The Light That Failed

12/24/19391h 37m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Only Rudyard Kipling could write such a romance! Only Ronald Colman could play such a role! ~

Overview:

A London artist struggles to complete one last painting before going blind.

Director:

William A. Wellman

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

self sacrifice
friends
dog
war injury
drunkenness

Cast

Ronald Colman

~ as ~

Dick Heldar

Walter Huston

~ as ~

Torpenhow

Muriel Angelus

~ as ~

Maisie

Ida Lupino

~ as ~

Bessie Broke

Dudley Digges

~ as ~

The Nilghai

Ernest Cossart

~ as ~

Beeton

Ferike Boros

~ as ~

Madame Binat

Pedro de Cordoba

~ as ~

Monsieur Binat

Colin Tapley

~ as ~

Gardner

Ronald Sinclair

~ as ~

Young Dick

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
7
Rudyard Kipling excelled at telling tales of Empire - his detailed knowledge and vivid imagination has been the source of many a strong adventure. This one is a bit different though. Ronald Colman ("Dick") is a war correspondent in the Sudan who is injured in action. Sent back home to convalesce, he becomes a bit of a sensation with this paintings and after meeting childhood sweetheart "Maisie" (Murial Angelus) again, things look set fair. Unfortunately, he begins to notice that his eyesight isn't what it was, and after consulting a physician, he learns that he is going blind. He decides to go out with a bang - his masterpiece - and so decides to paint "Betty" (Ida Lupino) a young girl living with his best friend "Torpenhow" (Walter Huston) who helped save him in the desert. When his work is complete, jealousy rears it's ugly head and he is left with little else than to return to the army, again as a correspondent, where he once more rides against the Dervishes. At times, this is quite slow - but Colman and Angelus have a certain charm to their performance, and as the artist's eyesight deteriorates, I did feel a certain degree of sympathy for this rapidly declining melancholic man soon to be robbed of much of his raison d'être. I wasn't so sure of Lupino - her efforts just a bit forced and her dialogue doesn't really allow her character to come across as much more than an angry young woman. I could have done with a little more action, the romances subsume it largely after about twenty minutes; but it is still an enjoyable watch.