Razor's Edge, The (1946)
The Razor's Edge (1946), directed by Edmund Goulding.
After WW1, a man cannot settle down but must seek the meaning of life.
The film is partly spiritual quest and partly soap opera. It was a prestige film of that year with a large number of lavish sets and hundreds of extras for the crowd and ballroom scenes.
Sadly, it lacks passion and intensity. The major problems:
Tyrone Power is a likable actor but lacks the depth for this. He made another film with Edmund Goulding that I liked better: Nightmare Alley (1947).
The nature of his quest is fuzzy and undefined. Which, to give them credit, prefigures modern notions of "spirituality": vague and lacking content.
The production code was partly to blame: religious advocacy of Vedanta or Hinduism had to be constrained.
Same for sex, drugs and alcohol: the limitations hurt the story in this case.
We're supposed to accept the limitations of studio-bound productions, but the painted Himalayas are a bit painful. See Black Narcissus (1947) for a (color!) contrast of what's possible in the studio.
Length: 2h24m is way too long for this.
The really good scenes all feature Gene Tierney: exotic beauty, powerful but controlled sexuality, malicious intellect. Even though married, she is still infatuated with a former fiancé and no other woman can have him. In a terribly evil moment she pushes a friend back into alcoholism to get her out of the way.
The best segment is a carefully plotted sex trap: she puts on the Evening Gown of Death, dances with her target all night and then leads him back to her place. He's ready, and if sex ensues then marriage will follow. But, unexpectedly, she lets him go. This is so erotic you can hear the Code squeaking in protest.
Her uncle has been watching and critiques her performance. This is the acidic, exquisitely bitchy Clifton Webb, together again with Tierney after Laura (1944).
Misc notes:
The film's problems were known and discussed even as it was being made, but audiences liked it anyway.
The film features Tierney's own wedding dress, never used by her because she eloped.
Niece: "I want to spend my last night with him". Uncle: "I trust you mean evening". (Actually, she did mean overnight).
Anne Baxter is described as "tight", meaning drunk, "if not worse", the only hint at drugs they are allowed. That and what looks like an opium den / bordello.
Remade in 1984 with Bill Murray: The Razor's Edge (1984).
The title is from a Hindu verse; I always thought it was a Shakespeare quote: "The tongues of mocking wenches are sharper than the razor's edge invisible".
Alfred Newman score.
Available on Blu-ray.
The commentary track has long silent stretches, but gossipy interest now and then. For example: director Goulding was bisexual and had drug parties and orgies of what you might call "both kinds". He had to be sent out of the country to cool down now and then.
