This film is based on a very popular book by the writer W. Somerset Maugham. The book is an entertaining read and Maugham created a fascinating story and hero in the character or Larry Darrell a man searching for meaning in his life after surviving World War I.
The film follows the lives of several characters, Larry Darrell the disillusioned former soldier, his fiancee Isabel Bradley, her friend Sophie MacDonald and Bradley's rich uncle the snobbish Elliott Templeton. The narrator is played by a character called Somerset Maugham who is sort of a dispassionate observer and narrator throughout the film and novel. The novel has Larry Darrell journeying to India where he studies eastern philosophy and transcendental meditation. The film also sends Darrell to India but the discussions on life and philosophy are a little more vague, these are tough concepts to put over in a film.
The book was a bestseller and the film was a hit. The film's success is primarily due to Darryl F. Zanuck the head of 20th Century Fox Studios who at times would personally produce films that were of interest to him. This is a big, expensive, good looking and well photographed production. One of Zanuck's best writers Lamar Trotti and I'm sure Zanuck wrote the screenplay.
The film was well cast with Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb and Herbert Marshall in the lead roles. This is studio film making at it's finest, an interesting premise, a compelling story and Hollywood film making professionalism at it's finest.
The running time is 145 minutes.
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