Lord Jim

A film adapted from Joseph Conrad's novel. Jim is a young sailor. He wants to be a good seaman and has a high idea of himself. Serving on an old ship carrying pilgrims, he is on watch one night when it starts taking water. In the panic Jim and the other officers get into a boat and leave the passengers. The ship does not sink. The passengers are saved and an inquiry is opened. Jim loses his certificate; but his real punishment is that the story reaches every port before he does. He moves from place to place, is recognised, moves again. Finally he is sent to a distant country where nobody knows him, to a town in the interior. There he finds the people facing an armed band, and a chance appears to act without fear for the first time. The town trusts him. The question at the centre is whether a person can build himself again after one moment, or whether that moment tells the truth about him. Peter O'Toole plays Jim. James Mason, Curd Jürgens, Eli Wallach and Paul Lukas are in the cast. Richard Brooks directed and wrote it. Filming was done in Cambodia and Hong Kong. A comprehensive production for anyone who likes classic adaptations and adventure. For a viewer expecting fidelity to the book, the film flattens Conrad's layers of narration.