The Rake's Progress
Director: Sidney Gilliat
Year Released: 1945
Rating: 3.0
Got me thinking about the song "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" - Rex Harrison, who comes from privilege, wastes virtually everything in his life and ruins everyone around him, getting kicked out of Oxford, not taking a job his father gets him seriously, breaking up a friend's marriage, wedding a Viennese girl for money and not love, cheating on his 'wife' with his father's secretary, and on and on. Harrison pulls of the amazing feat of keeping you interested in him even as he heads for disaster (and does so ignobly, taking nothing seriously and abusing alcohol) because his character remains human throughout ... all he wants is to stay young and immature even as the world grows old around him. A finely crafted allegory: 'Play too long, you'll lose your life,' indeed.
