THE RAZOR’S EDGE [1946 / 2020] [Blu-ray + DVD] [UK Release]
Between Love and Hatred there is a line as sharp as a Razor’s edge!
Screen legend Tyrone Power stars in this engaging classic based on W. Somerset Maugham’s best-selling novel.
Despite being offered an impressive job when he returns from World War One, Larry Darrell [Tyrone Power] instead opts for the Paris bohemian lifestyle, followed by a soul-searching trip to the Far East. After his beautiful fiancée Isabel Bradley [Gene Tierney] loses patience with the spiritual seeker and marries a wealthy man, Larry Darrell finds himself drawn to Sophie MacDonald [Anne Baxter] in an OSCAR® winning performance, an old friend. Newly widowed, Sophie MacDonald has descended into alcoholism, a state from which Larry Darrell hopes to save her in this thought-provoking film nominated for four ACADEMY AWARDS® and including Best Picture.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1947 Academy Awards®: Nominations: Best Picture. Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Clifton Webb. Nominations: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, in Black-and-White for Richard Day, Nathan Juran, Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox. 1947 Golden Globes: Win: Best Supporting Actress for Anne Baxter. Win: Best Supporting Actor for Clifton Webb.
FILM FACT No.2: 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights from W. Somerset Maugham in March 1945 for $50,000 plus 20% of the film's net profits. The contract stipulated that W. Somerset Maugham would receive an additional $50,000 if the film did not start shooting by the 2nd February, 1946. In August 1945, producer Darryl F. Zanuck had the second unit begin shooting in the mountains around Denver, Colorado, which were to portray the Himalayas in the film. The stars had not yet been cast; Larry Darrell was played by a stand-in and was filmed in extreme long shot. Darryl F. Zanuck wanted Tyrone Power to star and delayed casting until Tyrone Power finished his service in the Marines in January 1946. Darryl F. Zanuck originally hired George Cukor to direct, but creative differences led to George Cukor's removal. Although W. Somerset Maugham wanted his friend (whom he had in mind when he created the character) Gene Tierney for Isabel, Zanuck chose Maureen O'Hara but told her not to tell anyone. As Maureen O'Hara recounted in her autobiography, she shared the secret with Linda Darnell, but Darryl F. Zanuck found out, fired Maureen O'Hara, and hired Tierney. Betty Grable and Judy Garland were originally considered for the role of Sophie MacDonald before Anne Baxter was cast. W. Somerset Maugham wrote an early draft of the screenplay but not one word of his version was used in the final script, and as a result W. Somerset Maugham declined originally hired George Cukor to direct, but creative differences led to Cukor's removal. Although Maugham wanted his friend (whom he had in mind when he created the character) Gene Tierney for Isabel Bradley, Darryl F. Zanuck chose Maureen O'Hara but told her not to tell anyone. As O'Hara recounted in her autobiography, she shared the secret with Linda Darnell, but Zanuck found out, fired Maureen O'Hara, and hired Gene Tierney. Betty Grable and Judy Garland were originally considered for the role of Sophie MacDonald before Anne Baxter was cast. W. Somerset Maugham wrote an early draft of the screenplay but not one word of his version was used in the final script, and as a result W. Somerset Maugham declined Darryl F. Zanuck's request to write a sequel, and decided to never work in Hollywood again.
