The Razor’s Edge (1946) - film review

Whilst staying in Chicago, the writer Somerset Maugham is invited to a party by his friend Elliott Templeton.  He is introduced to Elliot’s niece, Isabel Bradley, who is in love with Larry Darrell, a World War I veteran.  As a result of his wartime experiences. Larry decides not to marry Isabel and settle down straightaway, but instead to go travelling in an attempt to understand what life is all about.  After spending some time in Europe, Larry goes to the Himalayas, where a wise man helps him on his path to Enlightenment.  On his return to Paris, Larry learns that Isabel has married a banker, Gray Maturin, and has two children.  However, Isabel is far from settled and is still hopelessly in love with Larry…

Among the most memorable films from the British writer-director Edmund Goulding is this compelling adaptation of a classic novel by Somerset Maugham, one of the finest English writers of the Twentieth Century.  Made in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the film offers a sober reflection on the meaning of life at a time when the unfairness and seeming absurdity of human existence was all too apparent.  In this respect, it’s quite a daring film for its time, eschewing the bright optimism that could more easily be sold to cinema audiences for something darker and more introspective – although clearly there were limits as to how far Goulding could depart from the template of the standard Hollywood melodrama. Goulding’s other noteworthy films include Of Human Bondage (1946), another meticulous adaptation of a Somerset Maugham novel, and the dark film noir drama Nightmare Alley (1947).

The film is attractive as a work on its own right, competently staged and shot, and with some engaging performances – notably from Anne Baxter, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sophie, and Clifton Webb, who relishes his part as the aristrocratic American Elliott Templeton.  However, the film fails to do justice to Maugham’s insightful, ingeniously composed novel.  It makes a great deal of the Isabelle-Larry-Sophie love triangle and rather loses sight of the main thrust of the original novel, which is one man’s spiritual journey prompted by a sudden realisation of his own mortality.

Tyrone Power may be a great actor and his performance in this film is by no means bad, but he doesn’t convey the existentialist yearning that overwhelms Larry Darrell and forces him to turn his back on wealth and the love of a good woman in order to seek out the answer to life’s mysteries.  The film is less about Larry’s quest for the Absolute and more about Isabel’s increasingly desperate attempts to triumph in an impossible love, and consequently misses the point of Maugham’s novel somewhat.  That said, Goulding’s is probably the most watchable film adaptation of The Razor’s Edge, mainly on the strength of its acting performances (excuse the dodgy French accents), lavish production values and atmospheric cinematography.

© James Travers 2007

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