The Razor's Edge (1946)

In 1919 Chicago, a young man (Tyrone Power), who is part of the country club set, is struggling to find his place in the world. His ambitious fiancee (Gene Tierney) doesn't share his need to find spiritual enlightenment which eventually leads to their parting ways. But a journey to India and the Himalayan mountains where he becomes a student of an Indian mystic changes his life forever. Based on the Somerset Maugham novel, the film often threatens to collapse under the weight of the mystical ponderousness that pushes the narrative. But if one is tempted to break down in giggles over Tyrone Power meditating on a Himalayan mountain top and discussing mystic philosophy while big blasts of Alfred Newman's score accompany the sun's rays breaking through the clouds, structurally the film is so well made that you can't take your eyes off it. At least, it's trying to say something and if the message is heavy handed, Edmund Goulding's direction is solid and there are some wonderful moments like the montage of Power and Tierney's last night in Paris. As the doomed Sophie, Anne Baxter won the supporting actress Oscar and she's very good but it's the kind of juicy role that any decent actress could have a home run with. With Clifton Webb stealing the film as Tierney's bitchy snob uncle, John Payne, Lucile Watson, Elsa Lanchester and Herbert Marshall playing the author, Somerset Maugham.