IMDb > A Farewell to Arms (1957)

A Farewell to Arms (1957) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
6.0/10   765 votes
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Director:
Charles Vidor
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Writers:
Ben Hecht (screenplay)
Ernest Hemingway (novel)
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Contact:
View company contact information for A Farewell to Arms on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
14 December 1957 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance | War more
Plot:
The story of an affair between an English nurse an an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I. | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. more
User Comments:
The Great Stone Face more (18 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Rock Hudson ... Lt. Frederick Henry
Jennifer Jones ... Catherine Barkley
Vittorio De Sica ... Major Alessandro Rinaldi
Oskar Homolka ... Dr. Emerich (as Oscar Homolka)
Mercedes McCambridge ... Miss Van Campen

Elaine Stritch ... Helen Ferguson
Kurt Kasznar ... Bonello
Victor Francen ... Colonel Valentini
Franco Interlenghi ... Aymo
Leopoldo Trieste ... Passini
José Nieto ... Major Stampi (as Jose Nieto)
Georges Bréhat ... Captain Bassi (as Georges Brehat)
Johanna Hofer ... Mrs. Zimmerman
Eduard Linkers ... Lieutenant Zimmerman
Eva Kotthaus ... Delivery Room Nurse
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
152 min | Italy:141 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Argentina:Atp | Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #18795) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Australia:G | France:U | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video re-rating) (2005)
Filming Locations:
Alps, Italy more
Company:
Selznick Studio, The more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
French visa # 20599. more
Goofs:
Continuity: In the café while Catherine is in hospital, Frederick is shown placing the sugar cubes on the table, with three already there and his hand moving to place there the fourth one. Camera cuts to a different angle and there are suddenly five sugar cubes on the table. Later in the same scene, after he flattens the sugar cubes with his hand, the position of his hand (and sugar cubes) changes instantly and he's holding one sugar cube that he wasn't holding a split second before. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in "Biography: Jennifer Jones: Portrait of a Lady" (2001) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful.
The Great Stone Face, 27 May 2005
4/10
Author: James Hitchcock from Tunbridge Wells, England

Had she not been married to the producer, Jennifer Jones would not have been the most obvious choice for the leading female role in this tragic tale of an affair between an American soldier and an English nurse, set against the backdrop of the First World War. Her British accent is not perfect, and in the fifties it was unusual for a big romantic lead to go to an actress in her late thirties, even one as attractive as Miss Jones, especially when she was several years older than her leading man.. There were a number of beautiful young British actresses in Hollywood around this time, such as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons and Joan Collins, any of whom might have been more convincing in the role, but Miss Jones had one important attribute they all lacked, namely a marriage certificate with David O. Selznick's name on it. In the event, the film turned out to be such a turkey that they were doubtless grateful not to have it on their CVs.

The film tells, at great length, the story of the romance between Frederick, an American volunteer serving with the Italian Army as an ambulance driver and Catherine, a nurse with the British Red Cross. After the Italian defeat at the battle of Caporetto, Frederick is wrongly accused of being a German spy and sentenced to death. (The film paints a very harsh picture of Italian military justice; it would appear that Italian Courts-Martial had the power to pass the death sentence after a trial lasting all of thirty seconds without hearing any evidence and without allowing the defendant to be legally represented or to speak in his defence). Frederick manages to escape and to cross the border into neutral Switzerland, accompanied by the pregnant Catherine.

Hemingway's novels have not always been a great success when filmed. Howard Hawks succeeded in making a good version of "To Have and have Not", a film that is considerably better than the book on which it is nominally based, but that is because he largely ignored Hemingway's plot and turned the film into a remake of "Casablanca", set in Martinique rather than French Morocco. Like the 1943 version of "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "A Farewell to Arms" is overlong and fatally slow moving. It is also miscast. Jennifer Jones never makes Catherine come to life. As for Rock Hudson, his assumed Christian name could be unfortunately appropriate. He could be as solid as a rock but also as impassive as one, and in this film his Frederick seems an impersonation of the Great Stone Face. Despite the passion and emotion inherent in Hemingway's plot, the emotional temperature is always far too cool. The picture has little going for it apart from some attractive picture-postcard views of Italian and Swiss scenery. It is hardly surprising that it was not a success and that its failure ended Selznick's career as a producer. 4/10

A goof. Shortly before the battle of Caporetto, an Italian officer states that Russia had already concluded a separate peace with Germany. That battle started in October 1917, at a time when Kerensky's Russia was still fighting alongside the Allies. The Russian Revolution did not take place until November; it was only the "October Revolution" by the old Julian calendar. The new Bolshevik regime signed an armistice with Germany in December 1917, but a separate peace was not signed until the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918

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Inside Joke? mdudnikov
double standard? SealordJohn
Like the novel? la_mnk
Notes on A FAREWELL TO ARMS JSlack3
Most faithful adaptation? HollyAF3
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