This adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel is wonderful in so many ways. The dialogue is well written, the actors and actresses involved are excellent and believable in their roles, and the screenplay is spiritually faithful to the novel.

Theresa Russel is a gem in this movie, as the troubled Sophie, but it is Bill Murray's portrayal of Larry that truly stands out here ... mainly because, as far as I know, this is his only non-comedic role.

One of the best movies I've seen!

America has not entered WWI yet. Larry Darrell (Bill Murray) with his girlfriend Isabel Bradley (Catherine Hicks),his best friend Gray Maturin (James Keach) and Sophie MacDonald (Theresa Russell) live a comfortable upper class life. Larry and Gray go to Europe to drive an ambulance. After the war, Larry goes in search for himself. In Paris, he and Isabel end up not getting married as he pushes on as a coal miner and eventually cooking at a Tibetan monastery. Isabel ends up married to Gray who goes to work for his father. The Great Depression hits the family brokerage hard and Gray's father commits suicide. Sophie suffers after her husband and child are killed in a car crash. Larry runs into Isabel and Gray with their two daughters now broke in Paris. They also find Sophie who became a drug addicted prostitute.

Bill Murray does a good but not a great job. He is always great at the zen jester character. He just can't reach the darker depths necessary during and right after the war. It also occurs to me that this is the story of two people. Isabel is the other person and the movie needs to zero in on that. Theresa Russell would have been a great Isabel although she's a perfectly fine Sophie in the movie. Sophie could have done by somebody more fragile. It's a good attempt by Murray but not all successful.

I was as amazed as anyone else when Columbia remade the Tyrone Power classic The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray in the lead in 1984. What kind of casting is that I and many others wondered. Almost 30 years later, I'm still wondering.

The original adaption was driven by Tyrone Power probably at his most heroic as the World War I veteran earnestly seeking some kind of philosophical grounding. As Herbert Marshall observes in that film, Power is possibly the most amazing individual he's ever met. No one could have said that about Bill Murray. Try as I may I expected at numerous points in the film Dan Ackroyd and the rest coming on accompanied by the Ghostbusters theme.

It's the same plot for the most part, Murray begs off his expected engagement and marriage to Catherine Hicks saying he wants to go to Europe. She refuses to believe it's for study, she just thinks he wants to sow wild oats. His quest and her misunderstanding of him is what drives the rest of the film.

After Murray and Hicks have been reunited in Paris along comes Theresa Russell playing the part of Sophie for which Anne Baxter got a Best Supporting Actress Award. Russell comes closest though she doesn't make it quite herself to equaling the original performer. Baxter is a study in degradation from an eager newlywed to a woman who after losing her husband and baby in a car crash drifts to Europe and becomes a streetwalker. Murray as did Power in the original tries to rescue her, but to no avail. There's a different emphasis here as Russell's role is built up at the expense of Hicks's part which was done by Gene Tierney in the original. That was a mistake for as great as Baxter was, in fact the role is a supporting one.

Denholm Elliott who usually I like was a pale reflection of Clifton Webb as the society obsessed Uncle Elliott Templeton for which he got a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

The part of the author W. Somerset Maugham was written into the original and played to perfection by Herbert Marshall. He narrates and he's the observer of events. It's a very reflective plot device guiding the viewer to what the author was trying to say. Marshall played Maugham in two films and was so effective, he's the image we have of W. Somerset Maugham today. That overall narration was needed, but Murray took the lead into places that Tyrone Power did not and not for the better. Maybe he really was sowing wild oats.

I recommend highly renting or buying the DVD of the original version of The Razor's Edge before you see this and see what I mean.