The Razor’s Edge (Edmund Goulding, 1946): USA
Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy. Viewed on DVD.
The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over, thus the wise say the path to salvation is hard. Wisdom of Eastern mysticism were the inspiration for the title of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The Razor’s Edge; a tale of two opposing forces of selfishness and altruism.
Mr. Maugham (portrayed by Herbert Marshall) begins his tale in America shortly after WWI, where he attends a party with the handsome young veteran Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) and his fiancee Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney). The two are crazy about each other but have differing agendas. Isabel has high ambitions, while Larry is overcome with grief from the tragedies of war, and just wants to escape.
At the same party is Larry’s childhood friend Sophie (Anne Baxter) who’s sweet, innocent and in love, and has the simplistic desire to please her husband and be a good mother. She refrains from alcohol because it displeases her sweetheart Bob (Frank Latimore), until tragedy strikes a crushing blow, and poor Sophie can only find solace in alcohol, drugs and promiscuity.
Enter Uncle Elliott (Clifton Webb) the demanding, snobbish, social climber.
The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915): USA
Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.
D.W. Griffith’s great epic, The Birth of a Nation, has been the subject of much controversy. While it has been praised for its many innovations it has been equally lambasted for its championing of the Ku Klux Klan, and for its obvious racism and historical inaccuracies. However, the film’s importance seems to be too great to ignore.
Focusing on two families, the northern Stonemans, whose father Austin (Ralph Lewis) is an abolitionist Congressman, and the southern Camerons, the film tells the story of the Civil War and the reconstruction of the south after the war. Two of the Stoneman brothers, Phil (Elmer Clifton) and Tod (Robert Harron), visit the home and family of their friend Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall). Phil and Ben’s sister Margaret (Miriam Cooper) immediately fall for each other as Ben falls for Phil’s sister Elsie (Lillian Gish) through her photograph which Phil gives to Ben. They learn of tensions between north and south brought about by the election and the Stonemans return home. The war
