Lord Jim (1965)

Lord Jim

By manfred  Feb 23, 2001

The novel "Lord Jim" from Joseph Conrad is aromantic tale of guilt and fate. It is for sureTHE masterpiece in literature about the hopesand dreams of the young ones and the illness oftheir souls when discovering the imperfection of the world - even a...nd especially within them.Jim, a young naval officer, abandons his shipin a moment of cowardice. For the rest of hislife he is in search for a second chance toredeem his honour.In the early sixties Richard Brooks took therisk of adapting this story for the screen andhe did a splendid job.It is absolutely impossible to compete with thenovel, but there are many touching momentsthroghout the movie. Especially the first partgives Jim (sensitively played by Peter O´Toole)the chance of introducing the audience to Jim´smoral problems. Many scenes (mainly in the first and last quarter of the movie) aretouching and will stay in our memory.Exceptionally well played and with the sadwisdom of the older ones we can look and listento fine acting, for example when Jim holdshimself from jumping one more time - from theburning boat in an Eastern sea-port, and whenJim recognizes that he has proven his courageagain, being applaused by other people afterlong suffering from such opportunities.And shortly after: Before and when Jim visitsMr. Stein. Very tense and romantic scenes!Stein (extremly talented played by Paul Lukas)is the father-figure in the movie as well asin the novel.Other famous actors are James Mason, Eli Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Daliah Lavi and CurdJuergens. All of them are remarkable, in manyways it is even one of the best performancesof their life-time. The middle part of the movie pays tribute tothe producers and the audience in some instances, wo prefer battleing and fights.But still it is above most of the productionsmade in this time (the film was shot in 1963in Cambodia and Hongkong).During the movie the excellent soundtrack ofBronislau Kaper gives an extra moment andfeeling to the action on the screen.The end of the tale (in the novel and in thefilm) is straight-forward as well as dramatic.In perfect silence Jim renews his dreams ofbeing extraordinary: He will not jump again,he simply gives his life in exchange for hispersonal honour.In general: One of the great masterpieces inliterature turned into a great and verytouching piece of movie-history. Read more Less