A Bell for Adano (1945) User Reviews

The Italian Occupation

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 17 August 2014]

John Hersey's acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Bell For Adano was purchased by 20th Century Fox and turned into a fine film. Darryl Zanuck borrowed John Hodiak from MGM probably because Tyrone Power was serving in the Marines at this time. Hodiak also did around the same time Lifeboat for Alfred Hitchcock also for 20th Century Fox. So for an MGM contract player Hodiak got two of his finest roles on loan to another studio. Happens that way some time.

Hodiak who is Major Joppolo, an Italian American from the Bronx has that much going for him as he's appointed military governor of the recently liberated town of Adano. That's considerable because he already has some familiarity with the culture.

The town wants the bare necessities, food, medical supplies, etc., but it also wants something. They had the biggest church bell around and it was there for hundreds of years. But Mussolini melted it down for cannon and from every quarter Hodiak is told get us our bell back or a new one just as good.

Hodiak deals with all kinds of situations trying to form an occupation government and there is the question of who to trust among the Italians. But the real test for Hodiak comes when an order is issued to keep all civilian traffic off the main road into Adano. The problem is that there are no side roads into the town, one way in and one way out. Hodiak takes it on his own initiative to countermand the order. He gets in trouble with the army, but earns the heartfelt thanks of the people of Adano.

Henry King got some great performances out of his ensemble and the recreation of occupied Italy is impressively done. Hodiak was a tough and compassionate man all at once with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. It's definitely one of his best roles.

Also standing out is William Bendix as Hodiak's senior non-commissioned officer who backs Hodiak up all the way in his governing policies. Gene Tierney plays one of the villagers who wants Hodiak to find what happened to her boyfriend who was in the Italian army and providing some hospitality if needed. Harry Morgan is in A Bell For Adano playing a military police captain who is interested in covering his posterior in the military tradition. Finally there's Richard Conte who has a beautiful scene with Hodiak and Tierney as a recently released Italian soldier who tells them of the fate of Tierney's boyfriend.

For some reason A Bell For Adano the movie has been strangely forgotten and a lot of younger people haven't heard of it. That's a pity because this film is a neglected treasure.

pretty good post-WWII flick

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 February 2006]

This film showed that John Hodiak could act, though I guess he didn't get that many chances to star in the movies he appeared in during his career. He's wonderful as the commanding officer in charge of a post-war Italian village. He tries everything he can to rebuild the town--both physically and in spirit. However, the one thing he really can't do is restore the bell stolen from the town by the Fascists. The townspeople see this as a point of pride; i.e., if they get a new bell it proves they are a real and growing town. At first Hodiak isn't the least bit sympathetic to their plight. However, over time he begins to see that maybe there is something to be said about restoring civic pride. A cute and quite unusual film well worth watching.

Ring them bells

[dbdumonteil · 19 February 2008]

Adapted from a famous novel ," a bell for Adano" seems sometimes too good to be true."Mister Major " is really a hand to kiss for he changed the life of the inhabitants of an Italian small town singlehandedly.John Hodiak portrays this officer with authority and humanity.On the other hand ,the users are right when they write that Gene Tierney -an actress who happens to be one of my favorites- is miscast;she could pass for half-Chinese in "Shanghai Gesture" ,she is not credible as a blonde (?) Italian .Besides ,it is not much of a part,and except for the scene where she's told about her fiancé's fate,she is lost in the crowd.

Marcel Dalio,on the contrary ,is well cast as the coward;this French actor was famous in his native country for his portrayals of villains,traitors ,collaborators,etc .The first scene is his: swearing he has never been a fascist but giving the infamous salute ,he is absolutely marvelous,so to speak!

It 's sometimes too good to be true but Mister Major is an endearing character,a military man who thinks that rules are made to be broken ,which ,for an officer, is not common."A bell for Adano" is a Christian movie almost as much as King's "song of Bernadette" was.

