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| Director: Edmund Goulding
Actors: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb
Studio: 20th Century Fox
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $2.29
You Save: $17.69 (89%)
New (3) Used (18) Collectible (4) from $2.29
Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 1760
Format: Black & White, Color, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 145 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 3.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 6303333079
UPC: 086162104930
EAN: 9786303333076
ASIN: 6303333079
Theatrical Release Date: December 1946
Release Date: March 13, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 64
 The title says it all! October 12, 2004
J. Adams (Pontiac, IL USA)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Just think about the title. Have you ever heard the expression "Walking the razors edge?" That is what Larry in the movie was looking for. He was looking for self-realization and god-realization. His journey began in the war. Why was he alive and others died? What was his purpose? It had to be more than this daily existance. His experiences had given him reason to ponder more than the ordinary life. He had to find the finer path to walk, that razors edge. Not quite here and not quite there. With what he learned he also was trying to help others as well. The coin with Sophies husband got him back on his feet. The invitation before the death of the Uncle. Anyway, This is one heck of a movie and I would recommend it highly.
 Poor Somerset Maugham! May 30, 2000
Maria Jette (excelsior, mn USA)
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
What a travesty! I'd just finished the book, about which I can't say enough-- colorful, clever, moving, unsentimental, funny, mysterious-- and called up the video store to see if they had it, ran right over to get it, and watched it immediately. A word to anyone who's read it: DON'T see the film. I almost pulled a muscle from repeatedly rolling my eyes! There were so many bizarre liberties taken with characters and story (including missing the entire POINT of Larry's experience of "God," i.e. that it wasn't the Western concept of "God," contrary to the saccharine way it was presented in the film) that Maugham must have wept when he saw what Hollwood wrought. I read in the foreward (of the Penguin ed.) that he himself had written a screenplay, at Cukor's invitation, asking for NO FEE-- the studio gave him an Impressionist painting as a gratuity (ironically, you'd never know from the film that art, esp. painting, had so much to do with the story), and yet they abandoned his screenplay as well as Cukor-- how tragic! I'd give a lot to see that screenplay. I found the acting, esp. of Power and Tierney, to be mannered and not at all appealing; as is so sadly typical of US films of the period, the costumes and makeup were comically anachronistic, and that's quite a feat when the story takes place only a couple of decades prior to the film being made! Dear people who love this film: do yourselves a favor and read the book! It has none of the syrupy sentimentality depicted in the film; Larry is a strange and elusive character; Isabel is much more interesting for not being gorgeous UNTIL her later years... I could go on for pages, but must swallow my vitriol and turn my energies to seeking out that lost screenplay. I give it a couple of stars for the possibility of its severely diluted message sending the occasional viewer to the book.
One of the best-ever 40's pictures made October 21, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Razors Edge: Not to be confused with the painfully hideous of the same name re-make with of all people, Bill Murray. Based on an apparently true story from W. Somerset Maughm, you will see Gene Tierney at her ultimate best acting and with a magnificant overbite and figure which is astonishing.
Including, Herbert Marshall, Tyronne Power and Clifton Webb; a fabulous story and they too are also at their absolute best. I think Ann Baxter won a Best-Supp Act Oscar for one of her earliest films.
I believe this to be one of the best ever made, along with The Best Years Of Our Lives, etc. Like a rare good book, you can't put it down. Fantastic musical score.
Close-up For A Bodhisattva May 14, 2004
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I've just been rewatching this with my daughter. It's an example of a film that does justice to its book. No, it exceeds that. The film's structure is leaner than Maugham's book. You know, less 'novelistic' and more 'cinematic'. In this case, the heightened drama helps contrast the high-societal nature of Paris/Chicago with proletarian life (anywhere) and spiritual life (Indian Himalayas and inside).It was sheer chance, at age 16, that I turned on a very early a.m. broadcast channel in Los Angeles and saw this for the first time. Actually, it had begun already, and I saw very soon the 'sunrise scene' which serves as an objective correlative for Larry Darrell's (Tyrone Power's) enlightenment. I started 'seeking' from that point. Maybe this is what 'critical theorists' mean when they urge us to ferret out contradictions: the irony that Hollywood 'sells' the repudiation of material acquisition. I bought the message. Wonderful performances by Ty Power (catch him reading Keats!), Gene Tierney, classic Clifton Webb, great voice-overs by one of the greatest film voices, Herbert Marshall (as Maughm), and young Anne Baxter as the lost Sophie. Post WWII 'dark' recuperation at its best. They should convert this to DVD.
Still moves me. September 19, 2004
Agatha Christie (Australia)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I first saw this movie in the late 80's as a late, late show. I then took 12 months of looking in every book store to find a copy of the book. I was young and lost. This movie spoke to me and told me it was alright to feel the things I felt. I have just watched it again and it still talks to me. I shared tonight's experience with my husband and close friends. They did not understand my feelings for the movie but still enjoyed it. I am now going to read the book again (I lost the book twice and had to hunt to purchase two more copies!) I am also waiting in anticipation of the DVD release.
Watch it and be moved!
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