Pop Culture 101: THE RAZOR'S EDGE

Although Alfred Newman was the music composer for The Razor's Edge, director Edmund Goulding was a musician himself and penned two songs for the film, one for Isabel (Isabel's Waltz) and one for Sophie (Sophie's Theme). It was Sophie's Theme, under the alternate title Mam'selle that became a hit, topping the charts as reported by the radio show Your Hit Parade. In fact, it was the top song on the radio the week that The Razor's Edge opened at The Roxy in New York City. It was later covered by a wealth of talent, including Dick Haymes, Frankie Laine and Frank Sinatra. The song's refrain closes with the lines:
"And yet I know too well Some day you'll say goodbye Then violins will cry and so will I mam'selle"

The Razor's Edge's biggest impact on popular culture came from the vague journey of Larry Darrell to "find" himself. Using the terminology "finding yourself" as shorthand for self-reflection became popularized after the film hit big at the box office in 1946-47. Though the Transcendentalists had already illuminated such ideas to the world long before, it was The Razor's Edge that boiled it down to something easy for the layman to follow.

Although Maugham's novel was poorly received at the time by critics, it was a commercial smash and along with the movie version, and predated the Beat movement by years. By the time of Maugham's death in 1965, travelling to the East to find oneself had become an accepted and popular journey made by thousands of enlightenment seekers around the world.

The Razor's Edge proved popular enough that a radio version was produced in 1948 by Lux Radio Theatre with Ida Lupino and Mark Stevens.

by Greg Ferrara