The Razor's Edge
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Movie Reviews of The Razor's Edge
Movie Review: Far Better than the Bill Murray Version
Summary: 3 Stars
This rendition of the Somerset Maugham story is best thought of in contrast to the version starring Bill Murray. He, Bill Murray, is wooden in his interpretation of Larry, and the people who made the movie just showed no understanding at all of the story or the point it was making. This version starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, and Anne Baxter whilst having its weaknesses, is far, far better, and more satisfying. I threw my Bill Murray DVD in the bin but I'll be keeping this one.Movie Review: Darryl F. Zanuck wrestles with enlightened goodness in Somerset Maugham's novel. Zanuck wins
Summary: 2 Stars
What if Somerset Maugham had written a novel about a coal miner who decided to search for transcendental enlightenment by trying to join a country club? If he had, he could have called it The Razor's Edge, since the Katha-Upanishad tells us, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." But Maugham decided to stick with the well-bred class, and so we have Darryl F. Zanuck's version of Larry Darrell, recently returned from WWI, carefully groomed, well connected in society and determined to find himself by becoming a coal miner.
Or, as Maugham tells us, "This is the young man of whom I write. He is not famous. It may be that when at last his life comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on this earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water. Yet it may be that the way of life he has chosen for himself may have an ever growing influence over his fellow men, so that, long after his death, perhaps, it will be realized that lived in this age a very remarkable creature."
The Razor's Edge has all of Zanuck's cultural taste that money could buy. It's so earnest, so sincere...so self-important. As Larry goes about his search for wisdom, working in mines, on merchant ships, climbing a Himalayan mountain to learn from an ancient wise man, we have his selfish girl friend, Isabel, played by Gene Tierney, his tragic childhood chum played by Anne Baxter, the girlfriend's snobbish and impeccably clad uncle played by Clifton Webb, and Willie Maugham himself, played by Herbert Marshall, taking notes. The movie is so insufferably smug about goodness that the only thing that perks it up a bit is Clifton Webb as Elliot Templeton. "If I live to be a hundred I shall never understand how any young man can come to Paris without evening clothes." Webb has some good lines, but we wind up appreciating Clifton Webb, not Elliot Templeton.
Zanuck wanted a prestige hit for Twentieth Century when he bought the rights to Maugham's novel. He waited a year until Tyrone Power was released from military service. He made sure there were well-dressed extras by the dozens, a score that sounds as if it were meant for a cathedral and he even wrote some of the scenes himself. The effort is as self-conscious as a fat man wearing a rented tux. Despite Hollywood's view of things in The Razor's Edge, I can tell you that for most people hard work doesn't bring enlightenment, just weariness and low pay.
After nearly two-and-a-half hours, we last see Larry carrying his duffle bag on board a tramp steamer in a gale. He's going to work his way back to America from Europe with a contented smile on his face. "My dear," Somerset Maugham says to Isabel at the same time in an elaborately decorated parlor, "Larry has found what we all want and what very few of us ever get. I don't think anyone can fail to be better, and nobler, kinder for knowing him. You see, my dear, goodness is after all the greatest force in the world...and he's got it!" Larry and the audience both need a healthy dose of Dramamine.
Maugham, lest we forget, was a fine writer of plays, novels, essays and short stories. To see how the movies could do him justice, watch the way some of his short stories were brought to the screen in Encore - 3 Stories by W. Somerset Maugham [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ], W. Somerset Maugham Trio and Quartet - 4 Stories by W. Somerset Maugham (The Facts of Life,The Kite,The Colonel's Lady, The Alien Corn) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]. And instead of wasting time with Larry Darrell, spend some time with Lawrence Durrell. The Alexandria Quartet is a good read.
Movie Review: Opium Den is Razor's Edge??
Summary: 2 Stars
Somerset is a grand writer and I could not believe they would have botched his enlightened tense in this terse borefest. The sets were impressive but the real treat in this film is Sophie's complete Lost Weekend after having one sip of some Iskabible Green Goo...WHOA!!! Thought I could "keep up" with the kids but Anne prepped for this scene superbly beyond the call of duty!!! I miss my children too, but her flopping all over the place and flipping out one moment and then drifting off into oblivion the next, I was ROFLMAO!!! DAMN Girl, best scene ever!!! Great entertainment and then of course she HAD to die a most gruesome death...with no impugnity, at least Gene bowed her head on the news...oh yes, I forgot, the dying breath of Uncle Snooty shouting "THE WITCH" and immediately expires was priceless!! another perfect unexpected bit of dialogue...BUT can someone please help me remember the last line of the film about the "GOOD IN EVERYONE IS SO OVERWHELMING AND WILL OVERCOME ALL EVIL..." ??? It was like an American Beauty moment and was inspiring...tried finding it on IMDB quotes but no luck...thanks!!!