Lord Jim

Lawrence of the South Seas
Well, Peter O'Toole was never going to find another character or film as magnificent as Lawrence of Arabia. And his first films after that triumph were commendable attempts to avoid typecasting - What's New Pussycat and Becket. But it was inevitable he would again become a tormented blonde Englishman in an alien environment. And he could have done a lot worse than starring as Lord Jim for Richard Brooks.

Any discussion of this film has to concentrate on O'Toole and Brooks. That is not to say there are no other impressive performances, or that the film is not beautifully photographed or graced with a lushly evocative score. But the film is Brooks' vision and O'Toole is the one who must bring it to life. They are both reasonably successful.

Brooks obviously wanted to create an intelligent epic -one to rival the Robert Bolt/David Lean collaborations. But Brooks was both writer and director - and he was adapting a book that was as pyschological as potentially visual...

Thrilling Adventure, Warfare on Two Fronts
"Lord Jim" is handicapped by the fact that people will always compare it to David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia," which had the same leading man and a similar theme. Despite its Conradian source, "Lord Jim" doesn't have a hero as complex or a setting as compelling as Lean's masterpiece. But it is spectacular entertainment, and a serious inquiry into the roots of human actions.

Despite some B-Movie flourishes (Eli Wallach and Jim's "love interest" are particularly risable), the vulnerability and humanity of its hero captivate the viewer. And the Indonesian setting, while culturally very inaccurate, does evoke the mystery and exotica of 19th century travelogues. At its conclusion, the script tends to talk to death certain conclusions that the viewer could have reached on his/her own, but O'Toole is gifted enough to make it affecting. And anyway, the action sequences, and musky South China Sea atmosphere, are breathtaking.

For...

"Always he wants to be what he is not."
I had read where another reviewer stated an apt title for this film might have been `Lawrence of Malaya' as both films feature Peter O'Toole as a man who finds himself in a foreign land, fighting against an oppressive power structure, eventually earning the respect of the native peoples, but ultimately suffering from the undeniable fact that he is a stranger, and will always be regarded as such despite whatever honor and reverence imparted upon him by those whom he helped. Based on a novel by Joseph Conrad and written and directed by Richard Brooks (Blackboard Jungle), Lord Jim (1965) stars Peter O'Toole as the title character (although the `Lord' part isn't assigned to him until much later in the film). Also appearing is James Mason (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Eli Wallach (The Magnificent Seven), Curt Jürgens (The Longest Day), Jack Hawkins (The Bridge on the River Kwai), Paul Lukas (The Lady Vanishes), Daliah Lavi (The Silencers), and Tatsuo Saito (Three Stripes in the...

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