Cast: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore, Elsa Lanchester, Fritz Kortner, Cecil Humphreys, Dorothy Abbott (uncredited), George Adrian (uncredited), Demetrius Alexis (uncredited), Olga Andre (uncredited), John Ardell (uncredited), Frank Arnold (uncredited), Juan Arzube (uncredited), Richard Avonde (uncredited), Claude Avray (uncredited), Louis Bacigalupi (uncredited), Virginia Barnato (uncredited), Robert Barron (uncredited), Claude Bayard (uncredited), Eugene Beday (uncredited), Pati Behrs (uncredited), Emile Bejaut (uncredited), Brooks Benedict (uncredited), Wilson Benge (uncredited), Evelyn Bennett (uncredited), Carmen Beretta (uncredited), Edward Biby (uncredited), Ted Billings (uncredited), Walter Bonn (uncredited), Eugene Borden (uncredited), Jacques Boyjan (uncredited), George Brenner (uncredited), Mary Brewer (uncredited), Maurice Brierre (uncredited), George Bruggeman (uncredited), Frederic Brunn (uncredited), Paul Bryar (uncredited), Joseph Burlando (uncredited), Peter Camlin (uncredited), Renee Carson (uncredited), Jaque Catelain (uncredited), David Cavendish (uncredited), André Charlot (uncredited), Jack Chefe (uncredited), Gordon B. Clarke (uncredited), Louise Colombet (uncredited), James Conaty (uncredited), Helene Copel (uncredited), Robert Cornell (uncredited), Franco Corsaro (uncredited), Harry Cort (uncredited), Noel Cravat (uncredited), Mary Currier (uncredited), Adolph Damotte (uncredited), Roberta Daniel (uncredited), Eddie Das (uncredited), Alexis Davidoff (uncredited), John Davidson (uncredited), George Davis (uncredited), Jack Davis (uncredited), Jean De Briac (uncredited), Paul De Corday (uncredited), Marcel De la Brosse (uncredited), Gene De Liere (uncredited), Ray De Ravenne (uncredited), Marion de Sydow (uncredited), Jean Del Val (uncredited), Harry Denny (uncredited), Henri DeSoto (uncredited), Juan Duval (uncredited), Gerald Echaverria (uncredited), Gale Entrekin (uncredited), Edward Equinet (uncredited), Nestor Eristoff (uncredited), Ben Erway (uncredited), Joe Espitallier (uncredited), Paul Everton (uncredited), Fred Farrell (uncredited), John Farrell uncredited), Adolph Faylauer (uncredited), Bertha Feducha (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited), Robert Ford (uncredited), Leo Galitzine (uncredited), Jack Gargan (uncredited), George Gastine (uncredited), Helen Giere (uncredited), Fred Godoy (uncredited), Sol Gorss (uncredited), Dolores Graham (uncredited), Don Graham (uncredited), Fred Graham (uncredited), Marcelle Grandville (uncredited), Greta Granstedt (uncredited), Reed Hadley (voice) (uncredited), Edna Harris (uncredited), Susan Hartmann (uncredited), Jamiel Hasson (uncredited) (unconfirmed), Yvette Heap (uncredited), Bert Hicks (uncredited), CeePee Johnson (uncredited), Jackson Jordan (uncredited), Wanda Karska (uncredited), Dorothy Kelly (uncredited), Frank Kerbrat (uncredited), Hassan Khayyam (uncredited), Ilia Khmara (uncredited), Nicholas Kobliansky (uncredited), Theodore Kompanetz (uncredited), Edward Kover (uncredited), Serge Krizman (uncredited), Isabel La Mal (uncredited), Yolanda Lacca (uncredited), Raymond Largay (uncredited), Robert Laurent (uncredited), Tony Laurent (uncredited), Eddie Le Baron (uncredited), Henri Letondal (uncredited), Arthur Little Jr. (uncredited), Jacques Lory (uncredited), Charles Loyal (uncredited), Tanya Lupeea (uncredited), Manuel López (uncredited), Maurice Marsac (uncredited), Andre Marsaudon (uncredited), Thomas Martin (uncredited), Michael Mauree (uncredited), George Mendoza (uncredited), Louis Mercier (uncredited), Ruth Miles (uncredited), Rene Mimieux (uncredited), Baldo Minuti (uncredited), Frances Morris (uncredited), Diana Mumby (uncredited), Henri Muro (uncredited), Forbes Murray (uncredited), Joan Myles (uncredited), George Navarro (uncredited), Mayo Newhall (uncredited), Barry Norton (uncredited), Robert Norwood (uncredited), Suzanne O'Connor (uncredited), Peggy O'Neill (uncredited), Alfredo Palacios (uncredited), Manuel París (uncredited), Helen Pasquelle (uncredited), Marg Pemberton (uncredited), Albert Petit (uncredited), Harry Pilcer (uncredited), Alexander Pollard (uncredited), Albert Polletm (uncredited), Marie Rabasse (uncredited), Alfred Redgis (uncredited), Frances Rey (uncredited), Loulette Sablon (uncredited), Cosmo Sardo (uncredited), Leonardo Scavino (uncredited), Suzanne Schwing (uncredited), Shushella Shakari (uncredited), Richard Shaw (uncredited), Mario Siletti (uncredited), Paul Singh (uncredited), Dina Smirnova (uncredited), George Sorel (uncredited), Aldo Spoldi (uncredited), Adele St. Maur (uncredited), Lillian Stanford (uncredited), Ann Staunton (uncredited), Hermine Sterler (uncredited), Laura Stevens (uncredited), Blanche Taylor (uncredited), Ross Thompson (uncredited), Olga Marie Thunis (uncredited), Willy Thunis (uncredited), Nanette Vallon (uncredited), Roger Valmy (uncredited), Tyra Vaughn (uncredited), Odette Vigne (uncredited), Jacques Villon (uncredited), Betty Lou Volder (uncredited), Jack Wagner (uncredited), Basil Walker (uncredited), Joe Warfield (uncredited), Joanee Wayne (uncredited), John Wengraf (uncredited), Barrett Whitelaw (uncredited), Crane Whitley (uncredited), Marek Windheim (uncredited), Al Winters (uncredited), Frank Wolf (uncredited), Bud Wolfe (uncredited), Cobina Wright Sr. (uncredited) and Jack Young (uncredited)
