Lord Jim (1965)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) A lot of effort and care were expended to make Lord Jim… with decidedly mixed results. Starting from a solid framework of the Joseph Conrad novel, the film goes all-out for maximalist execution: shot on location in Cambodia, it pays for colour cinematography and an expansive re-creation of a classic adventure tale about a plucky lad atoning for a moment of weakness. The result, unfortunately, would test anyone’s patience even if it had been much less than its two-hour-and-a-half running time: Peter O’Toole is incredibly boring here as the titular protagonist, and the film simply dies around him. Not even James Mason and Eli Wallach can save it in flashy supporting roles: Lord Jim simply drags on with a charisma void in its middle, wasting everything else. You can still look at it with some interest as a failed attempt to present an epic adventure, but that’s not much of a comfort when the result fails at even delivering the basics of a thrilling yarn.