The first sequences of the village in ruins will remind you of the Italian Neo-Realism ,Roberto Rossellini's works ("Paesa" "Germania anno zero")

The story of a missing church bell in a war torn village under American occupation and how the American major learns how to cope with human and local difficulties - but has t

[clanciai · 10/10 · 6 June 2020]

This is another of those very rare films that are like no other films, unique and differing from everything else, while of course you recognize most of the Italian expressions of temperament, emotion and human complications and outbursts from most other Italian films, but this American film actually succeeds in capturing the very Italian element and even the Sicilian element. The town of Adano does not exist and never did, but the inspiration for the Pulitzer winning novel by John Hersey has its source in a small Sicilian town on the south coast close to Agrigento called Licata, and if you know anything about Sicily you would immediately recognize the environment and mentality in the film as Sicilian, if you didn't know it beforehand. John Hodiak as major Joppolo, curiously like John Steinbeck, makes perhaps the role and perfomance of his life, and if you don't remember him for any other performance, you will remember him for this one. William Bendix, always reliable and indomitable as a character actor, is his closest associate and makes as usual a very memorable performance. You will perhaps be shocked to find Gene Tierney here as a blonde Italian, but she makes the best of it. Another character not to bypass, for a short but the more remarkable performance, is Richard Crenna as an Italian soldier and released prisoner. Perhaps the major highlight and most moving scene in the film is when the village, almost exclusively inhabited by women, receives back all its prisoners, sons and husbands that have been gone since the beginning of the war, while all the women go out to meet them in the square. It is one of the finest moments in any war film. The story is all about a church bell, missing when the major arrives to take charge of the village, while a clique of the villagers insist the return of the church bell being the most important need for the starving village, and the major goes through great pains to achieve that goal. The film ends in deep melancholy sadness but at the same time in glorious triumph. It's a great story, and no wonder the novel won the Pulitzer prize - Henry King's direction of the film goes meticulously about not missing anything of the great deserts of the novel.

The Liberty Bell

[richardchatten · 9/10 · 20 March 2021]

Based on John Hersey's bestselling novel, this film hit cinemas at about the same time as Rossellini's films depicting the impact of the occupation upon Italy and doesn't suffer from the comparison.

Done with grace and humour and full of life, it contains the most of the virtues and few of the vices of a Hollywood blockbuster of the period. (Both Joseph LaShelle's high-contrast photography and the use of sound to covey the acoustics of the requisitioned Town Hall add to the atmosphere).

John Hodiak is excellent in the lead and is flanked by a wonderful supporting cast ranging from Marcel Dalio (who at opposite ends of his acting career appeared in the anti-war epics 'La Grande Illusion' and 'Catch-22') to Henry Morgan (later Col. Potter in 'MASH'); while the cast also includes silent director Monty Banks (here billed as 'Montague') and future director Hugo Haas.

Well written story

[JennyP · 9/10 · 15 January 2000]

This is one of those films made during late WWII about WWII. It has some of the feel of the Italian neo-realist films that were starting to be made around this time. This is definitely a good thing - it doesn't feel like an overproduced, overwritten studio effort.

The story slowly draws you in as the new American administrator of a little Italian village arrives and tries to help the townspeople get used to life as a free people again, and to get their lives & livelihoods restarted.

The writing is mostly fresh and natural, as is the acting. The only false notes are the bumbling Italians who become the Americans' assistants, and to a lesser extent the standard poor-yet-dignified villagers. But compared to most films of the era they're minor annoyances.

Tierney miscast...(minor SPOILERs)

[Bucky-8 · 8/10 · 31 January 2002]

I liked this film in most respects. John Hodiak was perfect as "Mr. Major." William Bendix, one of my favorite character actors, displayed much of his range, from humor to pathos. And Henry King's direction was superb. However, Gene Tierney was seriously miscast as the comely village girl.

Miss Tierney's Italian accent was practically non-existent. And that bleached blonde hair! I seriously doubt that an Italian girl of modest means in a fishing village would have made that a priority during World War II.

And why was John Hodiak talking about Jean Tierney's "dark skin" resembling that of his wife back home? If her skin was any lighter she could've been mistaken for an albino!

I gave this film an "8". It was one of those films where the plot line was taken too literally from the novel. The romance between Hodiak and Tierney didn't contribute much to the film. And Richard Conte's morbid description of the death of Tierney's boyfriend was way too heavy and mostly irrelevant to the rest of the film. Otherwise, "A Bell for Adano" would've have earned a "9" from me.

