The Razor’s Edge (1946)

Clifton Webb is the wealthy “bachelor” Elliott Templeton in queer director Edmund Goulding’s 1946 adaptation of queer author W. Somerset Maugham’s 1944 novel “The Razor’s Edge.”

In THE RAZOR’S EDGE, Larry Darrell (played by bisexual actor Tyrone Power) returns home from his time as a pilot in WWI and is expected to pick up life where it left off. He moves to France, away from his wealthy fiancée Isabel (Gene Tierney), to find himself instead of following the traditional path of building a career, settling down, and having a family. While Larry is away he begins to find contentment while everyone back home settles in unhappy lives and marriages. There is definitely an element of queer-coding here.

As hinted earlier, the film has a more obviously queer-coded character in Elliott (Clifton Webb) who is the wealthy uncle of Isabel. Webb, a gay man himself, frequented queer-coded roles in films like LAURA (1944), THE DARK CORNER (1946) and SITTING PRETTY (1948).

Another queer-coded presence in the film is a fictitious version of “The Razor’s Edge” author, Somerset Maugham (played by Herbert Marshall); he’s the narrator and a close friend of Elliott’s, though the two men couldn’t be more different. Elliott is depicted as feminine in nature, though he’s also a snob, obsessed with keeping up appearances and controlling his family. Maugham is masculine, a successful author, and someone who is much more open to emotional connections and friendships. The two are implied to be older “bachelors” in a party scene at the beginning of the film, suspicion of their sexuality is supposed to be brushed aside when Elliott states there are “a few young things” waiting for them. Interestingly, the gender of these “young things” isn’t mentioned.

Herbert Marshall (left) and Clifton Webb (right) in THE RAZOR’S EDGE (1946).

THE RAZOR’S EDGE

1946. USA.

Director: Edmund Goulding

Screenplay: Lamar Trotti

Starring: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, Anne Baxter, John Payne, Lucille Watson & Elsa Lanchester

You can find THE RAZOR’S EDGE streaming for rent/purchase through AppleTV, YouTube and Amazon.