The hardest job is working on yourself. Sometimes it is simply impossible not to be surprised by the “skill” of our film distributors, who like to twist the titles of films in order to give them excessive advertising value and wrapping heroism. And so it happened with the drama "The Razor's Edge", that from English - the edge of the blade. However, the distributors of it with a light hand dubbed “On the edge of the blade”.
The Razor’s Edge is an adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s novel of the same name. Unfortunately, I haven't had this piece of Maugham yet. Therefore, I can judge the artistic content of the film only by the staged features (annoyingly missing the most important component that brings the film closer to the novel - the script part).
The most interesting thing that attracted me at the beginning of the picture was the presence of the figure of Maugham. That is, not just the inclusion of a voiceover, but the presence of a “live” actor playing a writer, as it was apparently painted in the novel itself. And Herbert Marshall ("Little Foxes") created a very tactful and thoughtful image. No one asked him to play enchanting games (as Maugham was a secondary figure in his novel). But it was from Marshall's play that I imagined what a man the writer was.
The image of the writer, although not the main (and perhaps even the third degree), but it is from his face that some important facts come. It is he who presents to the viewer the main character of his literary brainchild - Larry Darrell - a man, according to Maugham himself, a great one, who influenced the course of the lives of people around him. I think that with the help of quotes of the characters, you can approach the character of each of them (and get closer to the source):
You ask yourself, who am I? Wouldn’t it be easier to go down the path and let it all go? – Larry Durrell For Lawrence "Larry" Darrell, who passed through the fire of World War I, things like money, office, stocks, nobility are empty. It does not matter to him that his fiancée wants to live with at least some security, have a good house, go to good restaurants. It doesn’t matter to him that her uncle thinks he’s an unsuccessful and worthless person. Larry wants to study, travel, help people. For many, this type of person will seem too idle and not romantic. But it's not. Larry wants to know the essence of his inner world. What he really wants. He's looking for himself, looking for himself. As a wise man, he will always seek himself. He is able to cure psychosis and alcoholism dear to him - Sophie and Gray - respectively. He is capable of any job - the position of a worker on a ship, work in a mine, study and application of medicine. But he will never do anything that he does not like. He will love a woman without telling her he does not love her. And as Maugham would later say, Larry has found what we are all looking for, but not all of us will find it. Kindness is the most powerful force in the world! And he possesses it.” But should we focus on someone like Larry? I think you should. This is what everyone has to do in their own way. As for the actor who played Larry, Tyrone Power, in my opinion, was the best role in his career (strangely, he was not even nominated for it for an Oscar). He managed to turn into a philosophical figure, a thinking person. But (well, this is as far as I recall...) hitherto in his track record were the roles of the same type of macho ("The Sign of Zorro", "Blood and Sand") or comedy ladies' mensions ("In Old Chicago", "Ragtime gangs of Alexander"). Power may have played a bit unemotional and monotonously, but the dialogue from his mouth was extremely convincing and sensible.
“By 1930 our country will be the richest nation in the world.” – Isabel Bradley For Isabelle, the man of life is Larry. But she doesn't love him... she just wants him. To be honest, Jean Tierney as her Isabel just annoyed me. However, what is the disadvantage of her heroine, in that and plus. To portray a stupid, spoiled girl, with an uncle’s stereotypes pressed into her soul: “now the world is progressing”, “our country will be the richest by the 30th year”, “how will it look...”. That's all that's programmed into our character. And here is the anger - so it is from "fat!" Especially impressive is Larry's sly look in his last encounter with Isabelle. “You have a husband and children, but you never grew up.” And, even Larry’s words that it was Isabelle who killed Sophie did not penetrate fully into Isabel’s plastic soul.
Sophie is the heaviest and most tragic character. And Anne Baxter did a great job. And for that she deservedly won an Oscar and a Golden Globe. It is her character who is the only one who made both physical and spiritual transformations throughout the film. From an exemplary woman - a kind wife and a caring mother, she turns into an alcoholic after the death of her husband and daughter. We already see two Anne Baxter on the screen - albeit beautiful, but very "disassembled".
“It’s strange that a young man doesn’t have an evening suit.” – Elliott Templeton Elliott is a real snob. He doesn't see the soul in people. He hates Larry for not making money off stocks, not having a mansion, not coming from a wealthy family. His pretentious actions are funny and amusing. He is proud of the fictional family coat of arms, hardly an existing mansion on the Riviera. He's just -- shell. But he'll only know that on his deathbed. Clifton Webb fit into his semi-comic image. For the most part, he annoyed me, as did his niece, Jean Tierney. But the "death scene" turned out Webb very bright and some extraordinary. Maybe it was not for nothing that he was nominated for an Oscar and awarded the Golden Globe.
Briefly, I will note very good secondary images from Lucille Watson (played a kind all-understanding mother Isabel) and John Payne, who did not leave the comedy genre for a long time, like Power (“Sun Valley Serenade”, “Swing School”).
Director Edmund Goulding, famous for his salon tragicomedy (for example, “Grand Hotel”), wove a very strong diverse philosophical drama.
P.S.: If someone tells you that you’re not like everyone else, you’re on the wrong track. “Who are you in life?”, “You are a fool!”, etc. Listen to them. But don't listen too much. Maybe they are on the wrong paths themselves? “Happiness comes from within,” as an Indian sage once told Larry. And they, these people, exactly like some of the characters in this film, see false happiness outside. And this happiness, painted by other people, can not be yours.
10 out of 10