The Razor's Edge is a 1946 American drama film based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel of the same name. It stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, and Herbert Marshall, with a supporting cast including Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore, and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham. The film was directed by Edmund Goulding. The Razor's Edge tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. The story begins through the eyes of Larry's friends and acquaintances as they witness his personality change after the war. His rejection of conventional life and search for meaningful experience allows him to thrive while the more materialistic characters suffer reversals of fortune. The Razor's Edge was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture, with Anne Baxter winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Plot In the film Herbert Marshall appears as W. Somerset Maugham as the story's narrator and as an important character who drifts in and out of the lives of the other major players. The opening scene is set at a party held in the summer of 1919 at a Chicago country club. Elliott Templeton, an expatriate who has been living in France for years, has returned to the United States for the first time since before the war to visit his sister, Louisa Bradley, and his niece, Isabel. Isabel is engaged to be married to Larry Darrell, recently returned from service as a pilot during the Great War. Elliott strongly disapproves of Larry because he has no money and no interest in getting a job with a future so he can support Isabel properly. Among the party guests are Larry's childhood friend Sophie Nelson and her boyfriend, Bob MacDonald. Larry refuses a job offer from the father of his friend Gray Maturin, a millionaire who is also hopelessly in love with Isabel. When Larry and Isabel talk about the future, she is filled with excitement about the future of the United States and the growth expected in the next ten years. He tells her that he wants to "loaf" on his small inheritance of $3,000 a year. Larry has been traumatized by the death of a comrade who sacrificed himself on the last day of the war to save Larry. He is driven to