W. Somerset Maugham certainly loved the South Seas. Like some more of his favorite works, Rain and The Moon And Sixpence, The Narrow Corner is also set in that location.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. has just killed a man in Sydney and is looking to make a fast escape. His father Henry Kolker charters Arthur Hohl's schooner to make for the Dutch East Indies. Hohl is a real bottom feeder who has stomach problems. They pick up Dr. Dudley Digges who is another of those Europeans who has 'gone native'. He's Maugham's presence as a character in the story.
When they finally settle on an island to their liking it's got both the lovely Patricia Ellis and Danish settler Ralph Bellamy there. When Fairbanks arrives it becomes a triangle and it ends in tragedy for one of them.
It seems that a common theme in these Maugham stories that the tropics somehow loosens the inhibitions that civilization puts on us. Definitely the case for the cast of The Narrow Corner.
The Narrow Corner is not as good as the other two Maugham stories I've cited. It has some fine special effects with Fairbanks trying to steer his schooner past a reef barrier during a windy and wavy tide. The high point of the film.
If you're a Maugham fan or fan of any of the cast, I'd try to see this one.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. has just killed a man in Sydney and is looking to make a fast escape. His father Henry Kolker charters Arthur Hohl's schooner to make for the Dutch East Indies. Hohl is a real bottom feeder who has stomach problems. They pick up Dr. Dudley Digges who is another of those Europeans who has 'gone native'. He's Maugham's presence as a character in the story.
When they finally settle on an island to their liking it's got both the lovely Patricia Ellis and Danish settler Ralph Bellamy there. When Fairbanks arrives it becomes a triangle and it ends in tragedy for one of them.
It seems that a common theme in these Maugham stories that the tropics somehow loosens the inhibitions that civilization puts on us. Definitely the case for the cast of The Narrow Corner.
The Narrow Corner is not as good as the other two Maugham stories I've cited. It has some fine special effects with Fairbanks trying to steer his schooner past a reef barrier during a windy and wavy tide. The high point of the film.
If you're a Maugham fan or fan of any of the cast, I'd try to see this one.