The Razor's Edge

Six years ago, I found this film on TV, but the film had already started and progressed to about 10 minutes into the story. I noticed that there was a stellar cast, this was an interesting topic, and I had heard of the book. I ended up buying this DVD to watch the beginning of this film because I had missed the intro section while channel surfing. I sure am glad that I bought it!This 1946 film starred Tyrone Power as Larry Darrell, Gene Tierney as Isabel Bradley, and Clifton Webb as Elliott Templeton and was shot in black and white.The film had ridden the same wave of the wildly-successful 1944 book by the same name. With the Tyrone Power ‘triad of actors’ in the lead, its storyline and the dialog interactions amongst these 3 characters (and stars!) were tightly crafted, stunning, and gut wrenching. This is one of the classic films about life, what it is, and what is important.Another actress in a subplot, Anne Baxter as Sophie MacDonald, dutifully kept up with the main ‘triad’ of stars. Baxter’s portrayal of Sophie, who had a successive series of downfalls in her life, was so poignantly played by Baxter that she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Each of Sophie’s downslides tugged at my heart and Baxter’s acting skills almost made me feel that she was real.After I had started watching the DVD, especially to see the beginning, I learned that Larry had had a combat jolt in WWI. He had survived an attack, while his friends hadn’t. This was the main driver of the film: Why did Larry survive? What could he do after having experienced this? Seeing the beginning of the film better helped me understand the remainder of the film that I had watched on TV.Tyrone Powers’ Larry had honesty and gravitas, a great foil to Gene Tierney’s Isabel: flighty, gratingly snobbish, selfish, and materialistic. All of their scenes together were tightly-scripted to show their contrary behaviors beamed back and forth at each other in repartee. Larry’s great seriousness and grit to learn about what life truly should be was played off of Isabel’s opposite behavior. It was mesmerizing to see them both on screen engaging in this type of dialog.Clifton Webb’s Uncle Elliot was pitched as a higher octave of Isabel’s – another artistic foil to Larry’s persona.In trying to learn about why he had been spared from death during WWI combat, Larry found himself back in Europe. He then travelled eastward, all the while contemplating how to reach and then later learn life’s secrets from Himalayan masters. After some time there, the masters agreed that he would be allowed to find out these secrets by ascending the mountains. When the journey became arduous, he found a shack near the summit to contemplate, read holy books, and think about the direction that his life should take. When the pre-dawn light started to slip over the horizon, he left the shack, reached the summit and was ‘illuminated’, as was the valley below him.After having experienced this blinding illumination by ‘spiritual light’, this process changed the perspective of what Larry’s life had to be for him. This means that he had to let some people, activities, and things go, so that he could best carry out the mission for which he had been searching: he learned that the path to enlightenment is as sharp as the razor’s edge.I had experienced many strong emotions watching this film because there was a lot of tension in the dialog and in the character personalities, some of which were contrary to each other. After I had seen this film, I needed time to digest it and decompress.Watching this film compelled me to then read the 1944 W. Somerset Maugham book of the same name. The book was even more gut-wrenching, with many more details to make this film clearer. (Please read my Amazon review of this book:  The Razor's Edge Timing is everything. If I could experience these 2 artistic forms again, I would still start by watching this 1946 film first and then working my way backward to reading the 1944 book by W. Somerset Maugham because the original book is almost always better than the film. If I had read the book first, I would have had interference with the film and might not have liked the film as well as I did. I truly loved both the film and the book.Today, with our current HD video format and so many vivid and creative ways of filming scenes, I would like to see a re-make of this film, by producing it in multiple sections to create separate films in a series (like the Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings books and films), so that more of the book’s original details could be included.I thoroughly recommend this film and give it a 5-star rating because of an outstanding script and acting, taut tension throughout many parts of the film, and many superlative scenes. (For even more perspective, please read my 1984 film review of the Razor's Edge:  The Razor's Edge )

I had wanted to have -WHAT - the original "Director's Edition"? The "love-making" in the (Full?) version was ESSENTIAL TO THE DEEPER MEANING to be conveyed by the intent of Sommerset Maugham. This was "sterilized" for PG TV. I am disgusted w/ the Politics of the "Moral-be-jority". MTR

