7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney bring renowned novelist W. Somerset Maugham's best-seller to life in this mesmerizing film classic which questions society's values. Narrated by onscreen observer Maugham (Herbert Marshall), this intriguing tale centers on a soul-searching World War I veteran (Power) who finds he cannot settle back into the world of the upper class. Shunning his planned marriage and career, he travels abroad to seek the meaning of life and causes his distraught fiancee (Tierney) to seek solace with another man (John Payne).
Starring: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne (I), Anne Baxter, Clifton WebbRomance | 100% |
Period | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Richard Linklater may be currently basking in the glow from his recent Golden Globes win(s) for Boyhood, but let’s not forget his really important contribution to popular culture, namely helping to spread consciousness of the phenonemnon known as the Slacker. Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers may want to believe that they invented this supposedly stress free lifestyle divorced from the hassles of everyday existence, but perhaps like death and taxes, there have evidently always been slackers, albeit folks not always known by that name. W. Somerset Maugham could hardly be typified as a slacker, and not just because of his patrician genetics and upbringing. Maugham had an incredibly full and varied life, having done everything from getting a medical degree, working as a medic during World War I, then a bit later as a spy (more or less), going on several spiritual expeditions to then rather exotic locales, not to mention writing a passel of best selling (and now quite iconic) novels and short stories, as well as several well received plays. Maugham’s characters are often on some kind of a quest, and that is certainly nowhere more apparent than with regard to the focal character of The Razor’s Edge, Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power). While Maugham himself is a minor character in both the novel and film adaptation (played by a somewhat uncomfortable seeming Herbert Marshall), elements of Maugham’s own life and yearning are none too subtly infused into Darrell’s search for a “higher meaning” in life. Ironically, that search begins with a proto-slacker response when his fiancée, tony socialite and debutante Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney), wants Larry to settle down now that World War I has ended, a desire which includes accepting a job offered by one of her family’s acquaintances, so that the two can begin a comfortable (at least) upper middle class existence together. Larry will have none of it, however, telling Isabel that he wants to “loaf” instead. However, this isn’t the same kind of “slackerism” (to coin a word) that came to define at least some elements of a later generation. Larry’s abhorrence of the staid conventional life is not an out and out rejection per se, but stems more simply from a belief that there’s “something greater” out there to be found, if only one were to look in the right place.
The Razor's Edge is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34.:1. While nothing rises to really objectionable levels, the elements utilized for this transfer do have fairly ubiquitous if admittedly pretty minor issues with damage like dust, dirt, scratches and minus density. When not standing with your nose pressed up against the screen, many of these issues are negligible and are never much of a distraction in any case. There are also very slight but noticeable density fluctuations at times, but again nothing that should seriously hobble one's enjoyment of the film. Contrast and black levels are both excellent, with clarity and sharpness also very pleasing. Grain is intact and resolves very naturally and with plenty of room on a BD-50 with only a few (SD) supplements to take up real estate, there are no compression issues of any note.
The Razor's Edge features a perfectly serviceable if somewhat dry and brittle sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track. While there's no damage per se, the age of the soundtrack is readily apparent, especially in the cues of Alfred Newman (and an apparently uncredited Edmund Goulding). Dialogue emerges unscathed, and while the track is shallow sounding, everything can be heard without any real problems.
It would probably be a bit facile to say "they don't make 'em like this one anymore," except that they of course did try to make 'em like this, at least with regard to the underwhelming Bill Murray version, as well as any number of other films (especially some in the 1960s and 1970s) which tried to emulate Maugham's path of spiritual enlightenment whilst living (to quote a certain Madonna) in a material world. What's fascinating about The Razor's Edge is how prescient it is with regard to the lure of Eastern mysticism, as well as the then perhaps radical notion that amassing a pile of things might not be the ultimate meaning of life. Unusually literate and filled with great performances, The Razor's Edge is a very unique and distinctive film, and its debut on Blu-ray should be welcomed by pilgrims and high definition enthusiasts alike. Highly recommended.
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