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
Cinematographer: John F. Seitz
Writer: Albert Lewin
Editor: Richard L. Van Enger
Producer: David L. Loew
Producer: Stanley Kramer
Writer: W. Somerset Maugham
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Vci Video
Movie Reviews of The Moon and Sixpence
Movie Review: Thruppence
Summary: 3 Stars
This is in many ways a faithful version of the novel, with all of its flaws (it lacks the last scene back in England, and there is a little airbrushing of the reason why the Dutch artist's wife married Dirk, but otherwise it is fairly true to the book). The book is somewhat boring: as is the movie -- it was thrilling in its day, but we have been through many iterations of the tormented genius since then. The so-called colour of the last reel is strange: most of it is simply sepia, without explanation (the world of Tahiti is the world of sepia, like Oz I suppose). The pseudo-Gauguin pictures are the only things in real colour (they are very interesting, un-Gauguin-like copies, more naturalistic -- or if you like, about as authentic as the "Bali-Java-Hollywood" dancing that goes on in one scene. The artist -- whoever it was who did them -- was clearly fascinated with the opportunity to show naked Tahitian breasts on screen!). The filmmaker has a scene or two at the end set up to mimic real Gauguin paintings (and these living images are actually quite finely considered). And there is a terrific gauguinesque "primitive" statue that appears throughout: someone who really knew Gaugin's work did that. It is interesting that the filmmakers left until the very end the showing to us of the paintings -- in so many films (e.g. Picasso) we see the artist's "work" or the knockoffs thereof and the whole artist image in the film collapses. This time they wait until the last possible moment -- very wise.
The film is marred by a couple of things: (1) the score (famed Dmitri Tiomkin) is horribly intrusive, and in fact it appears to be designed to treat the whole movie as a quirky comedy, which it certainly is not; and (2) the film is bracketed by two explanations of how awful/geniusy the hero is, in case the restless audience has any doubts. The most intriguing thing about the film is that every once in awhile it becomes slightly weird: camera angles are occasionally odd, and there are characters that are quirky (especially the expat Tahitians). And there is an impassioned performance (very German expressionist) by the Dirk character. The whole middle section of the film has this weird quality which is hard to describe, but not your usual movie stuff.
It is worth noting for anyone who doesn't know the original story of Gauguin, that the biography is false: Gauguin died of syphilis; he and his wife continued their correspondence for a number of years; and he had many women along the way. The true part is that he was indeed a creep -- and also, in reality, Gauguin was a serious self-marketer all his life. He knew exactly how to hype himself.
It is also nice that Sanders got such a juicy part for a change.
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.Drama DVD Video
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