Film Review
This valiant attempt to bring to the screen Ernest Hemingway's third
great novel was badly compromised by Paramount's insistence on excising
virtually every last trace of political content from the story.
Rumour has it that whilst the film was in preparation the studio
received various visits by envoys from both Franco and the
Catholic Church to request that the film be strictly
non-partisan. Whilst it is uncertain exactly what pressures were
brought to bear on Paramount, it cannot be denied that the resulting
film feels as though its heart has been ripped out of it. This is
a bland, plodding, sleep-inducing affair that has none of the passion
and intensity of Hemingway's powerful novel. It is not hard to
see why the writer
loathed
this film.
The reason why Hemingway chose Paramount out of the many Hollywood
studios which were keen to adapt his novel was because he was keen to
have Gary Cooper, then under contact at Paramount, to play the male
lead. Cooper had previously taken the lead in another, exemplary,
Hemingway adaptation,
A Farewell to Arms (1932), and
appears to be perfectly suited to play the taciturn idealist Robert
Jordan.
Seeing this as a star-making opportunity, Ingrid Bergman lobbied hard
for the part of Maria but was turned down, the part going to another
Paramount contract player, Vera Zorina. Having completed work on
Casablanca
(1943), Bergman was hired to replace Zorina when the latter proved
unsuitable for the role. Although Cooper and Bergman gave
terrific performances in the film, both were very nearly eclipsed by
Katina Paxinou, a renowned Greek stage actress who won the Best
Supporting Actress Oscar for her characterful portrayal of the rebel leader's wife.
For Whom the Bell Tolls ought
to have been a great piece of cinema, a magnificent recreation of one
of the greatest literary works of the 20th Century.
Unfortunately, Paramount's unwillingness to come off the fence and tell
the story from Hemingway's political perspective weakens it
dramatically, and the central love story between Cooper and Bergman's
characters is not enough to sustain its whopping three hour run
time.
The budgetary limitations are all too obvious in the
ghastly over-use of back projection and plethora of totally
unconvincing sets, which look more like a Christmas display in a big
department store than an authentic recreation of the Spanish
mountains. With its near-theatrical minimalism, you can't help
feeling that Sam Wood is directing a stage play, not a film.
The colour photography can only add to the film's tacky artificiality
and almost total lack of atmosphere.
Despite the best efforts of all concerned, this film looks
cheap and feels soulless, a mere shadow of the novel on
which it is based. Yet it was an extraordinary commercial
success, grossing over ten million dollars on its first release in
1943. Ingrid Bergman's aggressively short haircut became
the fashion statement of the year and provided hairdressers with plenty
of work - probably not the outcome that Hemingway had anticipated when
he set out to record his experiences of the Spanish Civil War for
posterity.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Robert Jordan is an idealistic young American who decides to lend his
support and demolition expertise to the Republican side in the Spanish
Civil War. Instructed to blow up a strategically important bridge
by his superiors, Jordan joins forces with a ragtag band of guerrillas
living in the mountains. It is here that Robert meets Maria, a
young Spaniard who has been traumatised by the experience of war but
who is as dedicated to the fight against Fascism as Robert is.
Despite the horrific situation they find themselves in, Robert and
Maria fall deeply in love...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.