The Razor's Edge
Short description
The Razor's Edge follows Larry Darrell, a young American whose experiences in the First World War leave him unable to settle back into the comfortable, moneyed life expected of him. He breaks off his engagement to the wealthy Isabel Bradley and sets out to find some larger meaning, travelling through Europe and eventually reaching the Himalayas. Years later he returns, and Isabel, now married to another man, is determined to draw him back into her world.
The film is directed by Edmund Goulding, whose long career included Grand Hotel, Dark Victory and A Night at the Opera; it came sixth in the chronological list of his features and was followed by Nightmare Alley. Lamar Trotti wrote the screenplay, adapting W. Somerset Maugham's novel, with Darryl F. Zanuck producing for 20th Century Fox. Tyrone Power plays Larry opposite Gene Tierney as Isabel, and the cast of twenty-three credited performers includes Herbert Marshall as Maugham, Clifton Webb as Elliott Templeton, Anne Baxter as Sophie MacDonald and John Payne as Gray Maturin.
Released in November 1946 and running 145 minutes, the film drew a film critics' rating of 6.9 from nine reviews, closely matched by the 6.9 on TMDB from a small number of votes. On IMDb it holds 7.3 from roughly 7,400 votes, suggesting a steady level of interest over the decades.
What's left behind the scenes
- 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to adapt the source novel in March 1945 for $250,000 plus 20% of the net profit. The contract stipulated that if filming did not begin by February 2, 1946, the film company would be fined $50,000. To avoid paying the fine, producer Darryl F. Zanuck (1902-1979) organized filming in the mountains near Denver, Colorado, in August 1945 (they portrayed the Himalayas in the film). The film’s cast had not yet been finalized at that time, so a stunt double played Larry, and he was only filmed from a distance. Zanuck hoped that Tyrone Power (1914-1958) would star in the lead role, so he kept delaying the start of filming to give Power time to be demobilized, which happened in January 1946.
- 89 sets were built with decorations. At the time (1946), the shooting schedule was the longest in the history of cinema.
- Playwright and novelist William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was hired to write the screenplay, and the script he wrote is still kept in the film company's archives. How much of his script was ultimately used in the film remains unknown.
- While filming a scene in the hospital, Ann Baxter (1923-1985) drew on her own childhood memories of losing her three-year-old brother.
- The 20th Century Fox film company did not use Somerset Maugham's screenplay, written based on his own novel of the same name (1944), and therefore felt somewhat indebted to him. Director George Cukor (1899-1983) proposed gifting Maugham a painting, and later recounted that Maugham was gifted a canvas by Henri Matisse (1869-1954).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
