DramaRomance

The Razor's Edge

- Hunger no love... woman... or wealth could satisfy!

An adventurous young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.

Release Date : 1946-11-19

Language :EnglishFrench

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : 20th Century Fox

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Larry Darrell

Original Name : Tyrone Power

Gender : Male

Character Name : Isabel Bradley

Original Name : Gene Tierney

Gender : Female

Character Name : W. Somerset Maugham

Original Name : Herbert Marshall

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sophie MacDonald

Original Name : Anne Baxter

Gender : Female

Character Name : Elliott Templeton

Original Name : Clifton Webb

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gray Maturin

Original Name : John Payne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Louisa Bradley

Original Name : Lucile Watson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Bob MacDonald

Original Name : Frank Latimore

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miss Keith

Original Name : Elsa Lanchester

Gender : Female

Character Name : Kosti

Original Name : Fritz Kortner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joseph - Gray & Isabel's Butler

Original Name : John Wengraf

Gender : Male

Character Name : Holy Man

Original Name : Cecil Humphreys

Gender : Male

Character Name : Specialty Dancer

Original Name : Harry Pilcer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Princess Novemali

Original Name : Cobina Wright Sr.

Gender : Female

Character Name : Police Inspector at Sophie's Death (uncredited)

Original Name : Henri Letondal

Gender : Male

Character Name : Party Guest (uncredited)

Original Name : Brooks Benedict

Gender : Male

Character Name : Party Waiter (voice) (uncredited)

Original Name : Reed Hadley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Banker (uncredited)

Original Name : Paul Everton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Arab Girl

Original Name : Shushella Shakari

Gender : Female

Character Name : Country Club Party Guest

Original Name : Bess Flowers

Gender : Female

Character Name : Dr. Maturin

Original Name : Forbes Murray

Gender : Male

Character Name : Minor Role

Original Name : Cosmo Sardo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Guest (uncredited)

Original Name : Edna Harris

Gender : Female

Character Name :

Original Name : Dorothy Kelly

Gender : Female

Reviews

HarrisonHanksHackman

@HarrisonHanksHackman

2021-06-23

I will admit after seeing Gene Tierney in Laura a few years ago I am always looking for movies on TMC with her in them. While this movie doesn't live up to several others I have seen with Ms Tierney, such as: Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, or Heaven Can Wait, it is certainly worth a viewing. The cast is first rate and even though I am not a huge Tyrone Power fan, he won me over a tad in this film. Clifton Webb is brilliant again (he was in Laura) playing a person who continues to remind everyone he is not a stuffy socialite who is all about wealth, control, and status, even though he is just that. Anne Baxter whose tour-de-force IMO will be four years later in All About Eve, has less to do here and a character that is there to serve as Tierney's victim; much like Jeanne Crain was in Leave Her to Heaven. Although in both movies Tierney is more or less her own victim. I have to also mention Herbert Marshall who plays the writer of the book this movie is based on. His voice does some narration in the movie. More about that in a moment. But we also see him being a confidant and adviser to this circle of "friends" as he sits back and observes their behavior that becomes his novel. My one problem with this movie that takes my rating from a 9 to a 7 is the length. At 2 hours 25 minutes it tends to drag and if I were editing I would start with Tyrone Powers journey to India. That could have been another place we could have used Herbert Marshall's narration. I suspect the reason they did not cut that scene is because they devoted so much time to several of the other characters that Power would not have found himself on screen as often as a male star of a movie would expect to be. So even if you are not someone like me that wants to gawk at Tierney or Mr Power (for you females), it is a movie well worth watching. Just be prepared for some moments that drag and a couple unanswered plot holes at the end.

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-04-26

W. Somerset Maugham's intense character studies are all but impossible to adequately reflect on screen - even in a film that takes 2½ hours. That said, Edmund Goulding assembled a strong cast here to deliver a complex and nuanced series of inter-connected stories that centred around the relationship between "Larry" (Tyrone Power) and "Isabel" (Gene Tierney). Suffering from itchy feet the former left his fiancée and set off into the world. After the Wall Street Crash, she is invited to live with her socially ambitious uncle "Elliott" (Clifton Webb) in Paris and some ten years after he left, she is reunited with her erstwhile beau. Now, she finds herself completely smitten even though she is now married to the somewhat aptly named "Gray" (John Payne) and this is where the scheming Tierney comes into her own. Deftly, sometimes even cruelly, playing a game that pays scant regard for the feelings of her husband and showing a gritty determination to get what she wants. Power plays his character well, too - a straight as a bat, decent, human being; and with an an excellent effort from Anne Baxter as the tragedy-struck, slippery-slope headed "Sophie"; an equally on form Webb and a measured effort (and narration) from Herbert Marshall as the author himself, the acting talent on offer here is formidable. The adaptation, though is a bit meandering and the production as a whole just lacks something. Passion? That spark? I don't really know how to put a finger on it, but somehow it just doesn't quite catch fire.