The Sun Also Rises (1957)

A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920s France and Spain.

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Peter Viertel (screenplay), Ernest Hemingway (novel)

Stars:

Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tyrone Power	...	Jake Barnes
Ava Gardner	...	Lady Brett Ashley
Mel Ferrer	...	Robert Cohn
Errol Flynn	...	Mike Campbell
Eddie Albert	...	Bill Gorton
Gregory Ratoff	...	Count Mippipopolous
Juliette Gréco	...	Georgette Aubin (as Juliette Greco)
Marcel Dalio	...	Zizi
Henry Daniell	...	Doctor
Bob Cunningham	...	Harris
Danik Patisson	...	Marie
Robert Evans	...	Pedro Romero

Storyline

Paris in the 1920s. The American journalist Jake and his friends spend the time at cafés. He has a special interest in his ex-fiancée Lady Ashley. They take a vacation in Pamplona to watch the bull-fights.

---

Plot Keywords:

sexuality | statement in title | astronomical object in title | american abroad | france | 

---

Taglines:

No one dared to film it until now!

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ernest Hemingway gave the rights of his book to his divorced wife. So no money came in his pocket when Daryl Zanuck bought the rights.

---

Goofs

This movie takes great care to copy the women's fashions of the 1920s. The outfits of the men, on the other hand, look very 1950s; even the Spanish military uniforms at the Pamplona sequence are not quite right for the 1920s.

---

Quotes

Lady Brett Ashley: Do you always kill your friends?
Pedro Romero: Yes, so they do not kill me.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Steve Allen Plymouth Show: Errol Flynn, Martha Raye, Jimmy Dean, Don Adams, Jennie Smith, the Army-Navy Football Stars (1957)

User Reviews

Flawed 'Lost Generation' Story...

THE SUN ALSO RISES was 20th Century Fox's big-budget 'prestige' film for 1957, based on one of Hemingway's best-known novels, shot on location in Paris and Mexico (substituting for Spain), and starring the studio's long-reigning superstar, Tyrone Power, surrounded by some of the screen's most legendary actors (Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Mel Ferrer, and Eddie Albert). With all the talent assembled in front of and behind the camera, producer Darryl F. Zanuck felt confident that the film would be an enduring classic for both his own independent company, and his studio.

It wasn't, unfortunately...

The problem with the film was a fundamental one; the 'Lost Generation' Hemingway wrote of were disillusioned young Americans, who, shattered by the horror and brutality of a meaningless 'Great War', lost their innocence, and became a 'live fast, die young' crowd of expatriates, settling in Paris. These were men and women in their twenties and thirties...yet the actors chosen to portray them were all ten to twenty years older! The most glaring example of this can be seen in the film's star, Tyrone Power. As newspaperman Jake Barnes, a vet whose war injuries render him impotent, unable to satisfy the woman he loves (Ava Gardner), and, therefore, the 'perfect' observer of his love's romantic entanglements with other men, Power seems more a victim of a midlife crisis than a young man devastated about losing his manhood. In his next-to-last film, Power, at 44, was aging badly, his hair thinning and his slender, 'movie idol' good looks surrendering to a middle-aged paunch. Only when he smiles do the years seem to lift, a bit, and a ghost of the "too handsome to be true" younger man appears. Adding to his physical deterioration was an undiagnosed heart condition, which would kill him, in less than two years.

His co-star, Ava Gardner, at 35, was going through a decline, as well, but, as with her character, Lady Brett Ashley, her vices were the cause of her self-destruction. Both Brett and Ava were hedonistic women too fond of booze, bullfighters, and nightlife, and in Ava's case, once-classic features were beginning to develop bags and wrinkles that makeup and lighting couldn't hide. Seeing Power, Mel Ferrer, Flynn, and young future film mogul Robert Evans (as a bullfighter), all lusting after her can lead a viewer to wonder if the War had impaired everyone's eyesight, as well as their judgment!

Coming off best are Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert. Flynn, at 48, long past his 'glamorous' prime (he and Power had been Hollywood's best-looking 'swashbucklers' of the early 40s), had become a very credible character actor, usually portraying variations of himself. His 'Mike Campbell', an alcoholic who is impoverished but still clinging to his pride, was, sadly, a dead-on assessment of Errol Flynn, as well. Like Power, he would be dead in two years, a victim of his own excesses. On the other hand, Eddie Albert, at 49, had long been health-conscious, and his performance as a drunk was simply good acting; paired with Flynn, they 'steal' the film, particularly during the famous Pamplona bull run, when the duo flee for their lives (while guzzling wine), and Flynn attempts to use a bad check as a cape to 'fight' a bull!

The drama seems overdrawn, the romance lacks 'fire', and the resolution is a hollow one. Even with the pretty scenery, Hugo Friedhofer's soaring film score, and Henry King's skill as a director, THE SUN ALSO RISES fails to generate more than a curiosity value, at the sight of so many actors, past their prime, trying to seem youthful and dynamic.

The studio just released the film on DVD; seeing photos of Power, Flynn, and Gardner between takes, and hearing director Henry King's audio reminiscences of the production are possibly more entertaining than the feature, itself!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

23 August 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

Filming Locations:

Morelia, Michoacán, México

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical) 4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (magnetic prints)

Color:

Color (Color by Deluxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1