Lord Jim is an overlong, literate would be epic about redemption of a cowardly sailor.
Adapted from the novel by Joseph Conrad, Jim (Peter O'Toole) is an officer in the merchant navy in 19th century far east. In heavy storms he joins his crew in abandoning his ship and his passengers bound for Mecca to perform the hajj pilgrimage.
The ship and passenger reach port safely, Jim faces censure for his cowardly actions and stripped of his sailing papers.
Jim disappears into anonymity working anywhere he can find a job. One day he gets a chance at redemption as he defends some island villagers from a ruthless warlord and later a river bandit.
Director Richard Brooks was hoping O'Toole and Jack Hawkins would elevate this film to the heights of Lawrence of Arabia. The film was extensively shot in Cambodia, there is a literate screenplay and it has all the hallmarks of a would be epic.
Yet the film fails because it is uneven, it is overlong, after a promising start it becomes plodding, at times it even looks cheap despite the overseas shooting. O'Toole has a good stab at playing the doubting, depressed Jim but somehow he lacks passion. I think both Brooks and O'Toole realised that the source novel was just too difficult to adapt.
Adapted from the novel by Joseph Conrad, Jim (Peter O'Toole) is an officer in the merchant navy in 19th century far east. In heavy storms he joins his crew in abandoning his ship and his passengers bound for Mecca to perform the hajj pilgrimage.
The ship and passenger reach port safely, Jim faces censure for his cowardly actions and stripped of his sailing papers.
Jim disappears into anonymity working anywhere he can find a job. One day he gets a chance at redemption as he defends some island villagers from a ruthless warlord and later a river bandit.
Director Richard Brooks was hoping O'Toole and Jack Hawkins would elevate this film to the heights of Lawrence of Arabia. The film was extensively shot in Cambodia, there is a literate screenplay and it has all the hallmarks of a would be epic.
Yet the film fails because it is uneven, it is overlong, after a promising start it becomes plodding, at times it even looks cheap despite the overseas shooting. O'Toole has a good stab at playing the doubting, depressed Jim but somehow he lacks passion. I think both Brooks and O'Toole realised that the source novel was just too difficult to adapt.