Ciao

Here's why Tierney is blonde...

[argento2665 · 8/10 · 24 January 2011]

I very much enjoyed this movie, so much so that I plan to search out the book. I write this though because many commenters asked why Gene Tierney was a blonde Italian. This would lead me to wonder what they were doing while the movie was running because they obviously weren't watching it. In what I would term a key scene, Hodiak's 'Mr. Major' explains that he was from the Bronx but he didn't see it as beautiful like his Italian immigrant parents do and he always wanted to escape and Tierney's Tina replies that that is why she has blonde hair, that she wants to get away to America but she is unable to leave the village so her escape was to dye her dark hair blonde.

A tale of a bell and a belle in war-torn Sicily

[weezeralfalfa · 8/10 · 12 February 2019]

Directed by Henry King, this is the story of the efforts of Allied occupational forces to return a small Sicilian fishing village toward normalcy, after the Fascist armies were driven out. It is an adaptation of a book of the same name, by John Hersey, which won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1945. Amazingly, the film was released later that year.......The character of Maj. Joppolo was based on Lt. Col. Frank Toscani: senior civil affairs officer of the U.S. Army military government, in Licana, Italy. The film was produced by 20th century Fox. John Hodiak was barrowed from MGM to star as Maj. Joppolo. Even though Major Joppolo clearly was the main character, because of her greater star status, Gene Tierney received top billing, as Tina, the daughter of a fisherman. She gradually develops a platonic relationship with Maj. Joppolo, but he is married and she is awaiting the return of her betrothed : Giorgio, from war. As it turns out, he doesn't return with the other village soldiers, his death being described by one of the returnees. I think Maj. Joppolo should have been characterized as single or divorced, so that their attraction to each other could legitimately have further blossomed during the short time after it was established that Giorgio was dead, and before Joppolo was reassigned. Most reviewers think Gene was a terrible choice to play an Italian, especially with her bleached blond hair. Several times, there was a comment about her dark Italian skin. Well, obviously, no attempt was made to darken her naturally fair skin! So, why did she dye her hair blond. She told Joppolo it was to make her look distinctive. She said she wanted to get away from this village, into the wider world, preferably the US. Thus, I suppose, she was hoping a GI would take her back to the US when the war was over. But, this conflicted with her love for Giorgio, until it was learned he was dead.........Maj. Joppolo was appointed military governor of Adano, and charged with restoring relative normalcy as soon as possible. The villagers were hungry, and lacked adequate fresh water. Their fishing fleet had been grounded for some time. Tina's father, who headed the fisherman's guild, was afraid the Americans would tax the fish they caught. Joppolo assured him that the American army would not charge a tax on fish, thus he OKed fishing again. Joppolo also made an edict that government officials would not enjoy special privileges. This was brought home when an official tried to cut into a soup line......... Early on, Hugo Haas, as Father Pensovecchio, emphasized to Joppolo the importance of acquiring a replacement town bell. The 700y.o. former bell had been melted down by the fascists for bullets. It was important for many people to signal the timing of their daily activities.(Apparently, few had a watch or clock). Joppolo asked the US Navy to try to find a suitable bell. Eventually, one was supplied, and rung just before Joppolo left for his new assignment..........Joppolo's army superior had instructed him to keep the main roads to the town clear of carts, so as not to interfere in troop and vehicle movements. Joppolo partially disobeyed this order, allowing some carts to bring food and other essentials. Eventually, he was reassigned to Algiers for this insubordination.

Despite lack of suspense, a touching remembrance of US military's administration of a post-war Sicilian town

[Turfseer · 7/10 · 5 March 2021]

A Bell for Adano is a most unusual picture related to World War II. There is no fighting in it (that is between enemy combatants) and it is more a character study than a film that features a suspenseful narrative. The protagonist, Major Victor Joppolo (John Hodiak), a Bronx native of Italian descent, is tasked with administering the small Sicilian (fictional) town of Adano following the defeat of Mussolini's fascist government.

Joppolo arrives with his adjutant, Sgt. Borth (William Bendix) and they are immediately met by eager townspeople who offer their services to assist Joppolo as he attempts to win over a skeptical populace, weary after years of Fascist rule. Joppolo earns the trust of Father Pensovecchio after he appears at Mass with all the townspeople in attendance. It's made clear from the outset that the biggest morale booster would be the restoration (or replacement) of the town church bell which was confiscated by fascist government officials.

