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THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946) urges for escape from the rat race
JUNE 22, 2022 IN REVIEWS, ROSALIE KICKS, DISC REVIEW
Written by Lamar Trotti (screenplay), W. Somerset Maugham (novel) and Darryl Zanuck (uncredited)
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter and Herbert Marshall
Running time 2 hours and 25 minutes
MPAA Rating
Available on DVD and Blu-ray from Signal One
by Rosalie Kicks, Editor in Chief and Old Sport
“The dead look so terribly dead when they’re dead.”
My perpetual state of existence, as of late, is that of being filled with the incredible desire for grabbing a bindle and running away from it all.
For the past six months or so I have spent a lot of time in contemplation mode. This noodle of mine has been cooking and the wheels have been spinning, yet it has been hard to convey what exactly I have been thinking about. One thing is certain though: I must escape. My nearest and dearest have inquired for further details into what I now have coined, “the grand fantastical magical escape”. Unfortunately, I don’t have a clear or concise response. Typically I have blueprints at the ready, task lists to be conquered, but this time is different. Instead, I find myself saying, “Welllll…. it is hard to explain.” In other words, I have no idea. But I promise to let you know as soon as I figure it out.
Which brings me to the motion picture The Razor’s Edge (1946). There are moments in life in which I feel are truly destiny (aka density… if ya know, ya know). An occasion that can only be described as fate. This is exactly my feeling about having this specific film come into life at this specific time. There is not a doubt in my mind that I heard the voices of angels as I opened the tray of my 4K player to insert the Blu-ray disc (or maybe my partner in crime Benjamin placed the disc in the player… either way, there were angelic sounds). I had requested to review the release from Signal One and am now forever thankful I did.
Based on the 1944 novel from W. Somerset Maugham, it tells the tale of Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) and Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney). We first meet these characters at a society party and Isabel is abuzz with nerves after learning her fiancée Larry has declined a position with a well known tycoon and his son, Gray Maturin (John Payne) at a prestigious firm. As she awaits his arrival, we are introduced to other players such as the author himself, W. Somerset Maugham portrayed by Herbert Marshall, who serves as the narrator through the duration of the film. We also make the acquaintance of their childhood friends, Sophie MacDonald (Anne Baxter) and Bob MacDonald (Frank Latimire) who appear as the picture of devotion.
Upon Larry’s arrival to the party, Isabel tries to make heads or tails of his decision to turn down the opportunity for a secure future. Larry explains, “Sitting in an office making a lot of money doesn’t interest me…”. Instead he would prefer to live like a tumbleweed and see where the wind takes him. He wants to travel, take chances and welllll… figure things out.
“What will you do in Europe?”
Isabel is absolutely perplexed by Larry’s decision to not only travel to Paris but to take a journey without a semblance of a plan. In response to her question about what he will do while there, Larry matter of factly responds, “Loaf!”. This was essentially the moment in the film where I felt seen. Sometimes, you don’t know where you’re going but you have to trust yourself that you will find where you are supposed to be.
Throughout the film, Larry continues to befuddle those around him. He especially makes himself the concern of Isabel’s uncle Elliot Templeton (Clifton Webb). Unfortunately, Elliot’s intentions are out of regard for the well being of his niece in terms of her monetary needs. He sees Larry as a fool that is squandering his life away and does not want to see Isabel become entangled with a failure. He sees her social status as of utmost importance and aspires for her to marry someone like Gray (who, by the way is completely infatuated with Isabel, despite her not giving him the time of day). Sadly, Isabel lives by these same materialistic ideals and is unable to see that there is more to life beyond wealth. When she makes a trip to Paris in attempt to sway Larry to come back with her to the States and pursue what she deems a logical path, Larry refuses. Isabel is confused. Why would he want to live in what she sees as squalor? She comes to terms (or at least she believes she does) with the fact that they are simply not going to see eye to eye. At that moment, they decide to go their separate ways but remain friends. For Isabel, this leads to the marriage to a man (Gray) for his money and stature while Larry continues his pursuit of the unknown. A marriage, I must add, that Isabel will later say she did as a “sacrifice” in the name of Larry’s aspirations. Those that thought Gene Tierney was ruthless in Leave Her to Heaven as Ellen, may be surprised to find that as Isabel she is able to capture an even more heartless, vile creature.
As mentioned earlier, this film struck a chord with me as I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I know that I am searching for something and, despite not knowing what that exactly is, I know deep down that I have to make the escape. As I approach forty, I feel I owe it to myself to try. Time has never felt more imminent and welllll, this may be the last chance at doing something incredibly wild. I have always followed the rules and have done as expected of me. I got the corporate job and even managed to climb the ladder a bit, knowing full well, deep down, this is not what I was made for. Much like Larry, sitting in an office making a lot of money never interested me. This story may be from the 1940s, but I could not help finding it more relevant to the now than ever.
