Lord Jim

Lord Jim: "I've been a so-called coward and a so-called hero and there's not the thickness of a sheet of paper between them. Maybe cowards and heroes are just ordinary men who, for a split second, do something out of the ordinary. That's all." I saw this film right after it was released in 1965 and loved it. I still do; but it got a bum rap from the critics initially and didn't do well at the box office. It got some awards recognition by the British in the BAFTA's, but was shut out on this side of the pond. It is adapted from Joseph Conrad's 1900 book of the same name which was written as a psychological study of a young merchant seaman, Jim Burke, who, forced to deal with his act of cowardice aboard the merchant ship, Patna, seeks to redeem himself. Director Richard Brooks does a good job in portraying the psychological conflicts of Jim; but he also drifts a bit into epic storytelling...which is why I haven't awarded the film 5 stars. But it is still and excellent movie, filmed in Super Panavision and has stunning cinematography. O'Toole, as with many of his other films of this period delivers a magnificent performance as Jim...and he has stated this was his favorite film role. The film has good action sequences and a moving love story. Performances by Eli Wallach and James Mason are colorful and solid, and Daliah Lavi is gorgeous in her role, which is more substantive than any of her other film roles. I love Peter O'Toole's films from this period and this one is almost as good as the best of them. Highly recommended!

Gotta give praise where it's due, the movie makes some smart points. It's beautifully filmed. The acting is on par for the period. They just can't help hammering each and every point into the ground. The overplayed need of white men to be accepted not only as saviors but redeemers and the bringers of all things good is too much. Jim's not just the downtrodden mythic hero but he needs an entire village to bring him some kind of inner peace by accepting him as 'one of the good ones.'All white people are on trial here. They're either enslaving the locals or killing them, or they're in need of pity and redemption. You can expect to be beaten down with moralizing and long painful looks into the distance and into the camera. It's kind of like Holden Caulfield meets Apocalypse Now.It might have gone over better if a real Asian woman played the lead. The half German half Russian gal who's 5'7" doesn't quite make it as an tiny native girl. And while I get that Hollywood didn't want to cast Asians as leading female interests, they have no problem casting natives as the pock marked, cross eyed, homosexual villains.

LORD JIM is an elegant and underrated film made early in Peter O'Toole's career, shortly after LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, a masterpiece that overshadowed much of O'Toole's later work. The film LORD JIM, perhaps more than Conrad's novel, is a respectful portrayal of the detachment and determination that characterize the practice of Buddhism. LORD JIM's photography is pretty if pedestrian. The sound track, however, is a delight: jingling bells intermingled with percussive cadences energize scene after scene; each word of the script is audible, crisp, even when whispered. Among an international cast's panoply of able performances, James Mason's canny rogue is an especially unsettling foil for Peter O'Toole's idealistic officer. If nothing else, Conrad's subtle narrative makes LORD JIM worth sitting through: it's a story about a man who flees when he must remain, but who later redeems himself by remaining when he might flee. The novel's Victorian admonition that life without honor is worthless eschews the lawless heroes who populate Modern fiction.

The key to enjoying Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim on screen is accepting the hero's personal standard at face value: "if I lose without honor, then everything will have been for nothing." We in the West often think of winning, often at all costs, and so to win with honor seems a noble goal. But what of losing without honor? Dramatizing this theme is what distinguishes this movie from practically every other film to come out of Hollywood. And Peter O'Toole's character enunciates this credo explicitly at the end of the movie, as he explains his decision not to run away from the consequences of his actions a second time.The movie was beautifully photographed in Southeast Asia, the screenplay is articulate yet concise, and the acting is uniformly superb. Aside from O'Toole's subtle performance are first-rate contributions from Paul Lukas as the elderly trader who plays a father surrogate role to O'Toole's Jim, an understated Dalia Lavi as his love interest, Eli Wallach enjoying himself as a local warlord, and James Mason almost delectable as an English pirate. Often overlooked is Curt Jurgens, who turns in a quiet but powerful character study of a drunk filled with self-loathing, someone who foreshadows what Lord Jim would have been transformed into had he chose to run away.This is one of the last great films from Hollywood's heyday.

