SPOILER ALERT.....SPOILER ALERT
Make no mistake, this was one of 20th Century Fox's big productions. The $1.2 million budget led to gross rentals of $5 million. The scenes here are lush, although it's a shame they didn't spend just a little more money to film it is color. Fox purchased the film rights from Somerset Maugham for $50,000 plus a percent of the net profit. It appears to have been a fairly lavish production. The musical score in part by Alfred Newman, is quite impressive, and was the original source of the song "Mam'selle". The film runs long (145 minutes), but it needed to, and I give credit to 20th Century Fox for allowing it to.
I am updating this review to reflect my recent Blu Ray replacement of the original DVD. The first question that comes up is whether or not the Blu Ray is a significant improvement over the DVD. An improvement in this case, yes, quite good, although at points the film's score seemed just a tad harsh. At any rate, it is a good transfer and looks good on widescreen high-def television.
Somerset Maugham (played here by Herbert Marshall) narrates the film, and drifts in and out of the story at opportune moments, much as he had in 1942's "The Moon and Sixpence". As the film begins, we see Tyrone Power romancing Gene Tierney. But, Powers also wants to explore the meaning of life and travel the world...but Tierney simply wants a proper and wealthy marriage. The fiancés separate and Tierney marries John Payne, a millionaire. Mutual friend Sophie Nelson (Anne Baxter) marries happily, but her husband and child are killed in a car accident. Power eventually travels to India where he seeks a deeper understanding of life from a mystic and time in the Himalayas, where he becomes enlightened. Power returns to France and becomes friends again with Maugham and Baxter and her husband. An alcoholic Baxter shows up, Power decides to marry her, but Tierney's scheming results in the death of Baxter. All this comes out at the end of the movie, when Power leaves for America, never to again see his circle of friends.
It's an especially strong performance by Tyrone Power here. He's at his young (32) handsome best here, but what's most impressive is that this is one of his most impressive acting performances. His character wants to know what life is all about because of an incident that occurred during WWI; it seems cliché now, but it makes sense here...and frankly, always will. It's interesting here how through some vignettes they pack a good sense of Power's character traveling in Europe...and it's hardly the life that Tierney's uncle (Clifton Webb) intended in his scheming.
Gene Tierney comes off as being a very unsympathetic character...but that was the role. Early in the film she stresses her desire that her intended (Power) be ambitious, and while she feels strongly about it, rather than seem unreasonable, she seems logical. At this point, it's simply a question of 2 people whose attitude toward life are simply too different to enter into a marriage. And so she marries another -- John Payne. Later she learns that Anne Baxter will marry Tyrone Power, and she leads the recovering alcoholic woman into a drunk resulting in suicide. That's when you realize that Tierney's character is evil. But of course, she has her comeuppance at the end of the film.
John Payne and Anne Baxter played their roles very well, and Baxter even won the supporting Oscar for it...although I didn't feel she was that special here. Payne was always a rather pleasant B actor. Baxter here plays a pathetic woman who is handed some tragic events in life and can't handle it. She becomes a slut in a Paris bar...which I found rather far fetched. And then the bombshell -- Power is going to marry Baxter, and, though married herself, Tierney is livid. Sophie totally falls off the wagon and ends up murdered.
Herbert Marshall is excellent as Maugham, although his role is sparse in the first half of the film.
Clifton Webb, nominated for best supporting actor Oscar here, is superb, and perhaps never did he play his foppish character quite so well as in this film. Webb's character's demise in the film is a classic.
Also worth watching -- mostly early in the film -- is Lucile Watson as Tierney's mother...a wonderful character actress.
Fritz Kortner, a Viennese actor, has a nice smaller role as a European miner/unfrocked priest with a fair amount of wisdom whose talk leads Tyrone Power's character to India. Cecil Humphreys has an interesting role as the holy man in India; again, a rather small part. Elsa Lanchester has a small, but delightful part near the end of the film.
Perhaps the biggest fault of the film is the small amount of time spent on Power's character's time in the Indian mountains where he became enlightened. What did he learn there? How did he learn it. It's given short shrift, and as such, I felt as though an important piece of the character's enlightenment was missing.
This is on my DVD shelf! And should be on yours. I have given the film an "8", albeit a weak one, because I was disappointed in the segment in India. This film is good enough that it inspired me to seek Maugham's novel, but I was dissatisfied for the same reason with the novel.
