The Light at the Edge of the World
| The Light at the Edge of the World | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kevin Billington |
| Produced by | Kirk Douglas Alexander Salkind Ilya Salkind Alfredo Matas |
| Written by | Jules Verne (novel) Tom Rowe Rachel Billington(additional dialogue) |
| Starring | Yul Brynner Kirk Douglas Samantha Eggar Fernando Rey Massimo Ranieri Renato Salvatori Jean-Claude Drouot Víctor Israel |
| Music by | Piero Piccioni |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 1971 |
| Running time | 120 min |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| Budget | $11,000,000 |
The Light at the Edge of the World is a 1971 adventure film, adapted from Jules Verne's classic 1905 adventure novel Le Phare du bout du monde. The plot involves piracy in the South Atlantic during the mid 19th century, with a theme of survival in extreme circumstances, and events centering on an isolated lighthouse.
Despite having a large Hollywood budget, collaboration with prestigious foreign film studios, exotic shooting locations in Europe and some of the biggest name movie stars, the movie was mainly a failure at the box office.[citation needed]
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[edit] Plot
The year is 1865. Will Denton (Kirk Douglas) is a jaded American miner escaping a troubled past. Seeking isolation for two reasons - to mend his broken heart after a failed romance during the California Gold Rush, and also to escape punishment after he murdered a man in a gunfight - Denton tends a lonely and isolated lighthouse with a minimal crew of three men, himself included.
The lighthouse sits on a fictional rocky island adorned with many caves carved by the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean; it is however set in the geographic location of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the southern tip of South America. Before the building of the Panama Canal, the waters off Cape Horn were perhaps the busiest and richest shipping lanes in the world (all shipping between Europe and the western coast of America had to go around the Cape) and therefore very lucrative.
Denton is contented to retreat from the world and be away from the problems of civilization, and quickly adjusts to his new supervisor, old Argentine sea dog Captain Moriz (Fernando Rey) and his youthful and innocent assistant Felipe.
A shipload of utterly malicious and sadistic pirates show up, murder everyone they can find, and extinguish the light. They are wreckers, brigands who mislead ships into the rocks to loot the cargo and prey upon the victims. Their leader Captain Jonathan Kongre (Yul Brynner) is a diabolical fiend with a seductive and charismatic facade. Brynner's performance in this film was in some scenes almost regal (perhaps implying an aristocratic history in the character) and as such compared to Brynner's earlier performance in The King and I. The name "Kongre" is composed of the two syllables kong, the word for "king" in Scandinavian languages, and re, "king" in Spanish (rey) and Italian.
Denton hides out in the caves and amongst the rocks, and Kongre initiates a cruel game of cat-and-mouse. Denton manages to survive and cannot keep himself from striking back: he saves innocent Italian wreck survivor Montefiore from the pirates' massacre, and together they wage a war of guerrilla tactics against Kongre and his cutthroats.
Kongre breaks his own rule by keeping one captive alive - a beautiful Englishwoman named Arabella (Samantha Eggar). When Denton realizes she's there, the rules of the cat-and-mouse game change radically and the situation becomes more complicated than either side could have imagined. Kongre decides to use her as bait in luring Denton.
[edit] Filming locations
Upon initial release the film was noted for its exotic cinematography and applauded[by whom?] because of the inherent difficulties of shooting on rocky outcrops, and also at night far away from civilization. Most of the movie was filmed in Spain. Some of the shooting locations included:
- Jávea, Alicante, Valencia, Spain
- La Manga del Mar Menor, Murcia, Spain
- Cadaqués, Girona, Catalonia, Spain
- Cap de Creus, Girona, Catalonia, Spain
- La Pedriza, Manzanares el Real, Madrid, Spain
[edit] Classification problems
The filmmakers went for intense, gritty realism. On its initial release the film was criticized for being too graphic and violent, having been adapted from a Jules Verne novel (albeit even if the original book was violent) but mainly because it had been marketed as a family film.
The murders of Douglas' comrades are brutal and explicit, and later details, such as the sight of a victim being flayed alive, are very unpleasant. It is also more clearly established in the uncut version that shipwreck survivor Samantha Eggar sleeps with Brynner, almost willingly - her implied alternative being gang rape and murder at the hands of his crew. The 'edge of the world' where these people fight is also the edge of decent civilization.
[edit] Cast
- Kirk Douglas (Will Denton)
- Samantha Eggar (Arabella)
- Renato Salvatori (Montefiore)
- Fernando Rey (Captain Moriz)
- Massimo Ranieri (Felipe)
- Maria Borge (Emily Jane)
- John Clark (Matt)
- Juan Cazalilla (Captain Lafayette)
vs.
- Yul Brynner (Jonathan Kongre) and his pirates:
- Jean-Claude Drouot (Virgilio)
- Aldo Sambrell (Tarcante)
- Víctor Israel (Das Mortes)
- Tito García (Emilio)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Light at the Edge of the World at the Internet Movie Database
- Page at Rotten Tomatoes
- DVD Savant Review: "The Light at the Edge of the World"
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