Director: Edmund Goulding
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Screenplay: Darryl F. Zanuck (additional scenes) (uncredited), Lamar Trotti (screenplay) and W. Somerset Maugham (from the novel)
Composer: Alfred Newman
Costume and Wardrobe Department: Charles Le Maire (wardrobe director), Eugene Joseff (costume jewellery) (uncredited), Oleg Cassini (costume designer: Gene Tierney) and Sam Benson (wardrobe) (uncredited)
Make-up Artist: Ben Nye
Cinematography: Arthur Miller, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Special Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen
Image Resolution: Blu-ray: 1080p + DVD: 1080i (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: Blu-ray: 144 minutes + DVD: 139 minutes
Region: Blu-ray: Region B/2 + DVD: PAL
Number of discs: 2
Studio: 20th Century Fox / Signal One Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ [1946] is a film based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham and starring Tyrone Powell, who returned to the screen after several years away fighting with the marines in World War Two with this role. A F. Scott Fitzgerald-esque journey into the world of the post-World War One Lost Generation, Tyrone Powell plays Larry Darrell, a soldier returning from the war who becomes disillusioned after joining some of his old buddies in Paris. When the woman he loves, the sophisticated Isabel Bradley [Gene Tierney], jilts him to marry for money, Larry Darrell becomes further disillusioned, questioning everything about society. Larry Darrell even leaves the Western world entirely to find himself in India with a guru. When he does return, Isabel tries to work her way back into his life to break up his romance with the alcoholic Sophie MacDonald [Anne Baxter].
‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ is a sprawling and lavish film that takes place in what one could almost term a few different segments but come together perfectly under the guiding hand of director Edmund Goulding. With the cast’s brilliant performances to boot, including an Oscar-winning turn by Gene Tierney, the film is an audacious post-World War Two look at a previous era’s struggles with finding themselves after the tumult of a world at war.
‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ tells the story of Larry Darrell [Tyrone Power] who in real life was a pilot in World War Two, who was an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War One, now engaged to socialite Isabel Bradley [Gene Tierney]. Isabel Bradley wants to marry, but insists that he first get a well-paid job to keep her in the manner to which she is accustomed.
However Larry Darrell is in crisis, he needs to “find himself” (yes really). The story is centred on Larry Darrell’s quest for fulfilment with his rejection of conventional life and search for a true and meaningful existence; Larry Darrell begins to thrive while his more materialistic friends suffer reversals of fortune.
Herbert Marshall appears as W. Somerset Maugham; the story’s narrator and drifts in and out of the lives of the other major players, showing how their lives have changed.
The film can seem very strange, insomuch that you’d expect it to be made in the 1970’s about the Vietnam War rather than a year post World War Two about the effects of World War One on a man. At one point Larry Darrell, after being rejected by Isabel Bradley for not taking life seriously, ends up with a “Swarmi” in India, where he finds himself in the eyes of God. A “Swarmi” in Hinduism is an honorific honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person who has chosen the path of renunciation (sanyÄsa), or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavism. It is used either before or after the subject's name and usually an adopted religious name.
As stories go this one is way ahead of its time, and although the film centres on Larry Darrell, equal narration is given to Isabel Bradley and the other main protagonist is Sophie MacDonald.