In a great scene, Joppolo rebuffs a town official who has gone to the head of a bread line by sending him to the back of the line, much to the great approbation of the people. Then Joppolo pays a visit in person to Tomasino, the head fisherman, and convinces him to go back to work to begin replenishing the town's dwindling food supply (the good Major reassures Tomasino that he'll be taking no kickbacks from any of the workers).

The central conflict of the film revolves around orders Jappolo receives from his commanding officer, barring the townspeople from using their mule carts and other modes of transportation to bring food and water over the only bridge in town which the general maintains has been interfering with military convoys. When Jappolo is moved by a mass demonstration by the people in the town square and countermands the orders, Sgt. Borth hides a report written by Captain Purvis (Henry Morgan), reporting Joppolo's insubordination to the commanding officer, at the bottom of a stack of papers.

Much has been written about Gene Tierney in the role of the fisherman's daughter, Tina, who sports an uncharacteristic head of dyed blonde hair and tells Jappolo (after he's invited to her family's house for dinner) that she dyed her hair to be "different." Various reviewers have complained about Tierney's non-Italian accent but it didn't bother me at all-in fact, I felt whatever low key accent she mustered seemed plausible enough (what would have it sounded like if Tierney had actually tried an Italian accent? Maybe it might not have worked and maybe that's why ultimately she or the director decided not to use it).

Another unusual thing about the film is that Joppolo's and Tina' s relationship is strictly platonic. There is a very nice conversation that the two principals have filling in a good deal of backstory-particularly Jappolo's story (his background is complicated including mention of still being married and running a business that ultimately failed back in the Bronx!). There is a hint that Jappolo might have been interested in Tina but she reminds him of his wife and it appears he's jolted back to reality.

Tierney's part is sadly underdeveloped and the major plot point regarding her backstory really fails to work. The scene in which recently released POW Nico (Richard Conte), Tina's missing boyfriend Giorgio's friend, reveals to her the sad fate of her sweetheart during the waning days of the war. It seems that Giorgio was really an anti-Fascist but his enthusiastic enlistment into the Mussolini's fascist army, was held against him by fellow soldiers, who killed him while they were intoxicated.

The report about the Major's insubordination is once again redirected to another jurisdiction by Sgt. Bortha, but eventually Joppolo's efforts to help the townspeople come back to bite him when headquarters finally gets wind of the countermanding of the Commanding General's orders. There are some bittersweet occurrences before Jappolo is given his "marching orders," and that includes Sgt. Bortha's emotional breakdown (while intoxicated) over Jappolo's forced departure, the townspeoples' presentation of a portrait of Jappolo in the town hall and thanks to some ingenuity on the part of some US Navy officers, the replacement of the church bell effected amidst much fanfare among the townspeople.

John Hodiak was quoted as saying that A Bell for Adano was his favorite film among the many roles he took on during his career. And indeed Hodiak is magnificent as the good guy major who represents all that is good about the American soldier. It's a very human portrait of a good but tough soul whose background is certainly not squeaky clean.

A Bell for Adano is not what you would call a "high stakes" picture. There is very little suspense here and it should be better thought of as a film featuring a "slice of life" verisimilitude. The film does well in representing the John Hersey book on which it is based. Jappolo's bittersweet departure is representative of the many moments of life in occupied post-war Italy depicted in this film that ring decidedly true.

Scenic WWII footage of Italy

[1969VIETNAM · 10/10 · 8 May 2021]

WOW ! Great movie of a Army Major with his troops trying to help the people Adano Italy restore the village. Scene's of war torn Adano in southern Italy. Worth watching, beautiful story !

