I thought the movie was perfectly cast. Can't say enough about that, but the performance of Anne Baxter as Sophie was immeasurable. It is easy to see why she won an Oscar for her part. I haven't read any comments about either her performance or that of Clifton Webb's, who also won an Oscar for his role of Elliot Templeton.
shareFor somebody so passionate about this movie, Clifton Webb did not win an Oscar for it.....great, though he was.
shareThe film had one of the best casts ever. And I thought that way even before reading the book. After reading the book, I was even more impressed with the cast. If you read the book, you will see that Anne Baxter is not over the top at all, she acts exactly as Sophie was in the book. I liked the performancxes of Herbert Marshall and Clifton Webb the best. No one could have played maugham and Templeton better. Although Tyrone Power was the lead, I did not think it was one of his best roles, although he captured Larry Darrell's unique and strange personality very well.
shareI agree that Anne Baxter's performance as Sophie was amazing. I like to think about her work in this film, creating a character so vulnerable and fragile -- and compare it to her work in All About Eve. That's another stunning performance from her. She had such a wide range as an actress.
shareI can´t agree. She´s a lot of overact and little talent. I didn´t like the movie at all, for I found it solemn and hollow, and all actors are cold and unconvincent. For those who read the Somerset Maugham´s book first, Sophie was a deeper and subtler woman. Anne Baxter was not a great actress. "All about Eve" doesn´t belong to her, but to Bette Davis.
shareI think Baxter is amazing in the scene in the bar in Paris, but apart from that, she is overacting!
shareI really enjoyed her performance but I thought her performance in the saloon was horribly acted. Switching from elation to sadness to anger all within a heartbeat is classic overacting. Deep long angry stares...shoving people around...she was portraying a billigerent drunk but I just didn't buy that that was the kind of person she would become under the influence--regardless of how disappointed she was with the cards she was dealt in life. Here's that scene (if I'm allowed to post it):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXId86uFMA4
Baxter almost always was "a lot of overact" but never "little talent." She was amazingly talented, but didn't know how to handle herself. Edmund Goulding got exactly from her what the part required, and she did her best work ever. She did deserve the Oscar.
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
I don't agree. I loved the film, and loved it just as much even after reasding the book. Sophie in the film was exactly like Sophie in the book.
All About Eve also had a fine cast. As for Anne Baxter in Eve, to even hold your own wiht Bette Davis is quite an achievement, and I think Ms. Baxter did more than that. Actually I think George Sanders was the best performer in Eve. And Maugham and Webb were the best performers in The Razor's Edge. Two grat films. However, I dind't like Tytone Power's scenes with the high lama; that was boring. In fact, although Power was the lead and a fine actor, he had the least interesting part in the film.
You are dead wrong in your assessment of Baxter's performance in this picture. She was excellent. You need to have your head examined.
shareMovie girl: Anne Baxter was marvelous in her performance as Sohphie! I have
seen many of her performances that were all acted in a superlative manner, but this was by far her best! Her emotions ranging from sheer happiness to grief are beautifully shown here.
Anne Baxter deserved an Oscar!!
The level of performance of Clifton Webb was equal to his performance in LAURA.
I agree her performance was amazing. I loved the way she progressed from innocent to troubled. She was very convincing. A great little gem of a movie.
shareSaw it again tonight, and loved it just as much. I agree that Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, and Herbert Marshall were the stars of this movie. Tyrone Power played his role as expected for the character he was playing, but he isn't the star of the film. I think the Director is highly underrated too, considering all the wonderful movies he directed, including Dark Victory.
Love this movie, the 80s version with Bill Murray is not worth seeing except maybe for a comparison to this one.
Life is a journey not a destination. Fear nothing.
I felt sorry for Bill Murray in the remake of this. Talk about stiff. I know he was probably trying to show his ability to act in a drama but he seemed to equate acting dramatically with holding his body stiff. He tried and I give him credit but he was awful. He's a great comedian and he should stick to that. Tyrone was perfect in the role. Darrell wasn't a character who emoted and was prone to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. He was a deep, thoughtful character who, IMO, seemed to be studying the others in his quest to understand the human race. I thought his delivery of the line in which he tells Isabel that 'he knows who killed Sophie' was very powerful simply because of the way he looked at Isabel when he said it.
"If I don't suit chu, you kin cut mah thoat!"
