrast the high-societal nature of Paris/Chicago with proletarian life (anywhere) and spiritual life (Indian Himalayas and inside).It was sheer chance, at age 16, that I turned on a very early a.m. broadcast channel in Los Angeles and saw this for the first time. Actually, it had begun already, and I saw very soon the 'sunrise scene' which serves as an objective correlative for Larry Darrell's (Tyrone Power's) enlightenment. I started 'seeking' from that point. Maybe this is what 'critical theorists' mean when they urge us to ferret out contradictions: the irony that Hollywood 'sells' the repudiation of material acquisition. I bought the message. Wonderful performances by Ty Power (catch him reading Keats!), Gene Tierney, classic Clifton Webb, great voice-overs by one of the greatest film voices, Herbert Marshall (as Maughm), and young Anne Baxter as the lost Sophie. Post WWII 'dark' recuperation at its best. They should convert this to DVD.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Overblown and Pompous.,
By Milo "gjm" (Eastern Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Razor's Edge (VHS Tape)
Well I gave this a try and was quite honestly bored to tears. The performances of all involved were overblown to the point of parody and the only relief was the dry ascerbic wit of Clifton Webb. The scenes of Tibet (?) were laughable with hokey backdrops and a fake Guhru. I suppose that for it's time it had sincerity and believability. But even allowing for movie nostalgia it is hard to swallow today. I got the impression that despite this being a tale of one man's quest for enlightenment the whole topic was so alien to both actors and production crew that they had no idea how to interpret it. Our hero, wanders the world with some vague perception that there is something more to life than the world of American commerce, but appears to have no focus or destination. He does not write, nor does he paint. He spends the night on a mountain and sees God in the light of dawn. It's that easy? Whoopee. I'm sorry but not all vintage movies on literary themes are good, and this is one of the worst.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth watching but not buying,
By
This review is from: The Razor's Edge (VHS Tape)
Having watched the movie directly subsequent to reading the wonderful text, I knew that the film version would leave something to be desired, but I didn't know it would not only abridge the book, but alter many scenes as well -- for the worse. The first 30 minutes were superb -- as was Clifton Webb as Elliott Templeton. Tyrone Power just didn't seem like the right match to me -- he was perhaps a trifle guarded and meticulous in his portrayal of the winsome and quixotic Larry Darrell. Also, too many totally unnecessary, not to mention disconcerting, deviations from the text result as well. These include, but are not limited to: Larry's supposedly rough and bearded appearance when he returns from India (he comes back not only clean shaven but in a suit), Isabel (instead of Larry) recommends the vulgar bar where they meet Sophie, Isabel leaves to the dentist AFTER (not before) Sophie arrives, Larry accuses Isabel of getting Sophie drunk (instead of Maugham), Isabel and Gray arrive before Elliott dies (instead of after), and last but certainly not least, Suzanne Rouvier, a rather paramount character in the novel, is conspicuously absent from the ENTIRE movie. Overall, I found it worth watching, yet hardly riveting or true to the text -- to put it mildly.
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