Make no mistake, this was one of 20th Century Fox's big productions. The $1.2 million budget led to gross rentals of $5 million. The scenes here are lush, although it's a shame they didn't spend just a little more money to film it is color. Fox purchased the film rights from Somerset Maugham for $50,000 plus a percent of the net profit. It appears to have been a fairly lavish production. The musical score in part by Alfred Newman, is quite impressive, and was the original source of the song "Mam'selle". The film runs long (145 minutes), but it needed to, and I give credit to 20th Century Fox for allowing it to.
I am updating this review to reflect my recent Blu Ray replacement of the original DVD. The first question that comes up is whether or not the Blu Ray is a significant improvement over the DVD. An improvement in this case, yes, quite good, although at points the film's score seemed just a tad harsh. At any rate, it is a good transfer and looks good on widescreen high-def television.
Somerset Maugham (played here by Herbert Marshall) narrates the film, and drifts in and out of the story at opportune moments, much as he had in 1942's "The Moon and Sixpence". As the film begins, we see Tyrone Power romancing Gene Tierney. But, Powers also wants to explore the meaning of life and travel the world...but Tierney simply wants a proper and wealthy marriage. The fiancés separate and Tierney marries John Payne, a millionaire. Mutual friend Sophie Nelson (Anne Baxter) marries happily, but her husband and child are killed in a car accident. Power eventually travels to India where he seeks a deeper understanding of life from a mystic and time in the Himalayas, where he becomes enlightened. Power returns to France and becomes friends again with Maugham and Baxter and her husband. An alcoholic Baxter shows up, Power decides to marry her, but Tierney's scheming results in the death of Baxter. All this comes out at the end of the movie, when Power leaves for America, never to again see his circle of friends.
It's an especially strong performance by Tyrone Power here. He's at his young (32) handsome best here, but what's most impressive is that this is one of his most impressive acting performances. His character wants to know what life is all about because of an incident that occurred during WWI; it seems cliché now, but it makes sense here...and frankly, always will. It's interesting here how through some vignettes they pack a good sense of Power's character traveling in Europe...and it's hardly the life that Tierney's uncle (Clifton Webb) intended in his scheming.
Gene Tierney comes off as being a very unsympathetic character...but that was the role. Early in the film she stresses her desire that her intended (Power) be ambitious, and while she feels strongly about it, rather than seem unreasonable, she seems logical. At this point, it's simply a question of 2 people whose attitude toward life are simply too different to enter into a marriage. And so she marries another -- John Payne. Later she learns that Anne Baxter will marry Tyrone Power, and she leads the recovering alcoholic woman into a drunk resulting in suicide. That's when you realize that Tierney's character is evil. But of course, she has her comeuppance at the end of the film.
John Payne and Anne Baxter played their roles very well, and Baxter even won the supporting Oscar for it...although I didn't feel she was that special here. Payne was always a rather pleasant B actor. Baxter here plays a pathetic woman who is handed some tragic events in life and can't handle it. She becomes a slut in a Paris bar...which I found rather far fetched. And then the bombshell -- Power is going to marry Baxter, and, though married herself, Tierney is livid. Sophie totally falls off the wagon and ends up murdered.
Herbert Marshall is excellent as Maugham, although his role is sparse in the first half of the film.
Clifton Webb, nominated for best supporting actor Oscar here, is superb, and perhaps never did he play his foppish character quite so well as in this film. Webb's character's demise in the film is a classic.
Also worth watching -- mostly early in the film -- is Lucile Watson as Tierney's mother...a wonderful character actress.
Fritz Kortner, a Viennese actor, has a nice smaller role as a European miner/unfrocked priest with a fair amount of wisdom whose talk leads Tyrone Power's character to India. Cecil Humphreys has an interesting role as the holy man in India; again, a rather small part. Elsa Lanchester has a small, but delightful part near the end of the film.
Perhaps the biggest fault of the film is the small amount of time spent on Power's character's time in the Indian mountains where he became enlightened. What did he learn there? How did he learn it. It's given short shrift, and as such, I felt as though an important piece of the character's enlightenment was missing.
This is on my DVD shelf! And should be on yours. I have given the film an "8", albeit a weak one, because I was disappointed in the segment in India. This film is good enough that it inspired me to seek Maugham's novel, but I was dissatisfied for the same reason with the novel.