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The Razor's Edge [DVD]
 
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The Razor's Edge [DVD]

DVD ~ Tyrone Power Jr.
2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.98 & eligible for Free UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Leave Her To Heaven [DVD] [1946]

The Razor's Edge [DVD] + Leave Her To Heaven [DVD] [1946]
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  • This item: The Razor's Edge [DVD] DVD ~ Tyrone Power Jr.

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Leave Her To Heaven [DVD] [1946]

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Razor's Edge [DVD]
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The Razor's Edge [DVD] 2.5 out of 5 stars (2)
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Product details

  • Actors: Tyrone Power Jr., Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter, John Payne, Clifton Webb
  • Directors: Edmund Goulding
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 16 Jan 2006
  • Run Time: 145 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000CFX5BO
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 23,915 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Synopsis
Based on W. Somerset Maugham's highly acclaimed 1944 novel, this is a sprawling, ambitious account of one man's quest for spiritual identity. Over a number of years and continents, we watch as Chicago scion Larry Darrell, newly returned from World War I, breaks off his engagement to the lovely but shallow Isabel in order to run off to Paris, and then India, in search of enlightenment. Years pass, the stock market crashes, and the former lovers are reunited. Larry has found the peace he seeks, but the now-married Isabel is still obsessed with him, resulting in great tragedy. Power and Tierney both excel in their leading roles, but the real kudos belong to the supporting players: Clifton Webb, who is excellent as Isabel's fussy uncle, and Anne Baxter, harrowingly raw as the woman Larry tries to rescue from alcoholic ruin. Herbert Marshall plays Maugham, the author and witness to this strange saga of truth, love, and delusion. Director Edmund Goulding ('Grand Hotel') sets up a luxurious and spacious atmosphere, adorning the lavish sets with bouquets and champagne, while giving the actors plenty of room to move and emote.

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Average Customer Review
2.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Darryl F. Zanuck wrestles with enlightened goodness in Somerset Maugham's novel. Zanuck wins, 11 Sep 2008
By C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
What if Somerset Maugham had written a novel about a coal miner who decided to search for transcendental enlightenment by trying to join a country club? If he had, he could have called it The Razor's Edge, since the Katha-Upanishad tells us, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." But Maugham decided to stick with the well-bred class, and so we have Darryl F. Zanuck's version of Larry Darrell, recently returned from WWI, carefully groomed, well connected in society and determined to find himself by becoming a coal miner.

Or, as Maugham tells us, "This is the young man of whom I write. He is not famous. It may be that when at last his life comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on this earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water. Yet it may be that the way of life he has chosen for himself may have an ever growing influence over his fellow men, so that, long after his death, perhaps, it will be realized that lived in this age a very remarkable creature."

The Razor's Edge has all of Zanuck's cultural taste that money could buy. It's so earnest, so sincere...so self-important. As Larry goes about his search for wisdom, working in mines, on merchant ships, climbing a Himalayan mountain to learn from an ancient wise man, we have his selfish girl friend played by Gene Tierney, his tragic childhood chum played by Anne Baxter, the girlfriend's snobbish and impeccably clad uncle played by Clifton Webb, and Willie Maugham himself, played by Herbert Marshall, taking notes. The movie is so insufferably smug about goodness that the only thing that perks it up a bit is Clifton Webb as Elliot Templeton. "If I live to be a hundred I shall never understand how any young man can come to Paris without evening clothes." Webb has some good lines, but we wind up appreciating Clifton Webb, not Elliot Templeton.

Zanuck wanted a prestige hit for Twentieth Century when he bought the rights to Maugham's novel. He waited a year until Tyrone Power was released from military service. He made sure there were well-dressed extras by the dozens, a score that sounds as if it were meant for a cathedral and he even wrote some of the scenes himself. The effort is as self-conscious as a fat man wearing a rented tux. Despite Hollywood's view of things in The Razor's Edge, I can tell you that for most people hard work doesn't bring enlightenment, just weariness and low pay.

After nearly two-and-a-half hours, we last see Larry carrying his duffle bag on board a tramp steamer in a gale. He's going to work his way back to America from Europe with a contented smile on his face. "My dear," Somerset Maugham says to Isabel at the same time in an elaborately decorated parlor, "Larry has found what we all want and what very few of us ever get. I don't think anyone can fail to be better, and nobler, kinder for knowing him. You see, my dear, goodness is after all the greatest force in the world...and he's got it!" Larry and the audience both need a healthy dose of Dramamine.

Maugham, lest we forget, was a fine writer of plays, novels, essays and short stories. To see how the movies could do him justice, watch the way some of his short stories were brought to the screen in Encore, Trio and Quartet. And instead of wasting time with Larry Darrell, spend some time with Lawrence Durrell. The Alexandria Quartet is a good read.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Fox ruin another DVD, 5 Jun 2009
If you want to watch hideous ghastly advertising trailers and anti-piracy flashing trailers with ghastly music before the feature film, but this DVD.

Otherwise I suggest you give it a miss and be wary of other FOX dvds (since many of them seem to be of similar format).

Don't FOX realise that people buy classics to watch several times. They do not won't to be subjected to redundant (and out of context) advertising every time they watch the film, or do FOX just not care annoying people ?
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