The film’s story makes a jump in time and the choices that each of the characters made start to catch up with them. For Sophia, she is dealt an unfortunate tragedy that, unlike the others, finds a path dictated for her not by her own choice. I would be remiss to not add here that Anne Baxter, who was awarded an Oscar for her role as Sophia, gives an astounding performance that will absolutely rip your heart out and stomp on it. Prior to this, I thought her most memorable role was in All About Eve, but after witnessing her in The Razor’s Edge, I now have a new favorite Anne role. Whereas Gene Tierney, who is equally a master in terms of her craft, will cause one to have daggers in their eyes.
There is so much in this film that will stay with me for quite some time and my only hope is that I have done it enough justice to convince others to seek it out. This is one of those movies that I am sure I will revisit, which makes me incredibly thrilled to have it added to my library. Despite the minimal special features, this is a picture that will not leave someone with a feeling that they were hoodwinked (cough cough, I am looking at you Warner Archive and your DIY menus) into purchasing it. This piece of cinema truly speaks for itself and what it has to say is incredible.
THE RAZOR'S EDGE, TYRONE POWER, GENE TIERNEY, EDMUND GOULDING, SIGNAL ONE
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Review: The Razor’s Edge
The second half plays slightly better than the first, if only because it gives in unashamedly to its plot of melodramatic intrigue.
by Jeremiah Kipp
May 15, 2005
Photo: 20th Century FoxBohemian philosophers around the world have long felt validated by W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The Razor’s Edge, where soul-searching Larry Darrell’s quest for enlightenment sends him from high society to the mountains of the Himalayas. He finds Buddhism a useful tool for living a happy life and eventually returns to Paris to share his experiences with old friends, including Maugham himself as bemused narrator. It makes for an enjoyable read, but the search for spiritual wisdom is inherently more digressive than dramatic and Larry Darrell, a poster boy for human kindness, is a nearly unplayable role. The only way to even attempt it would be to cast a humorous wild card like Bill Murray, as they did in the unsuccessful 1984 remake, and not Zorro himself, Tyrone Power. Power tries to look thoughtful, but sometimes tries too hard.
A well made studio picture directed by Edmund Gouding, The Razor’s Edge takes delight in the characters surrounding Larry, who comes off as a bore. In the opening sequence, his indifferent lovemaking to Isabel (Gene Tierney) can’t be written off as World War I shellshock—no girl can sensually connect with a saint in the making. Tierney sinks her teeth into the role of a spoiled rich girl who can’t help falling for Larry, but won’t give up her social status in the name of love. Instead, she marries her second choice, Gray (John Payne), an earnest and hard-working stock broker. While Larry travels off to The World (big sets courtesy of producer Darryl F. Zanuck, complete with painted Himalayas in the Indian background), Isabel lives the high life with effete snob Uncle Elliott (Clifton Webb), suave closet homosexual Maugham (Herbert Marshall), and second-fiddle girly girl Sophie (Anne Baxter).
With all the characters in place, Goulding indulges in voluptuously lit scenes dominated by well-dressed extras, lots of carousing and booze, catty dialogue, and water fountains that upstage everybody. Goulding is in his element here. Cutting back to Larry and the monks feels like a real chore as they endlessly sermonize about virtue, and one dreads Larry’s return to high society, dominating scene after scene with his heart of gold—especially after the 1929 stock market crash knocks all the hypocritical sophisticates down a peg or two. Larry acts like a benevolent Jesus Christ when everyone else is desperately trying to hang on to their lives of freewheeling fun, even as it sends them to their graves.
The second half of The Razor’s Edge plays slightly better than the first, if only because it gives in unashamedly to its plot of melodramatic intrigue. Sophie’s husband and child die in a car accident, and the poor girl ends up in an opium den of sin. Larry attempts to save her from drinking herself to death, but Isabel (who still loves him) does everything in her bitch-queen power to send Sophie back to her squalid pimps. It also includes a prima donna deathbed scene for Uncle Elliott, vainly awaiting a dinner invitation to an upcoming soiree, and delicious “scheming” between Isabel and Maugham where Tierney gets to act imperial as Marshall purrs and preens.
The moralistic bent of The Razor’s Edge is impossible to translate into pure cinema. Therefore, screenwriter Lamar Trotti resorts to monologues and sermons, mostly coming from Larry. It’s all very well for a novel, but on-screen it’s a snooze—all the more reason for a comedian or unpredictable loose canon of the Marlon Brando/Montgomery Clift School to embody this part. For a movie about the meaning of life, it’s far less existential than Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Notorious, released the same year. That film philosophized too, in a more visual and emotional way about such timeless ideas as love, sex, and death. But because Hitchcock’s movie was about spies and intrigue, it was written off as perhaps a less important work than the highfalutin Razor’s Edge. Yet Hitchcock’s film is now regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and this adaptation of Maugham’s novel is well intentioned, well made, but hopelessly dated.
Score: Cast: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Elsa Lanchester, Herbert Marshall Director: Edmund Goulding Screenwriter: Lamar Trotti Distributor: 20th Century Fox Running Time: 145 min Rating: NR Year: 1946 Buy: Video