Joseph Conrad's novel is a classic and Richard Brooks made a first-rate film version, with a great cast headed by Peter O'Toole in the early years of his career. Filmed in Super Panavasion 70 on locations in South East Asia, the film looks breathtaking in this excellent DVD transfer that has been remastered in high definition. Jack Hawkins narrates as well as appears (sadly, after he had had operations for throat cancer so his rich voice has lost some of its magic) and just when you think the story is reaching a conclusion, James Mason turns up for another chapter. Bronislau Kaper's music score is one of the greats (also including lots of Asian gamelan instruments) and decades ago was a collector's item LP. This anamorphic transfer recreates the visual impact of the film's initial theatrical release and the Dolby Digital sound is knockout. O'Toole heads a fine cast and the film's uncompromising finale will surprise many. First-rate sea adventure!

There were no reviews of this product on Amazon uk. I looked for information on Amazon France as it's a French product and, as is par for the course, some people thought it was great and some thought it terrible. I have a 15 year old Columbia DVD of only medium quality so decided to take a chance on ordering it. The film was shot in 1964/5 in 70 mm so a blu ray edition should look amazing (especially at this price). Unfortunately I have to agree with the French reviewers who were less than impressed.The collector's edition consists of a blu ray disc, a DVD and a 200 page booklet. The blu ray holds 2 versions of the film, a full length version in English but with non removeable French subtitles and a French language version as shown in cinemas in France in the 60's with some 12 minutes cut. The compulsory subtitles in the English version are unnecessary and irritating but the chief problem is the picture quality. As compared with the Columbia DVD there is perhaps a fraction more clarity in some of the night scenes but in general the supposedly high definition image is not as good as the DVD. The colours are faded and the whole looks as though shot through a grey mist.The DVD contains a copy of the shortened version of the film, only this time in English with non removable French subtitles. The booklet (in French of course) is interesting but is principally a picture book, only about 20 of the 200 pages being text.It does ,however, give an opportunity to compare the colours of the original production photographs with the evidently old and faded print used for this release.

Conrad's book is surprisingly modern, complex and has an inventive structure. Although a straight bloke myself, it's quite intriguing how the narrator, Marlowe (who also has a 'part' in the story) regards Jim. It has the ghost of a homo-erotic admiration and at the time, of course, quite impossible to be explicit about, either in the book, or the film. There is much guilt, shame and, like Lawrence, ambiguous treatment of torture. Jim's attempts to out-run his cowardice is fascinating in the book but turned into a travelogue pastiche in this film. When Jim reaches Patusan, the adventure story gets going and the action is generally well handled given the age of this film. Young viewers will find the mix of studio and location shots clashing and crude but technology changes so fast; effects in early Potter films are now old hat so allowances need to be made. The disaster in the novel appears to have been based on some real events but Conrad turned them into a magnificent meditation on character, honour and morality. Brook's film makes an heroic attempt to distill Conrad's work into an adventure yarn with added depth and almost pulls it off. Flawed, but forgivable faults and still watchable after all these years. I finished the novel, and the film the same evening. Although the novel, and through it the film were based on a real maritime story, I cannot escape the possibility that this is also a metaphor about the struggle in that time to deal with what were then unacceptable yearnings. Another similarity to Lawrence. As the officer snarls at Jim after his tribunal, it's not so much what Jim did, but that he confessed to it in public, and by that, tainted all of them..

Large scale epic ala Lawrence of the jungle.Good performances all round from an all star cast.Peter o toole as an merchant navy seaman trying to hide from his past and trying to prove he is not a coward at any cost even the loss of his own life.With honour,integrity,courage and these will ultimately cost him his life by trying to redeem himself.with Eli wallach,Curd jurgens,James mason and Jack hawkins.This could do with a Blu ray update as the dvd version is not very good very fuzzy with dull colours and bleed.Ratio 2.35.1 .4 stars for the film not the dvd.It is a shame as this film has become something of a forgotten film.

You could call it old fashioned and I suppose it is: O'Toole plays the man destroyed by guilt who finally redeems himself. Sadly he hardly says a word in first half but when he senses redemption, his performance is as usual magnetic. If you like heroes that deliver the words and the moral message with passion and style, this for you. If you prefer modern relativism and mumbling correctness pass on.

A good old-fashioned adventure story. The film was always a little over-rated, though still worth a look. The novel was much better. The only real problem is with the visual quality of the DVD transfer itself. A very poor image: soft, unsharp, with with poor resolution. Not good enough.