Credible

[PWNYCNY · 7/10 · 3 August 2005]

I know that the movie is a bit unrealistic in its characterizations. I know that the movie is a bit heavy-handed in its stereotypical portrayals of the Italians. I know that the movie is fiction, and that no matter how much you try to sugar-coat the story, the fact is that Italy was a member of the Axis alliance, was belligerent and fascist, and went over to the Allied side only after it was thoroughly defeated. So any portrayals of Italians being particularly passive or pro-American circa 1945 must be taken with a huge grain of salt. All this being said, I still liked this movie. The movie brings out, in typical Hollywood fashion, that the United States and the Allies DID liberate Italy from fascism, and which prevented Italy from becoming a total basket case like Germany and Japan became after the war. The pro-American bias of the movie is unmistakable, but as a World War Two movie what else could you expect? The fact is that the United States liberated Western Europe from Nazism and fascism, and movies like "A Bell for Adono" serve to ensure that what the United States did to help Italy and the rest of Europe is not forgotten.

wartime oddity

[didi-5 · 16 July 2004]

In another attempt to depict Americans as the saviours of Europe post-WWII, Henry King's 'A Bell for Adano' centres on the rebuilding of an Italian town bombarded and driven to despair, rescued by the American 'invaders' who come to build civil peace.

The Italians are in the main shown in a comic way, as children who are incapable of governing themselves, or as joke fascists. A curious view at the time in history it was made, right at the end of the war. The Americans (the good-looking Major, the snipey Captain, the loyal but dumb Sergeant) have a bit more character but are still stereotypical Army types.

In the cast, John Hodiak is good as usual, helped this time by the stellar support of Harry Morgan, William Bendix, and Glenn Langan (as a too-good-to-be-true naval officer). Gene Tierney is a bottle-blonde lovely in the town and a love interest for Hodiak, although her acting is little more than passable.

I liked this film in the main as it manages to make an impact within a limited plotline. Now rarely seen and not available on video/DVD, it doesn't deserve to be in obscurity but to be seen and celebrated with other films made during and just after wartime.

Solid story, solid characters, but as entertainment?

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 18 March 2010]

A Bell for Adano is directed by Henry King and stars John Hodiak, Gene Tierney, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Harry Morgan & Glenn Langan. The screenplay by Norman Reilly Raine is adapted from the novel A Bell for Adano by John Hersey, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. The story concerns Italian-American U.S. Army Major Joppolo {Hodiak}, who is stationed in the Italian town of Adano during the invasion of Sicily. The title is in reference to Joppolo's attempts to replace a 700 year old bell that was taken from the town by the Fascists at the start of the war. But he has to win the trust of the confused and almost broken townsfolk before he can implement a new way of life for Adano. The character of Joppolo is based on real life military governor Frank Toscani, who was based in Licato, Sicily after the Allied invasion.

With the source as good and as well regarded as it is, it's something of a given that the story is of high quality. But does it transfer well to the screen? Personally I found the whole experience rather heavy, almost unpalatable in parts. Yet the acting, and the directing are not really at fault {cept for Tierney's miscast blonde love interest that is}. It's just that for all its obvious adherence to a low-key, slow burn approach to the effects of war on a ravage town, it fails to deliver anything resembling potency. Particularly with its ending, where if it wasn't for a bit of emotional gusto from the excellent Hodiak & Bendix, would have rendered the time spent staying with the film a complete waste of time. There's also moments of over doing the melodrama, with one, as Conte's Nicolo tells a horror story to a grief stricken Tierney, almost embarrassing in its delivery.

It's not a waste of time to be sure, for the lead male performances it deserves a look: and also a listen with Alfred Newman's tight score. While the smouldering structure on offer here has garnered it some supporters over the years {the film is decently rated at 7 on IMDb}. But ultimately it's an uneasy recommendation to fans of 1940s war film's. 5/10

Bells Not Ringing Clearly At Adano **1/2

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 29 November 2006]

1945 film dealing with American occupation of the Italian town of Adano.

John Hodiak portrays a sympathetic officer who understands the need of the town.-food and water to survive.

He shows kindness to the people of the town, many of whom are comical characters. William Bendix plays his assistant in his usual comic form. However, when Hodiak has to leave, Bendix is excellent when he has to tell him the news. He is so upset by this, he is terribly drunk.

Gene Tierney is terribly miscast as a daughter of a fisherman, who seeks Hodiak out to find out information on her lover. Before he can act, Italian POW's return to the town, and one of them, Richard Conte, tells her what has happened to her beloved. If you were an anti-fascist who campaigned against the Mussolini regime, why would you be the first to go when Italy entered the war on Nazi Germany's side? The lover died for patriotic reasons though he was bitterly anti-fascist. There is something wrong here.

