The Razor's Edge (1946) Blu-ray Review
While touching on philosophical themes as Larry searches and studies for enlightenment, Lamar Trotti’s screenplay never delves too deeply into religious or spiritual matters (we take it on the word of the film’s characters that Larry has finally found inner peace and tranquility and can convey some of that sense of calm and control to those whom he loves). He makes certain the novel’s more salacious events (surprise deaths, revenge, murders, alcoholism) get the audience’s full attention. Director Edmund Goulding smartly delays Tyrone Power’s entrance for almost ten minutes and then allows him a long walk toward his friends with the camera following as fans the world over got to see how the war might have changed him (his eyes seem a bit sad and some of that youthful vigor is, of course, gone, but part of that is the role he’s playing of a man struggling inwardly with guilt over surviving the war and wondering what he must do to repay such a debt to the fates of chance). Goulding’s preference for long takes and the moving camera of the great Oscar-winning cinematographer Arthur Miller make superb use of the tremendously effective production design of the movie: not just the elegant salons of Elliott Templeton in Paris and on the Rivera but in allowing us to soak in the ambiance of the many nightclubs, country clubs, and later dive bars and drug dens as Larry searches for Sophie in an attempt to save her. With the person of author Somerset Maugham (Herbert Marshall) a character in his own fictional tale, there’s voiceover narration that comes and goes (sometimes to the detriment of the drama), and while the movie is quite long, it’s never dull with this exciting line-up of characters who all have either fascinating plots encircling them or who (like Clifton Webb’s Templeton) drift into and out of the plots of others making vivid impressions of their own.
It’s a most welcome return to the screen for Tyrone Power as Larry, and he embodies the earnestness and inner strength of character to pull off a very difficult-to-convey-convincingly active/passive role. Gene Tierney is superb as the entitled, selfish Isabel, more concerned with social class and wealth and all it buys than genuine happiness and selfless devotion to another. Anne Baxter’s very dramatic role and her dynamic performance as a woman who loses everything and can’t quite find her way out of the darkness won her the Academy Award and the Golden Globe in 1946. Clifton Webb’s scene stealing Elliott Templeton, vain, snobbish, gossipy, and waspish, likewise won the Golden Globe for his work (and an Oscar nomination); his death bed scene late in the film is one of the most memorable of any during Hollywood’s golden age. Herbert Marshall is adequate as Maugham without making a great impression, and John Payne likewise does acceptably with an underwritten part of the man destroyed by the stock market crash. Lucile Watson as Templeton’s sister, Frank Latimore as Sophie’s tragic husband, and Elsa Lanchester in a two-scene tiny part as a secretary all make wonderful use of their small amounts of screen time.
Movietone News (SD): three brief newsreel excerpts pertaining to the movie: (1) Somerset Maugham presenting his manuscript for The Razor’s Edge to be displayed in the Library of Congress (0:30); (2) the film’s premiere in New York City with stars from the film and Fox studio executives and contract players in attendance (1:23); (3) the 1946 Academy Awards in which Anne Baxter receives her award from Lionel Barrymore (1:16).
After almost four years away from the screen serving in the Marines during World War II, 20th Century Fox’s biggest male star Tyrone Power returned to the studio for Edmund Goulding’s The Razor’s Edge. Based on the best-selling Somerset Maugham novel, the film presented some of the studio’s top stars acting in a serious drama, far removed from the star vehicles and frothy films of the pre-war years. While the film was a big success, Power was never quite able to regain entry into the top ten box-office stars that he had enjoyed before going off to fight, but he was delighted to return to films that had more serious intentions and darker themes, and his performances in them seem richer and more powerful than ever before.
Studio: Fox
Distributed By: N/A
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HDMA (Mono), Spanish 1.0 DD (Mono)
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 2 Hr. 26 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
keep caseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 01/13/2014
MSRP: $24.99
The Production Rating: 4/5
While touching on philosophical themes as Larry searches and studies for enlightenment, Lamar Trotti’s screenplay never delves too deeply into religious or spiritual matters (we take it on the word of the film’s characters that Larry has finally found inner peace and tranquility and can convey some of that sense of calm and control to those whom he loves). He makes certain the novel’s more salacious events (surprise deaths, revenge, murders, alcoholism) get the audience’s full attention. Director Edmund Goulding smartly delays Tyrone Power’s entrance for almost ten minutes and then allows him a long walk toward his friends with the camera following as fans the world over got to see how the war might have changed him (his eyes seem a bit sad and some of that youthful vigor is, of course, gone, but part of that is the role he’s playing of a man struggling inwardly with guilt over surviving the war and wondering what he must do to repay such a debt to the fates of chance). Goulding’s preference for long takes and the moving camera of the great Oscar-winning cinematographer Arthur Miller make superb use of the tremendously effective production design of the movie: not just the elegant salons of Elliott Templeton in Paris and on the Rivera but in allowing us to soak in the ambiance of the many nightclubs, country clubs, and later dive bars and drug dens as Larry searches for Sophie in an attempt to save her. With the person of author Somerset Maugham (Herbert Marshall) a character in his own fictional tale, there’s voiceover narration that comes and goes (sometimes to the detriment of the drama), and while the movie is quite long, it’s never dull with this exciting line-up of characters who all have either fascinating plots encircling them or who (like Clifton Webb’s Templeton) drift into and out of the plots of others making vivid impressions of their own.
It’s a most welcome return to the screen for Tyrone Power as Larry, and he embodies the earnestness and inner strength of character to pull off a very difficult-to-convey-convincingly active/passive role. Gene Tierney is superb as the entitled, selfish Isabel, more concerned with social class and wealth and all it buys than genuine happiness and selfless devotion to another. Anne Baxter’s very dramatic role and her dynamic performance as a woman who loses everything and can’t quite find her way out of the darkness won her the Academy Award and the Golden Globe in 1946. Clifton Webb’s scene stealing Elliott Templeton, vain, snobbish, gossipy, and waspish, likewise won the Golden Globe for his work (and an Oscar nomination); his death bed scene late in the film is one of the most memorable of any during Hollywood’s golden age. Herbert Marshall is adequate as Maugham without making a great impression, and John Payne likewise does acceptably with an underwritten part of the man destroyed by the stock market crash. Lucile Watson as Templeton’s sister, Frank Latimore as Sophie’s tragic husband, and Elsa Lanchester in a two-scene tiny part as a secretary all make wonderful use of their small amounts of screen time.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA
Audio Rating: 4/5
Special Features Rating: 2/5
Movietone News (SD): three brief newsreel excerpts pertaining to the movie: (1) Somerset Maugham presenting his manuscript for The Razor’s Edge to be displayed in the Library of Congress (0:30); (2) the film’s premiere in New York City with stars from the film and Fox studio executives and contract players in attendance (1:23); (3) the 1946 Academy Awards in which Anne Baxter receives her award from Lionel Barrymore (1:16).
Overall Rating: 4/5
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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