Trivia & Fun Facts About THE RAZOR'S EDGE

W. Somerset Maugham claimed that the characters in The Razor's Edge were real and the events had occurred (with the names of the real people changed); he had also written the same story three times before starting in 1901 with The Hero. This was followed by a play with roughly the same story entitled Unknown in 1920 and, finally, in 1924, another play, The Road Uphill which mirrors the plot of the later The Razor's Edge almost point by point. It is thus surmised that if the basis for Larry Darrell was a real person, Maugham met him in the thirties and then used the template from these three previous to work a story around him.

As noted in the pop culture notes for The Razor's Edge, Edmund Goulding wasn't the only person on the set writing songs during the making of the film. Lucile Watson, playing Louisa Bradley in the film, wrote a parody song about Edmund Goulding himself that Clifton Webb delighted in. Clearly, like Webb, Watson wasn't particularly fond of Goulding's directing style in which he asked to "be the person" he was giving direction to so he could "show them" what he meant. The opening lyric:
"May I be you? Thanks, chum! Look, I'm Gene. See, here I come... The music plays... Tum-tum, tum-tum; I'm very beautiful... Look, here I go... (This is not acting, it is just to show)."

When Otto Preminger cast Broadway actor Clifton Webb in Laura (1944), Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck objected but soon afterwards became close friends with Webb and signed him to a contract for more films. When Webb lost Best Supporting Actor to Harold Russell for The Best Years of Our Lives, Zanuck sent a wire to Webb (who couldn't attend the Oscar® ceremony because he was on Broadway performing Noel Coward's Present Laughter); the producer stated that it was "unfortunate that you were up against a popular military figure" and that it went without saying that Webb had given "the finest performance of the year." Virginia Zanuck wired him, too, and echoed the sentiment, "Well, anyway, honey, you were not in The Best Years, but you gave the best performance of the year."

Darryl Zanuck wanted Gene Tierney because he believed she would win Best Actress for Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and wanted to have the most recent Oscar® winner for his lead actress. The casting (and start of shooting) came before the Academy Awards ceremony and, unfortunately, though nominated, Tierney lost to Joan Crawford for Mildred Pierce.

Maugham's book and the 1946 movie inadvertently gave birth to the 1984 blockbuster, Ghostbusters. Bill Murray was a fan of both the book and movie versions of The Razor's Edge and began to write a screenplay for it in which he could star. Meanwhile, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis couldn't get any big stars to commit to their screenplay, Ghostbusters. As no one would finance another version of The Razor's Edge, Bill Murray made a deal with Columbia Pictures that he would do Ghostbusters only if the studio financed the remake of The Razor's Edge, which they did.

For the scenes of Larry and Isabel hitting the town in Paris on their last night together before she goes back to Chicago to marry Gray, Tyrone Power asked the props crew to provide real champagne for all their scenes. Since they had no dialogue to flub, Power figured it would make the scene feel more relaxed and fun to shoot. Gene Tierney agreed, saying, "The scene had a special glow that came out of our champagne glasses."

Memorable Quotes from THE RAZOR'S EDGE

W. Somerset Maugham: [opening narration] This story consists of my recollections of a very unusual young man with whom I was thrown into contact at long intervals.

W. Somerset Maugham: [narrating, referring to Larry Darrell] This is the young man of whom I write. He is not famous. It may be that when his life at last comes to an end, he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on this earth than a stone, thrown into a river, leaves on the surface of the water. Yet it may be that the way of life he has chosen for himself may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow man so that, long after his death perhaps, it will be realized that there lived in this age a very remarkable creature.

Elliott Templeton (Clifton Webb): The enjoyment of art is the only remaining ecstasy that's neither immoral nor illegal.

Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney): What are you going to do with all this wisdom?
Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power): If I ever acquire wisdom I suppose I'll be wise enough to know what to do with it.

Holy Man (Cecil Humphreys): The road to salvation is difficult to pass over. As difficult as the sharp edge of a razor.

Elliott Templeton: [referring to Larry Darrell] And then when I asked him to dinner, he said he couldn't come because he had no evening clothes. If I live to be a hundred I shall never understand how any young man can come to Paris without evening clothes.

Elliott Templeton: I do not like the propinquity of the hoi polloi.

Louisa Bradley (Lucile Watson): Elliott, who is this man you invited to dinner tonight?
Elliott Templeton: [Referring to W. Somerset Maugham] He's an English author. He's quite alright. In fact he's quite famous. So pretend you've heard of him even if you haven't.

Elliott Templeton: You know, I've never been able to understand why, with so much space in the world, people should deliberately choose to live in the middle west.

Isabel Bradley: [Referring to Sophie MacDonald (Anne Baxter)] She's an awful woman. She's bad, bad, bad! She's soused from morning to night. W. Somerset Maugham: That doesn't necessarily mean she's bad. Quite a number of respectable citizens get drunk and do silly things... I call a person bad who lies and cheats and is unkind. Isabel Bradley: If you're going to take her part, I'll kill you.
W. Somerset Maugham: I'd prefer it if you gave me a cup of tea.

Isabel Bradley: [referring to Larry Darrell] What is he trying to do with his life? What does he hope to find?
W. Somerset Maugham: My dear, Larry has found what we all want and few of us ever get. I don't think anyone can fail to be better, nobler, kinder for knowing him. You see, my dear, goodness is, after all, the greatest force in the world. And he's got it.

Compiled by Greg Ferrara