Dear Rowenar7, Anne Baxter was so sexy in this role. Far better than her squeaky clean but fundamentaly evil Eve. In the scene where Gene Tierney with Husband Payne, Tyrone Power and Herbert Marshall go to the bar in Paris and meet up with Anne she is truly amazing and her behaviour towards her "pimp" French boyfriend so realistic. She knows she will have to pay for her behaviour later when her friends have left. I am sure there is a hint of shock as she attempts to kiss Gene Tierney. Wow! I disagree with some comments that the movie could stand up today. I think it truly does and does it well. I love the film - all of it. Clifton Webb didn't get the Oscar but was nominated and deservedly so. He was superb. Yes you are right it was perfectly cast throughout. I can watch it again and again. We can all learn from the character Larry, played so well by Tyrone Power.
They dont make 'em like that anymore sadly.
Kindest Regards,
Frank.
It's on AMC today. Once more I am enjoying this superb film. Ann Baxter's performance was superb. You can see how her character evolves as action develops in the story. She makes it absolutely believable and tender, without going into melodramatic styel. This is something very hard to achieve, especially during the time this film was made.
Larry's search for himself is not at all outdated, he is actually feeling the same way as so many millions out there today, trying to fulfill themselves in an empty nebulosa.
Most of the comments in this movie's thread are very enlightening, thanks to them all. Even if one doesn't agree with some of them, there's sense and sensiblity behind them all.
The movie is a classic. W.Somerset Maugham's book adaptation to screen is excellent. It'd be interesting to have youth audiences read the novel and watch the film, and hear what they have to say about it. I'd certainly include it in a list along with To Kill a Mockingbird, The Third Man, The Great Gatsby, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth. All of them excellent literary pieces adapted for the big screen.
"If you rest, you rust." Helen Hayes
You know, I'm a big Anne Baxter fan, but (and this is hard to say) I don't think this is her best performance. I think she did overact in a lot of her scenes, (probably trying to make up for the subtle language of the script).
I actually thought the '84 version had a much stronger interpretation of Sophie. Theresa Russell did a very good job, but she did have the benefit of not having censorship rules to tiptoe around.
I would have given the Oscar to Clifton Webb, not Baxter. He was the one person who completely understood his character, and he had a ball. Anne should have won the oscar for All About Eve. Say all you want about Bette Davis - that movie could not have existed without Anne Baxter.
I don't care about money. I just want to be wonderful. - Marilyn Monroe
I'm not that wild about Baxter's performance; she wasn't a failure, but I felt there was something forced about her performance in the later drunk scenes.
"GOD--WAS--WRONG!"--James Mason, Bigger Than Life
I think Anne Baxter was superb here, not overacting at all. Just a magnificent performance, by far the best of anyone in this movie.
As for Webb, yes, he did a good job acting, but frankly there was too much of his character in the movie. The time should have been spent on more development of Larry. OTOH, Tyrone Power would probably not have carried that well, as he was miscast from the start.
I thought Anne Baxter's performance was one of the strengths of this film. Her scene in the nightclub is stunning.
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I loved Anne Baxter's performance. It is, perhaps, my favourite element of this very different film. Indeed, she did have a wide range and was very versatile. I felt so sorry for her in the scene where herself and Power are about to meet Webb and co. (the drink temptation scene) and she's so quite and ashamed. She performed effectively and conveyed her feelings powerfully.
In other words, if she didn't win the Oscar, I'd have been truly disappointed!
In 1940s, acting was VERY different and film hadn't been around for very long. So it's a totally different style that we're watching here.
I mean, if Vivien Leigh acted in a film today, we'd find it ridiculous.
Anne Baxter was slightly contrived maybe but I think that was a common style of acting. I LOVED her in this film
I am old eough to have seen this movie when it first came out, and as an impressionable teenager was alerted to the overwhelming "goodness" that the character Larry possessed. W.Somerset Maugham wrote so many good books of the period between the World Wars, and this one, expressing the waste and excesses of that time is a wonderful counterpoint to the life Larry ultimately chose.
I have just seen 'The Painted Veil', another magic portrayal of the work and experiences of this great writer. Beautifully understated performances by Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, it is another of those romances that captures those times so brilliantly.
Movie girl: I grew up in the 50's and 60's watching many fine older films on TV. The Razor's Edge was one of many that are in my top 10. I loved Larry Darrell's character too. He was inately good and cared about others. Sadly,
Isabel (Gene's character) had to accept the fact that he was not a 9 to 5 worker in an easy job. He wanted to discover the meaning of life and made friends in many places, including the coal mines. Really touching was his sojourn in Tibet where he meets the Dalai Lama.
Several years later I obtained a copy of the book and really enjoyed that too!
Which Painted Veil have you seen? The one
I saw was on AMC several years ago and had Greta Garbo and I think George Brent.
Herbert Marshall played the innocent husband.