Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site olivej.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!sun!qubix!ios!oliveb!olivej!greg From: greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: Re: "The Razor's Edge" Message-ID: <239@olivej.UUCP> Date: Mon, 22-Oct-84 19:05:44 EDT Article-I.D.: olivej.239 Posted: Mon Oct 22 19:05:44 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 24-Oct-84 08:15:41 EDT References: <1694@ucla-cs.ARPA> Organization: Olivetti ATC, Cupertino, Ca Lines: 45 I haven't seen the new movie. My comments are based on having heard or read about it in magazines and the original posted article, having read the book, and having seen the earlier version of the movie with Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power. If, in fact, the movie is going to attempt to probe "man's search for meaning" or anything of the sort, it's doomed from the start regardless of the casting of the leading man: they chose the wrong book. The philosophical trappings as well as the other traces of exoticism (the opium den, the general description of Larry's India trip) are actually only "atmosphere" for what is actually a story no different from any of Maugham's other writing. That is, the plot deals essentially with very real, everyday type people and situations with their humor, flaws, foibles and what are generally depicted as rather pathetic efforts to attain something "higher". The eccentricity of Larry (which is what Maugham actually reduces his quest to) and the colorful Paris backdrop only serve to reinforce this. I think that it's significant that Larry's actual change of lifestyle and the events leading up to it are, in the book, not part of the main action and are, in fact, revealed in a single (long) narrative as having taken place in the past. From that point on, Larry seems to undergo very little actual development but serves, rather, as a pivot point. The interest in the plot is in how the other characters are influenced by him without his trying to wield an influence and how they react to and around him. The discussion of actual eastern philosophy is superficial and dated to the point of being laughable. Obviously the real "meat" of the story is the gossip, bitchiness, greed, affection and loneliness suffered by everyone BUT Larry. If the movie attempted to use this to provide some sort of philosphical revelation (which I'm ready to believe, based on this article and other reviews) it can't possibly succeed. - Greg Paley