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| Despite this handsome poster for Charles Vidor's A Farewell to Arms, David O. Selznick's final production is not all that it promises to be |
A Farewell to Arms is the second adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's (Death in the Afternoon (1932)) same-titled, semi-autobiographical 1929 novel.
The film portrays a romance during WWI between an American ambulance driver and an English nurse, who fall in love in Italy, before the war splits them up, and they later again find each other and are forced to flee to Switzerland, SPOILER where, however, tragedy awaits.
Despite criticisms to the contrary, I found Rock Hudson (Dynasty (1984-85)) and Jennifer Jones (The Wild Heart (1952)) to be a lovely couple, and the movie also attracts interest with its big sets and period vehicles etc., a warm sense of humor, - especially in the hospital scenes, - and in supporting roles, Viennese star Oskar Homolka (Five Fingers (1959, TV-series)) as a suspicious doctor, and great Italian actor/director Vittorio De Sica (Men and Noblemen/Uomini e Nobiluomini (1959)) as an Italian major. The film also has beautiful images of Milan, Switzerland etc.
But the lavish epic's second half does require strong nerves to take: The romance here turns too extravagant and unrealistic, SPOILER and the inevitable death is drawn out excessively. So the problem may lie mainly in screenwriter Ben Hecht's (Trapeze (1956)) work. Though Hecht penned scripts for many certified masterpieces and great films, he was also highly productive, and with impressive 165 writing credits, there is naturally a healthy dose of slush in there as well.
The movie is directed by Hollywood Golden Age filmmaker, Austrian-Hungarian Charles Vidor (Gilda (1946)).
Related post:
Charles Vidor: The Bridge/The Spy (1929) - Time-playing fine short debut of Charles Vidor
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 4.3 mil. $
Box office: 6.9 mil. $ (worldwide rentals by 1958) - final gross reportedly 20 mil. $
= Big flop at release - later reportedly became a big hit
[A Farewell to Arms was released 14 December (North America) and runs 152 minutes. Power-producer Selznick wanted for long to make a film of Hemingway's novel, and bartered with Warner Bros. for the rights in return for his foreign rights to A Star Is Born (1937). Selznick hired master director John Huston (The Kremlin Letter (1970)), but the two fell out before shooting, and Vidor was hired instead, although he also had a hard time collaborating with Selznick. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome's Cinecittà Studios. Hemingway was to be paid a 50k $ bonus, if the film made profits, but the Nobel Laureate was incensed at Selznick's hiring his 38 year-old wife Jones for the novel's 24 year-old nurse character and told him to "take all of that money down to the local bank, have it converted to nickels, and then shove them up your ass until they come out your mouth." US critics lambasted the film upon its release, and Selznick never recovered his costs for the film, which became his last, but it did eventually make Fox money. The film was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar (De Sica), lost to Red Buttons for Sayonara and also won a National Board of Review award. Vidor returned with one last film, Song without End (1960)). Hudson returned in Twilight for the Gods (1958); Jones in Tender Is the Night (1962), and De Sica in Holiday Island/Vacanze a Ischia (1957). A Farewell to Arms is rotten at 0 % with a 3.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Vidor's A Farewell to Arms?
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