Despite Marc Allegret's assured direction, excellent production design, sense of period and a high calibre cast this is a thinned down, diluted and totally inadequate adaptation of Conrad's monumental novel in which characters are either woefully underwritten or dispensed with altogether.
The film does however provide a great vehicle for rising star Pierre Fresnay who had already distinguished himself in the theatre, impressed as Marius in 'Fanny'(again for Allegret) and is one year away from his iconic role as Boeldieu in 'La Grande Illiusion'. He brings his customary sensitivity to the tragic character of Razumov, an apolitical man caught up in events beyond his control and pursued by an implacable fate. In keeping with this anodyne version the gruesome punishment inflicted on Razumov by the revolutionaries has been omitted.
Doing the best they can in this truncated treatment are Michel Simon, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Renoir, Daniele Parola and a singularly sinister Jacques Copeau as Privy Councillor Mikulin.
The subject matter of Conrad's original has always been contentious as he firmly believed in the futility of revolutionary movements which are invariably hijacked by what he called 'narrow-minded fanatics and tyrannical hypocrites' and in which 'hopes are grotesquely betrayed and ideals caricatured'. Historical events of course have proved him to be correct.
It is to be lamented that no other director has attempted to do justice to Conrad's text and given the age, literacy and attention span of today's average film goer, that is certain to remain the case.
The film does however provide a great vehicle for rising star Pierre Fresnay who had already distinguished himself in the theatre, impressed as Marius in 'Fanny'(again for Allegret) and is one year away from his iconic role as Boeldieu in 'La Grande Illiusion'. He brings his customary sensitivity to the tragic character of Razumov, an apolitical man caught up in events beyond his control and pursued by an implacable fate. In keeping with this anodyne version the gruesome punishment inflicted on Razumov by the revolutionaries has been omitted.
Doing the best they can in this truncated treatment are Michel Simon, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Renoir, Daniele Parola and a singularly sinister Jacques Copeau as Privy Councillor Mikulin.
The subject matter of Conrad's original has always been contentious as he firmly believed in the futility of revolutionary movements which are invariably hijacked by what he called 'narrow-minded fanatics and tyrannical hypocrites' and in which 'hopes are grotesquely betrayed and ideals caricatured'. Historical events of course have proved him to be correct.
It is to be lamented that no other director has attempted to do justice to Conrad's text and given the age, literacy and attention span of today's average film goer, that is certain to remain the case.