After seeing Tyrone Power in the original ‘Nightmare Alley,’ I’m a big fan, and Tyrone Power is equally fantastic in ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE,’ acting with real pathos making this rather unusual–for–its-time narrative about “feelings” and where a man fits into the world after trauma, and believable.
But spirituality ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ is not limited to the character of Larry Darrell, and there are other characters in this movie whose journeys are compelling and meaningful in their own right. The film features the wonderful Clifton Webb, whose character Elliott Templeton offers a useful counterpoint to the protagonist. Additionally, actress Anne Baxter won an Academy Award® for her depiction of the alcoholic Sophie MacDonald, whose determination is put to the test when she attempts to go sober. Ultimately their stories make the film worth watching.
The presence of the W. Somerset Maugham character gives us a taste of the unusual direction ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ could have taken if it were a more adventurous kind of movie. The story unfolds over the course of ten years and many continents during its 144-minute running time, and the varied geography provides a kind of excitement and sense of adventure; but ultimately geographical exploration and spiritual exploration are not primarily what the movie excels at depicting.
It is most notable for its complex secondary roles, which give the movie depth and richness. Although the supporting characters do not overtly pursue a spiritual education, in their own ways they have a great deal to say about enlightenment, suffering, and the meaning of life.
I really felt ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ to be quite fascinating. Reflecting the changing nature of America after World War Two, the film presents an intriguing look of the society that is in transition. Gray Maturin and Isabel Bradley represent both the past and the future of America. Both are concerned with money and appearances.
The suffering of others in the Great Depression and the two wars seems not to touch them at all. Larry Darrell represents something deeper and his search for meaning reflects the way America was trying to find itself in the face of the unparalleled difficulties brought on by tragedies and conflict. What makes ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ so involving is the uniqueness of Larry Darrell’s quest. Most American movies would focus on the economic and social success of Gray Maturin and Isabel Bradley. Very few American movies, let alone big-budget films, are about spiritual journeys and a conquest to find themselves.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE MUSIC TRACK LIST
APRIL SHOWERS (1921) (uncredited) (Music by Louis Silvers)
I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS (1924) (uncredited) (Music by Isham Jones) (Lyrics by Gus Kahn)
I’M FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES (1919) (uncredited) (Music by James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent)
MINER’S SONG (1946) (uncredited) (Music by Edmund Goulding) (Lyrics by Jacques Surmagne)
MAM’SELLE (1946) (uncredited) (Music by Edmund Goulding) (English lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Sung in French by Robert Laurent at a bistro and danced by couples]
LOCH LOMOND (uncredited) (Traditional Scottish folk song) [Sung a cappella by Elsa Lanchester]
FRÈRE JACQUES (uncredited) (Traditional) [Sung a cappella by Susan Hartmann and Suzanne O'Connor]
NIGHT WAS SO DARK (1946) (uncredited) (Music by Edmund Goulding) (Lyrics by Nina Koshetz)
M’AIME TA POMME (uncredited) (Music by Edmund Goulding) (Lyrics by Jacques Surmagne)
AUPRÈS DE MA BLONDE (uncredited) (Traditional)
Polonaise in A Flat Major (Heroic) Opus. 53 (Composed by Frédéric Chopin)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – 20th Century Fox and Signal One Entertainment presents us the film ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ with a wonderful black-and-white 1080p image with a sufficient amount of detail and contrast and is viewed and shown with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The blacks look stable and inky without much noise or greyish washout. Whites look just a tad bleached, but this could be an artistic choice or even an issue with the source. There are some bits of scratches and dirt that can be spied, and the depth of field can break down a bit, looking just a little soft in the backgrounds, but generally this looks crisp given the age. Contrast has been excellently maintained. Late in the film, however, there are some flecks of dust and debris and a slight scratch, none of them bad enough to take one out of the movie but noticeable since so much of the transfer had been so artefact-free. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Fox and Signal One Entertainment brings us the film ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ with just one standard 1.0 LPCM Digital Audio experience and the mix begins with rather subdued fidelity, but things greatly improve sound-wise as the picture runs. Dialogue is always clear and easily discernible, never compromised by Alfred Newman’s background score or the sound effects present. Occasionally one can tell that some digital scrubbing has almost successfully removed noise on the soundtrack with just the slightest amount of hiss still present, but those moments happen only infrequently and mostly in the latter parts of the movie.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
