The Moon and Sixpence
by Albert Lewin
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Albert Bassermann, Doris Dudley, Eric Blore, George Sanders, Herbert MarshallDirector: Albert Lewin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Vci Video
Movie Reviews of The Moon and Sixpence
Movie Review: Fairly accurate portrayal...
Summary: 4 Stars
...of perhaps history's greatest novel.
I first read the book many years ago and fell in love with it. Then I fell in love with the work of Paul Gaugin of whom the book is a fictional biography. Yeah, yeah, there's the romanticism involved, i.e., a curator told me Gaugin apparently died of syphillus (though I'd read before that he died of heart failure). But Charles Strickland/Paul Gaugin represent the height of individualism: leave the comfortable behind for the unknown even though you don't know exactly what you're pursuing.
George Sanders, with whom I wasn't familiar, played Strickland. I thought he portrayed the role very well. He even laughed at the right places! (And, interestingly, Sanders seemed to have a little of the Strickland/Gaugin in his heart, if you read of his suicide. But I'll let you do that yourself.).
Herbert Marshall played Geoffery Wolfe, the Maughm-like character. I recognized him because he played Maughm in the 1946 production of "The Razor's Edge," another stellar Maugham novel.
The other characters were cast well for the roles described in the novel, especially Steven Geray as Dirk Strove--as accurate as any casting director could have been with Strove's description in the book.
Of course, there is only so much one can do with a film, and the novel is invariably better than the movie that way, but this one impressed me.
There are two versions of the film on the DVD, one as released in the theatre, and the other black and white. If you're anticipating a colorized version of the B&W print, you'll be disappointed. The theatrical release wasn't "color" like I would expect it today. But had it been, I wouldn't have been interested in it. (And I may yet watch the B&W. It'll remind me of my days of watching B&W television not that many years ago!)
The trailers on the DVD are fine too. I particularly liked Victor Mature in "Hannibal," only because I remember seeing that trailer on television when I was a kid. (I never got to see that film, probably never will, but I'll always remember that trailer).
So, again, if you want a book's details, this film won't provide them. But if you want a well-acted, fairly accurate portrayal of what went on in one of the best novels of all time, watch this one. You won't regret it.
Summary of The Moon and Sixpence
Loosely inspired from the life of French painter Paul Gauguin, Charles Strickland (Sanders), a middle-aged London stockbroker who abandons all responsibility to become an artist. Strickland pursues his dream to the extent of leaving his family, betraying his friends and associates, and living a life of unending hedonism in Tahiti. Undeniably brilliant as a painter, Strickland is also a good-for-nothing, until he is forced to confront himself on the threshold of death. Herbert Marshall plays Geoffrey Wolfe, who narrates the story as he attempts to make some sense of Strickland's creative ways.Action & Adventure DVD Video
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