Well directed and acted, The Razor's Edge is a minor epic of sorts. It is polished, classy, lavish; has a large budget and cast (but not of thousands); and spans a series of earthshaking events of historical significance. W. Somerset Maugham sees us all living on the edge of peril in one way or another. Most do so unsuspectingly; a few as a matter of volition. Maugham takes us on a journey through the lives of a group of friends from their post-World War One, halcyon days to the dark years following the 1929 stock market crash. As the story begins, the main characters, unaware of their fate, live precariously close to the edge of ruin. For Isabel and Gray Maturin (Gene Tierney, John Payne) it is financial; Sophie Macdonald (Anne Baxter) has no bulwark against the whips of `outrageous fortune' in her family life; and Maugham's good "chum," Elliot Templeton (Clifton Webb), the persnickety, unmarried uncle, draws nearer to the end of his time on earth. Maugham fixes the source of human tragedy deeply within the heavens, not any flaw in individual character. Circumstance and the times we live in govern destiny, as mortals skirt the brink of disaster, helpless to prevent being sucked into a maelstrom of adversity. At one point, shocked and stunned by the news of Sophie's life of despair, Larry Darrel remarks, "She was as normal as any person I know." Only Darrell (Tyrone Power) embraces hardship consciously after undergoing a spiritual transformation brought about by the death of a friend who died saving his life during "the war to end all wars." He willing sacrifices love and career to `the death by a thousand cuts' by going on a life's journey, choosing the path of a wandering ascetic, working hard, parlous jobs; and seeks enlightenment from an Indian holy man residing on a remote mountain top to discover himself, and meaning in life. This element of the plot provides a few awkward moments for an otherwise entertaining film, but nevertheless, concerns a passage undertaken by like-minded mendicants since ancient times. Larry, above all, abides by the proverb "Physician heal thyself," and acquires a measure of spiritual power to rejuvenate spent souls. But, he is no match for the cunning, `unenlightened' Isabel. The Maturins, living like the fable halcyon perched near the jagged edge of a precipice, have made their nest too close to a raging sea. After the great crash, they discover there is nothing sure to build on; as did Sophie Macdonald, cruelly woken up from her dream of domestic bliss. Maugham's world is one great paradox, as observed by Duke Vincentio in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure: "...merely, thou art death's fool; For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn'st toward him still." Maugham's keen sense of irony is at its sharpest; for Larry Darrel, the enlightened warrior for peace, avoids the worst by holding the blade securely to his bosom; not letting it slip. Tyrone Power as the saintly, naïve Larry Darrel appears to lack depth, but child-like innocence is characteristic of 'the pure in heart;' and is highly effective in his fair share of shock and revelation shots. Gene Tierney, Maugham's choice for the part, is at her best (it is hard to take your eyes off of her) and displays a variety of acting skills; likewise for Anne Baxter's moving performance as a fallen angel. Good-tempered, as in real-life, W. Somerset Maugham, flawless played by Herbert Marshall, is observer, and acts as advisor, mentor and councilor. The Razor's Edge is a very good piece of filmmaking; and, in spite of few weaknesses, never fails to entertain. This film combines a dramatized version of Maugham's insights into the human condition with some exceptional cinematography, making it a marvelous movie to watch.

I have always been a huge admirer of the work of W. Somerset Maugham. An exceptionally talented man and writer. This film was released in 1946 when Maugham was in the middle of his working life. The film script from the novel of the same name considered to be one his his best. It is very much a film of the time. The stars Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power two of the most beautiful people in Hollywood who were also very talented actors played their parts to perfection. Conventional society of the time - this time rich American ex-pats living in Paris. I always think Maugham didn't really like women and I wonder if it was the roles they were expected to play that makes them into not very nice people. In this film Gene Tierney plays the part to perfection. And Tyrone Power's character is unable to settle into this conventional life and is none the less totally charming. Maugham himself appears as more observer than part of the plot and then there is Clifton Webb who always upstages everyone. Filmed in black and white with fabulous beautifully furnished interiors this was obviously an expensive production. And it has stood the test of time. Any film starts with the script and you can't better Somerset Maugham.

I enjoyed every minute of this, and - and this is quite something - so did my wife. Running to just over 1¼ hours, the film keeps up a great pace, and involves the viewer intensely in the unfolding dramas that affect not just the main player (Larry Darrell, played consummately well by Tyrone Power), but also those through whose circles he moves, including Isobel (portrayed in a stellar performance by Gene Tierney), her uncle Elliott (played brilliantly by Clifton Webb), and Sophie (played by Anne Baxter, whose performance won her an Oscar). For a sojourn in glittering society in Chicago, Paris and the Riviera, all between the two world wars, with visits also to the high Himalayas and to low-life Paris dives, as Larry seeks a meaning to his post-WW1 life, this 1946 film is a worthy representation of W. Somerset Maugham's best-selling novel.

This is the best film version of this challenging story I've seen. It's very difficult to make the film portray the intensity and conviction of the central character, but Tyrone Power puts in a creditable performance. I particularly liked Herbert Marshall as the author. I believe this is Maughan's most profound and greatest novel.

One of the greatest films ever made, this wonderful adaptation of the Maugham classic, is a privilege to watch. Ty Power and Gene Tierney are perhaps the most beautiful actors ever to grace the screen, and the supporting cast is excellent especially Herbert Marshall, Clifton Webb and the Oscar-Winning Anne Baxter.This film has been described by a few critics as "pretentious". I view it as full of depth and meaning----as well as simply wonderful entertainment.Highly recommended as one of the 30 or 40 Best Films in cinema history.

A stunning blu ray transfer of a fine film. The performances and direction are all first rate.