High-Definition Transfer + UK Blu-ray Premiere
Special Feature: Audio Commentary by Anthony Slide and Robert Birchard [Audio only] [2020] [1080p] [1080p] [1.37:1] [144:44] With this featurette, we get to hear this audio commentary by Film Historians Anthony Slide and Robert Birchard and the film starts they both introduce themselves, and they mention that with the start of the film they did not use the usual 20th Century Fox fanfare music and also mentions that the drama is based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham entitled “The Razor’s Edge.” They mention in the credits the two most important persons for the film and they are Darryl F. Zanuck and W. Somerset Maugham, immediately above the tile of the film. They mention that production started on the film on March 1946 and was complete on July 1946 and had a hundred days filming schedule, and they say it was the longest filming schedule for a 20th Century Fox film up to that time. An early draft of the script had a scene of someone at a typewriter with a superimposed scene of calm water behind the person at the typewriter. Another draft for the start of the film was really turbulent storm clouds at a World War One flying field, but it was not until the sixth draft that the actual opening scene we see at the start of the film was adopted, and the opening words spoken by W. Somerset Maugham [Herbert Marshall] is from the original first screenplay. They both say that the actual W. Somerset Maugham had actually been in Chicago in 1919 with publication of his novel “The Moon and Sixpence,” and on top of all that, the people at the Country Club in the film are all dancing to “April Showers,” but they could not have done in reality, as the song was not published until 1921 and was popular song composed by Louis Silvers with lyrics by B. G. De Sylva., but the rest of the published music and songs were heard in that period the film is set in. At this point in the film we get to meet Clifton Webb, which they say is the great character actor of all time, especially portraying an over the top effete gay character that suited this actor. They say that Herbert Marshall was not the first choice in playing the character W. Somerset Maugham, instead Darryl F. Zanuck originally wanted the Canadian actor Alexander Knox to play W. Somerset Maugham, but both feel Herbert Marshall plays W. Somerset Maugham perfectly, but they also feel Herbert Marshall looks like he is ill at ease playing that character and in need of some serious direction, and a critic in the New Yorker said about Herbert Marshall playing W. Somerset Maugham in this film, that the actor looked really weird and desperately needed a couple of weeks in an oxygen tent. But they both also say that Herbert Marshall was originally a stage actor and gets his stride as a film actor until the 1940’s until he was middle aged, but on the stage he was originally a dancer and also performed in musical comedies. They both say the character of Clifton Webb is very different in the novel “The Razor’s Edge” is a torch climbing art dealer, who made his connections with high society and that is where he earned and made his fortune and also inherited a great deal of money. They both inform us that they used 1,035 extras for the Country Club scene in the film and of course cost the production extra money at $10,80067 dollars. They also feel the style of the filming for this 1946 film you would not see this style of filming in any modern films, especially with the long continuous takes, instead replacing it today, it would all be done by quick editing, and they also feel in this film it is very staged, and they also say the director Edmund Goulding loves doing long takes, and when Darryl F. Zanuck saw the first rushes, wanted to know where are the close-up shots, because of Edmund Goulding’s long takes. They say the Cinematography Arthur Miller, A.S.C. that in 1970 it was not widely reported that he allegedly committed suicide, because he had a severe relapse of tuberculosis. When the United States was officially celebrating the American values, where every fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, and they say that the actor Clifton Webb in the 1940’s became a he star playing prissy effete characters. They both talk about the director Edmund Goulding, and in his triumphant career over did in his excessive partying and Edmund Goulding had rented a house and a couple of women were seriously injured and there was excessive damage to the property and the studio forced Edmund Goulding to go back to England to let things cool off, but in reality Edmund Goulding led a very hedonistic life style existence, and he was bisexual and his parties became legendary; a happy mix of men and women, straight and gay, with lots of drugs used, had a really good time and also loved his alcohol. There were stories of outrageous bisexual galas, one of which allegedly landed two women in the hospital and prompted Irving Thalberg to send Goulding to Europe until the furore died down. In London he apparently got into still further trouble, for studio lawyer Mabel Willebrandt had to write to the State Department in December 1932 inquiring into Edmund Goulding's detainment on “an immorality charge of some kind.” When we get to chapter 5, we find Larry Darrell has joined the working class and working in a coal mine in France, and both of them think this breaks the rules of Hollywood. At chapter 6, we are informed that some people from 20th Century Fox was sent to the Himalayas to shoot some