Post by mikef6 on May 29, 2020 16:21:36 GMT
The 1946 “Razor” is one of the best movies of the ‘40s. It is one of my favorites, but I disagree with the (what seems to be ) consensus about Anne Baxter. She is terrible. There isn’t a moment of genuine truth in her entire overwrought performance. The thought of her thrashing in a hospital bed screaming, “Baby, baby, baby, baby” is hard to erase. (Have you ever noticed that people in movies always refer to their infants as “the baby” whereas Real People refer to them by their names?) The rest of her “performance” is making faces rather than acting.
One the other hand, the 1984 “Razor” is one of the worst movies of its decade. Although this version retains the novel’s setting in the decade or so after WWI, the major characters of Larry and Isabel are jarringly modern. Furthermore, the two actors, Bill Murray and Catherine Hicks, seem totally lost. Murray, who has proved himself since in dramatic roles, looks like he doesn’t have the foggiest idea who he is supposed to be or how he is supposed to say these lines he is given to recite. Murray is equally at sea as Polonius in "Hamlet" from 2000. Hicks, in her dress, posture, and vocal mannerisms is a modern hippie chick instead of a 1920s Chicago debutante.
One the other hand, the 1984 “Razor” is one of the worst movies of its decade. Although this version retains the novel’s setting in the decade or so after WWI, the major characters of Larry and Isabel are jarringly modern. Furthermore, the two actors, Bill Murray and Catherine Hicks, seem totally lost. Murray, who has proved himself since in dramatic roles, looks like he doesn’t have the foggiest idea who he is supposed to be or how he is supposed to say these lines he is given to recite. Murray is equally at sea as Polonius in "Hamlet" from 2000. Hicks, in her dress, posture, and vocal mannerisms is a modern hippie chick instead of a 1920s Chicago debutante.