A Farewell to Arms (1957 film)
A Farewell to Arms | |
---|---|
20th Century Fox | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 152 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4,100,000;[1] $4.2 million[2] or $4,353,000[3] |
Box office | $20 million (worldwide)[3] |
A Farewell to Arms is a 1957 American
An earlier film version starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.[4]
Plot
Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson) is an American officer serving in an ambulance unit for the Italian Army during World War I. While recovering from a wound in a British base hospital in northern Italy, he is cared for by Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones), a Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps nurse he had met earlier, near the front, and they engage in an affair. Frederick's friend, the doctor, convinces the army that Frederick's knee is more severely wounded than it actually is and the two continue their romance but never get married.
Catherine discovers she is pregnant but after sneaking alcohol into the hospital for Frederick, the head nurse Miss Van Campen (Mercedes McCambridge) discovers the duplicity and separates them. She informs Frederick's superiors that he has fully recovered from his wounds and is ready for active duty. During their separation, Catherine comes to believe Frederick has abandoned her.
Following the Battle of Caporetto, Frederick and his close friend Major Alessandro Rinaldi (Vittorio De Sica) are among the dispirited and retreating Italian army. Along the path or the retreat, several people die or are left behind due to exhaustion. Raving with illness, exhaustion and depression, Major Rinaldi professes defeatism with the pair arrested by the Carabinieri. A drumhead court-martial sentences Rinaldi to execution by firing squad that is immediately carried out. After Frederick tries to argue in defense of Rinaldi and makes the Italian salute incorrectly (as is his habit), the court-martial judge becomes suspicious that Frederick is also an infiltrator; he knocks out the kerosene lamps and flees, jumping into the river.
Wanted by the Italian authorities, Frederick evades capture and meets up with Catherine. They flee Milan to hide out on a lake on the Italian-Swiss border (Lake Lugano or Lake Maggiore). Fearing arrest by the police, Catherine persuades Frederick to flee to Switzerland by rowboat; after some adventures, they land successfully in Switzerland. Claiming to be tourists trying to evade the war, the two are allowed to remain in neutral Switzerland. Catherine's pregnancy progresses and all appears well, but when the time comes for her to deliver the baby, the labor is protracted and ultimately a Cesarean section is necessary. Their child is stillborn, and Catherine dies shortly afterward of a hemorrhage. Frederick leaves, shocked, and wanders the empty streets.
Cast
- Rock Hudson as Frederick Henry
- Jennifer Jones as Catherine Barkley
- Vittorio De Sica as Major Alessandro Rinaldi
- Oskar Homolkaas Dr. Emerich
- Mercedes McCambridge as Miss Van Campen
- Elaine Stritch as Helen Ferguson
- Kurt Kasznar as Bonello
- Victor Francen as Colonel Valentini
- Franco Interlenghi as Aymo
- Leopoldo Trieste as Passini
- José Nieto as Major Stampi (as Jose Nieto)
- Georges Bréhat as Captain Bassi (as Georges Brehat)
- Johanna Hofer as Mrs. Zimmerman
- Eduard Linkers as Lieutenant Zimmerman
- Eva Kotthaus as Delivery Room Nurse
- Alberto Sordi as Father Galli
- Joan Shawlee as Blonde Nurse
Production
For many years, David O. Selznick had wanted to film the Hemingway novel, but Warner Bros. owned the property and refused to sell it to him. He found himself in an advantageous bargaining position when Warner Bros. bought the remake rights to A Star is Born, to which he owned the foreign rights. Without them, the studio could not release their intended remake with Judy Garland overseas. Selznick offered to relinquish his rights to Star in exchange for the rights to Farewell, and Warner Bros. agreed.[5] It was to be Selznick's first film in four years.[6]
On October 25, 1956, Selznick contacted director
The film was shot on location in the
According to
Release
The film had its premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on December 18, 1957.[12] It also opened at 7 other Los Angeles theaters and 44 theaters throughout California before expanding in 1958.[13]
Reception
Critical response
Hemingway's intuition proved correct as
TV Guide calls it "an overblown Hollywood extravaganza that . . . hasn't improved with age . . . the chief virtue of this hollow epic is the stupendous color photography of the Italian Alps . . . also enjoyable is Vittorio De Sica's inspired performance as the wily Maj. Rinaldi, but it's not enough to offset the flagrant overacting by Jones and the woodenness of Hudson."[15]
In his review of the DVD release, Jeremiah Kipp of Slant Magazine awarded the film two out of a possible five stars and stated, "To those willing to endure A Farewell To Arms: Don't be a hero! . . . We have David O. Selznick to blame for this bloated two-hour-plus Technicolor remake, announcing from the larger-than-life opening credits set against epic shots of sunsets, mountains, and valleys that he's aiming for another Gone with the Wind . . . without compelling lovers at the heart of his grand-scale love story, it's all just a meaningless protracted spectacle."[17]
After this film, David O. Selznick left the movies completely, producing no other films.
Box office
The movie grossed $87,000 in its opening week in Los Angeles from 8 theaters.
Awards and nominations
Vittorio De Sica was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Red Buttons for Sayonara.[19][20]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p. 251
- ^ ISBN 9780307590671. Accessed August 28, 2019. "Despite these setbacks, Huston was still determined to direct a Hemingway film. The producer David Selznick, a kindhearted companion and long-standing friend, wanted to remake A Farewell to Arms (the 1932 movie had starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes) with Rock Hudson and his adored wife Jennifer Jones. The budget was $4.2 million, and Huston's unusually high fee was $250,000."
- ^ a b c d e Thomson, David. Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick, Abacus, 1993. p. 656
- ^ Hal Erickson. "A Farewell to Arms (1957) - John Huston,Charles Vidor - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ Memo from David O. Selznick, selected and edited by Rudy Behlmer, The Viking Press, 1972, pg. 441
- ^ Archive.org.
- ^ Memo from David O. Selznick, pp. 442-443
- ^ Memo from David O. Selznick, pp. 446-452
- ^ Memo from David O. Selznick, pp. 453-462
- ^ Memo from David O. Selznick, pg. 441
- ISBN 9781504051156. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ A Farewell to Arms at the American Film Institute Catalog
- ^ Archive.org.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (January 25, 1958). "The Screen: David Selznick's 'A Farewell to Arms'". The New York Times. p. 14.
- ^ "A Farewell To Arms". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "A Farewell to Arms". Time Out London. Archived from the original on 3 August 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "DVD and Blu-ray - Slant Magazine". Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "All-Time Top Grossers". Variety. 8 January 1964. p. 69.
- ^ "Winners & Nominees". Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- ^ "Vittorio De Sica". IMDB. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
Further reading
- Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005) pp 124–126.