You know, The Razor's Edge, both the film and the novel by W. Somerset Maugham,
have come in from a lot of dopey criticism from dopey critics,
who cannot appreciate what is implied by this film and its wonderful story.
Somehow it's perhaps not too cerebral enough to appeal to those who would pose and pretend
that they know what they're writing and talking about.
I want to quote a famous writer on W. Somerset Maugham,
and I'm quoting a friend of Maugham's, Garson Kanin.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the writings of Garson Kanin,
including the very popular movie, although he's written several books about the movie kingdom.
He and his late wife, who's Gordon, of course, were a wonderful writing team together.
And this really said some years ago about Somerset Maugham and The Razor's Edge.
This work means a great deal to Maugham, more than any of us suspect.
He thinks of it, so this was written when Maugham was alive,
he thinks of it as being perhaps his last major work, which it probably was.
No matter what the critics or the public think of its philosophical content,
it is profound and meaningful to him.
And I say to you, I find it profound and meaningful,
and I know many people who love this film so much that they wish to see it again and again.
So for me, it's a great occasion tonight,
and I hope you will share this great occasion.
And perhaps after you've seen the film tonight, you too will want to explore it further
and some of the ideas that Somerset Maugham put into this quite remarkable achievement.
The Razor's Edge has a great cast under the direction of Edmund Goulding,
who incidentally composed two of the main themes in the film,
which has musical direction by Alfred Newman.
Here are the principals,
Jean Tierney, Tyrone Power, Herbert Marshall, the wonderful Clifton Webb,
Anne Baxter, who's brilliant, and Lucille Watson.
There's one other, of course, and I refer to John Payne.
John Payne plays Grey Maturon, it's the best performance I think he's ever given on the screen.
Mind you, it could be said of Jean Tierney that she surpassed her work in Learer to Heaven.
In every way, this film comes together so beautifully.
The characters live and are in the most delicate contrast in some scenes.
This particular scene here between Jean Tierney and Anne Baxter
is a mini masterpiece of its own kind.
And Anne Baxter said that during the course of the production of The Razor's Edge,
she had to go to hospital for a few weeks,
and the period she was away from the filming of The Razor's Edge,
she became an outsider from the group. They were very clubby.
And she said when she came back there, she felt like an outsider,
and it worked so well for the parts you had to play.
She will really, I think, get to you very strongly when you see her tonight
because of her recent passing.
A woman of great talent, and what is so interesting as you watch clearly this film,
is that she and the character played by Tyrone Power are both rather sensitive people,
each one seeking his or her own special kind of freedom.
The supporting cast is perfection itself.
Two people, one is Elsa Lanchester, who's wonderful in a small part,
and Fritz Kortner, whose one scene with Tyrone Power is one I think that you will never forget.
The Razor's Edge, a very special experience, and I hope you enjoy it.
I hope you're enjoying The Razor's Edge. Incidentally, one of the great achievements of the film,
I think the camera work by Arthur Miller is outstanding.
This film you would not want in colour, would you? It's got to be the way it is.
I hope you're stirred to read the novel. I think it's a wonderful book.
It's one of my ten favourite novels of all time, just as the film is one of my ten favourites too.
I came across an interesting book recently, it's called W. Somerset Maugham and the Quest for Freedom
by Robert Lauren Calder, and in that is an interesting quote from Somerset Maugham.
The main thing I've always asked from life is freedom, outer and inner freedom,
both in my way of living and my way of writing. I guess a lot of us feel the same way, don't we?
I have a request to make of a reader, one of you who's watching now because you're interested in
Maugham, and you're going to be helping me, I think, because I want to discover something.
I believe that there are two forerunners in Somerset Maugham's writings for the novel The Razor's Edge.
One of them is the short story, which I read many years ago, called The Fall of Edward Barnard,
that comes from the collection of stories known as The Trembling of a Leaf, 921, the first one,
The Fall of Edward Barnard, which had a similar situation as The Razor's Edge, and then in 924,
Somerset Maugham wrote a play called The Road Uphill, which to my knowledge was never performed
on the stage. The Road Uphill. Does anybody know of this play? Does anybody know if there is a copy
of this play in print or where it can be obtained? So please, if you're a Somerset Maugham devotee,
let me know, because I'm so anxious to read this play The Road Uphill, because I believe in many
respects it's very much like The Razor's Edge. Someone said to him, how long did it take you to
write the novel, Mr Maugham? And he said, oh, about 60 years. In fact, Somerset Maugham was about 70
when it was written, and some critics remarked, for a man who'd written so much in 1944 when
this novel was published, it was really quite a most remarkable achievement for a man so elderly.
I think it is a remarkable achievement, and the film does it great justice.
We shall return to The Razor's Edge in a few moments.