The film deals with military bureaucracy and bungling by Roy Roberts. Such bungling costs Hodiak to be transferred. This was when the film was getting better. Too bad it ended at this point.

The town of Adano needed a bell to carry on its daily life. Hodiak was successfully able to get the bell. The bell tolls for him when he leaves the town. Irony, not at its best, but when is irony actually good?

Didn't move me very much

[Boyo-2 · 6/10 · 8 November 1999]

I enjoyed this movie as I was watching it, but it didn't leave much of a memory for later. John Hodiak is great, as is William Bendix and Harry Morgan, but I thought Gene Tierney was the best, even though she looked a tad silly with blonde hair. This movie could use a remake, and I usually don't think that way. But there is a great story here and it could use a new treatment.

Why is this really fine movie so neglected?

[boho-24367 · 8/10 · 13 January 2022]

You would think a movie on from a novel that won the Pulitzer prize; that was a successful play on Broadway, would get some respect. Rotten Tomatoes has nothing on it. You can't buy an English language DVD of this movie on Amazon. Only on You Tube. Yet it has a superb performance by John Hodiak, who proved he could really act. The settings are wonderfully staged. Excellent direction. A heartwarming story about something that matters. Only weakness is Gene Tierney, who gets top billing yet has one fifth of the scenes of Hodiak. She sounds like a girl from the Bronx rather than an Italian country girl. It damages the mood. What were they thinking? Couldn't they get her a voice coach?

Worth the viewing. Good story telling.

[jerrygregoire2 · 9/10 · 1 December 2023]

Given its period of production and the values it reflects, I must say this is a good movie. Well directed acted and edited.

A great cast including the many extras.

For all the unfortunate stereotypical portrayal of the townspeople there are some marvelous performances.

Good screenplay. Well written dialogue in well staged scenes. It's a good looking movie with great cinematography and design.

William Bendix, Harry Morgan and Jean Tearny.

Adapted from a novel the film reflects its complexity of storytelling.

The film is actually very compelling and I got caught up readily in the viewing.

Overall I have to say this movie is worth the time if you catch it in a broadcast or streaming.

Gene replaces Hedy 3 times in her career..plus..

[bruno-32 · 29 February 2012]

Hedy Lamarr was the first choice for Gene's role, though being the most gorgeous brunette, would puzzle me to have her wear a blond or dyed wig. Gene then replaced her in "Laura" and in a Danny Kaye Comedy "On the Reviera" Hedy's boss, L .B. Mayer refused to loan her out to 20th. Now the best part...Gene again replaced Hedy with one of Hedy's ex, Howard Lee...so Gene had a lot to be thankful to Hedy. Too bad Sophia Loren or Gina Lollobridgada weren't available at that time as they were just starlets in Italian cinema. Not to long ago the Italians were their enemy, mainly cause of Mussolini..not the people...so it was given to make our 'enemies' look like the fools. Look for a movie called '4 Days in Naples", a terrific war movie to counteract that.

A very convincing set.

[plan99 · 8/10 · 2 June 2022]

This looked like it had actually been filmed in a ruined Italian village, I had a look at the filming locations to see where it was, but it was studio lot shot and was very convincing. An amusing tale but the obvious expected happy ending was missing which was a let down. Lots of great supporting actors and it ran along very nicely.

John Russell

[g.barlas · 7/10 · 22 November 2009]

Hey guys, have you all noticed John Russell, dancing in the town hall towards the end of the film? As a film it was timely.... sentimental... I agree with all of you that Gene Tierney was terribly miscast and I didn't quite catch it why she should be a blonde? An unbecoming blonde as well.. The rest was OK, I guess. Lots of stereotype Italians, and the familiar camaraderie between the GIs and Navy etc... I guess it was filmed on the back lot of the Fox studios.. it shows that too.. OK for 1945.... But today it sounds rather naive and very nostalgic... Actually they do NOT make such films anymore.... Stanley Kramer tried a similar theme in 1969 and Blake Edwards too in 1966 with bigger budgets (and failed miserably) but this one is a cute relic to cherish from the past.. I gave it a 7!