location outdoor scenes and not many of those scenes were not used or included in the film, but the indoor scenes in the monastery where you see the mountain scene as a backdrop, well that was actually hand painted. Now we see the Holy man character that is played by Cecil Hunter was originally from England and they had 40 actors were tested for this character, and of course Cecil Hunter secured the role of the Holy man and they felt he was totally ideal for that character, but originally Cecil Hunter was a stage actor and made his debut in a film in 1910, and sadly died a year after the release of the film ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE,’ so they warn any actor who appears in a film as a Holy man, to steer well clear of playing that character in a film. When we get to chapter 16, they say that Tyron Power had his own personal entourage on the set of any film with that actor, and that included a secretary, also had a stand-in of Tom Newman, on top of all that Tyron Power had his own wardrobe clothes designer Norman Martin Maine. They both feel the film had great strength and skill in transition from scene to scene, and at that point we see Larry Darrell in the opium den looking for drugged and alcoholic Sophie MacDonald and of course Larry Darrell is trying to rescue her out of the opium den and of course they say that the director Edmund Goulding would be very familiar with such an establishment, and of course Anne Baxter won a deserved Oscar for her performance in that scene in the opium den, and they also say, even though the scene is in the opium den, they say the lighting is superb and very atmospheric. We are now at chapter 21, and they both talk about what selfish Isabel Bradley had done to Sophie MacDonald, that got her drinking alcohol again and of course we see Larry Darrell informs that Sophie MacDonald was found dead after leaving the opium den, who of course Larry Darrell was about to marry Sophie MacDonald, and of course the actress Gene Tierney in that scene gives a well over the top performance in front of Larry Darrell because selfish Isabel Bradley was 100% jealous of Sophie MacDonald as we near the end of the film. But they both say the film is a great triumph and also is very well crafted and also a great skill, and also says it is the Hollywood system at its best. They also say that the last scene in the film where the character W. Somerset Maugham is talking to selfish Isabel Bradley, where he does the summing up in what the film is all about, by saying “that the goodness is the greatest force in the world, and that Larry Darrell has it and is now bringing it back to the United States,” which we see Larry Darrell is on a tramp steamer, which of course is the actual last scene in the film, and both feel it is a very unusual ending to the film with the particular shot on the story tramp steamer in the lashing torrential rain. At that point the boring audio commentary ends.
Special Feature: Fox Movie-Tone News [1946] [480i] [1.37:1] [3:06] With this featurette, we get to view three brief newsreel excerpts pertaining to the movie ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ and includes: W. Somerset Maugham presenting his manuscript for ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ to be displayed in The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; The film’s premiere in New York City with stars from the film and the 20th Century Fox studio executives and contract players in attendance and last of all is The 1946 Academy Awards® in which Anne Baxter receives her Oscar award from Lionel Barrymore.
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DVD Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary by Anthony Slide and Robert Birchard [Audio only] [2020] [480i] [1080i] [1.37:1] [138:48] With this featurette, we get to hear this Audio Commentary by Film Historians Anthony Slide and Robert Birchard. Contribute a less than exhilarating audio commentary. Their speaking styles are somewhat subdued, and as the film is long, there are numerous gaps in their comments especially in the later reels. Though there is interesting information imparted, with the audio track is not without error, by saying the Anne Baxter did not win a second Oscar for ‘All About Eve.’ Perhaps they meant to say that Anne Baxter earned a second nomination, but that’s not what’s implied.
Special Feature: Fox Movie-Tone News [1946] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:59] With this featurette, we get to view Honouring Somerset Maugham’s Book, Film Premiere and Oscar Presentation.
Finally, ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ [1946] is a sweeping post-World War Two drama that dramatizes the post-World War One “lost generation” following a war, yet gets disillusioned with life who opts for the bohemian lifestyle in Paris and is eventually chased by the sophisticated society woman who once jilted him for money and position. Tyrone Power stars in his returning role after fighting for years in the marines during World War Two. ‘THE RAZOR’S EDGE’ is a brilliant 1940’s film, and Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Anne Baxter, Herbert Marshall, Lucile Watson and John Payne were absolutely fantastic. The scene with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney alone for the first time when they kiss, to me, is the most sensual love scene in all of cinema history, and I've watched this classic film many times and I am still mesmerized by this movie magic. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
