wmcclain — 2 years ago(April 20, 2023 12:15 PM)

The Light That Failed (1939)
, produced and directed by William A. Wellman.
Young Dick's sweetheart nearly blinds him when they are shooting a pistol on the beach one day. Years later he is a newspaper illustrator wounded by a sword cut to the temple during in a battle in Sudan. In his delirium he relives the childhood incident.
Back in London he is a successful artist trying to relight the flame with his past love, but she – also a painter – isn't having it.
The old wounds recur and he is quickly going blind. With frantic determination and alcohol for self-medication he has time for one more painting, his masterpiece. His model is a tempestuous streetwalker. Beware the anger of a prostitute scorned.
Where can he go to make an end? The war in Sudan is on again…
I saw this many decades ago when I was I-don't-know-how-old. A lot of it seemed familiar but the only part I remembered was the angry woman destroying the painting and the shock of those who can still see it.
Ronald Colman
is – as always – superb as the reflective artist, descending into self-pity from his affliction, and because the women in his life are not cooperating.
Walter Huston
is his best friend, a war correspondent.
Ida Lupino
is the vengeful model, called a "barmaid" to satisfy the censors. She was only 21 and already had about two dozen film credits. Her performance is overblown. I read that she did not enjoy acting, had wanted to be a writer and wound up directing.
Victor Young score.
The Sudanese Hadendoa are called the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" by Kipling, referring to the hairstyles. It was not meant as a disparaging term; he praises their warrior spirit and skill in battle.
Adapted from Kipling's novel, published when he was 26. After I read it I learned that it had both happy and sad ending versions and I could not tell which I had. The ending seemed right and now I see it was the "sad" version.
He wrote only two more novels:
Kim
and
Captains Courageous
. He is best known for a wealth of short stories and poems, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
As far as I can tell this has never been on home video. I found a recorded TV broadcast version online. I suppose this is a type of piracy and I'm sorry about that. I'd rather buy a disc but I can't wait forever. (It's possible the copyright was not renewed and the film is in the public domain. I don't know how to find out).
Capsule film reviews:
Strange Picture Scroll