A Farewell to Arms (1957) User Reviews (49)

How bout a review of the actual movie, people?

[rooprect · 7/10 · 16 December 2013]

Of the top 6 reviews I currently see here, 3 are slamming Jennifer Jones for being too old, 1 is slamming producer David Selznick for being in the decline of his career, 1 is whining that it's not like the book, and 1 is slamming writer Hemingway for not doing any fighting in the war (Um... he was an ambulance driver).

While this film may not deserve an Academy award for best picture, it certainly deserves a decent review on IMDb dedicated to the film itself. So here goes my attempt.

"A Farewell to Arms" is a lavish production of a love story set against the backdrop of World War I. In that respect it's in the same genre as other classic war romances "Gone with the Wind", "Casablanca" and "Platoon ". Haha just checking to see if you're paying attention. Everyone knows "Casablanca" was not set in a war but an occupation.

Where "Farewell" differs from these other classics is in the distribution of war & romance. "Farewell" features far more battle scenes (4) compared to "Gone with the Wind" (zero) and "Casablanca" (zero). The result may be a bit disappointing in the romance department, and several reviewers (as well as the New York Times review on the film's release) have complained about the "lack of chemistry" between the two leads. I think this perception is simply due to the fact that less time is spent setting up the romance, putting more of a burden on the viewer to accept a relationship that simply happens. Viewers may also feel romantically cheated because this is not a traditional romance between two traditional individuals who dream of immediately getting married and having kids and a dog. But in fact this purposely informal, slightly dysfunctional romance is what ultimately made it interesting to me because it marked a change of formula in the age-old Hollywood romance.

If you see this movie, pay close attention to Jennifer Jones' excellent portrayal of a reluctant lover who is perhaps suffering from too many demons to actually fall in love completely, the way she wants to. She is riddled with insecurities, conflicts and possibly guilt, making her like the the stereotypical guy who can't commit. Meanwhile Rock Hudson plays a character more like the stereotypical lovesick schoolgirl. If you enjoy stereotype reversals like this, you'll definitely find yourself interested in their "lack of chemistry".

Was Jennifer Jones too old (late 30s) to play the role of Katherine as Hemingway had intended her (early 20s)? Probably. Did Jennifer get the part because she was married to producer Selznick? Absolutely. Does any of this make her a bad actress? No way. Short of Vivien Leigh, I think she was the best person to play the role as she did: the troubled lover whose cynical, morbid thoughts were always brewing not far away, despite her outwardly cheerful appearance. Actually I take back the thing about Vivien Leigh being better; the more I think about it, Jennifer was ideal for this sort of character.

A subplot involving Vittorio de Sica's war-weary character descending into madness is sure to catch your attention. It was actually my favorite part of the movie, and I wish they had spent more time on this complex character shift as well as his interesting polite antagonism of the church (with a spectacular short speech he says to the priest near the end). But alas, with the romance and the battle scenes already vying for screen time, Vittorio's story only got 2 or 3 dedicated scenes. They were powerful nonetheless.

Yes, as others mentioned, the ending seemed abrupt. But after thinking about it, I think it was perfectly in line with some of the interesting & unusual themes that the story set up. In short, this is not a straightforward soldier-meets-girl love story. The conflicts that are presented (particularly in Jennifer Jones' mysteriously troubled psyche) make this romance much more than meets the eye. If you enjoy wartime romances that are not always formulaic love stories (i.e. they may contain hidden dysfunctional surprises), check this one out.

Love and War on the Italian Front (Also: Bonus Information beyond the Movie)

[romanorum1 · 6/10 · 2 April 2014]

"A Farewell to Arms" is based upon the semi-autobiographical novel of Ernest Hemingway's experiences in World War I when he served as an ambulance driver for the Italians who fought the Austrians and Hungarians (1915-1918). Lt. ("Tenente") Frederic Henry (Rock Hudson) sustains a leg wound from a shell on the Alpine front and while recuperating in the military hospital meets English nurse Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones). Thus begins their love affair. Over time the nurse eventually gets pregnant. Meanwhile, with the urging of head nurse Van Campen (Mercedes McCambridge), Lt. Henry is deemed well enough to return to the battle front in time for the 1917 tragedy at Caporetto.

In 1917 the exhausted Russians, obviously on the brink of defeat, were negotiating with the Germans and Austrians to pull out from the war. Thus many divisions were diverted from the Russian to the Italian front. And at Caporetto the Central Powers broke through the defensive line. The subsequent retreat was tragic, and this part is well-filmed. Because of the disaster the Italian command did take extraordinary measures to save their country (as explained in Hemingway's book). Dismayed, Lt. Henry decides to make a separate peace and deserts the army; he slips across Lake Como into Switzerland with his girlfriend. When childbirth time comes, Nurse Barkley enters the nearby hospital. While Henry is in the Swiss restaurant near the hospital, a customer remarks that the Italians had finally held the line at the Piave River. (In the book, Henry says that The Western front, though, was beginning to crack.) SPOILER ALERT: The worst possible situation happens to Miss Barkley. With the loss of both his stillborn child and of his lover, Henry is crushed. As in the book, the dejected Frederic Henry walks alone out of the hospital into the rain.

"A Farewell to Arms" was David O. Selznick's last movie as a producer, and it is a bit too long. But production values are very high, and the cinematography is wonderful. The on-location filming at the actual places of Alpine battle is excellent. There are interesting long shots of the Italians using great effort to move their supply trains over vast mountains. Their war was indeed a vertical one, unlike that of the Western, Russian, and Turkish fronts. A major negative of the movie seems to be insufficient chemistry between the two main leads. Furthermore, the acting of Jennifer Jones is uneven. Frankly, she was far too old for her part. In her defense, like Nurse Barkley in the novel, she is effective when she exemplifies her dilemmas and flightiness. By the way, she was producer Selznick's wife. Vittorio DeSica, a great director in his own right, received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He is Major Alessandro Rinaldi, Lt. Henry's friend, whose mental state notably shifts from optimism and worldliness into pessimism and war-weariness. Over all, while AFTA is not a great film, it is still decent enough to watch. Those who enjoy prolonged battle scenes will be disappointed, though. We really do not see the Italian troops storming the Austrian positions.

Bonus Information (The Aftermath): Ernest Hemingway really was wounded on the Italian front and had an affair with Agnes von Kurowsky, an American – not English – nurse. At age 26 she was older than Hemingway; she eventually became engaged to an Italian military officer but married someone else. She survived the war and lived a long life. On World War I's Italian front there were two battles after Caporetto, and both were Italian victories. The first was the Battle of the Piave River, which occurred in June 1918. The Germans were hoping for an Austrian triumph to knock out the Italians, but their offensive failed. The battle was decisive, as it foretold Austrian defeat and breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a few months later. General Foch, Allied Commander-in-Chief on the Western front, wanted the Italians to conduct an immediate counter-offensive to knock Austria out of the war (and perhaps invade Germany through Bavaria), but Italian General Armando Diaz refused because of logistical problems. Then, in October of the same year, with the initiative of the Central Powers failing on all fronts, the Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto netted 400,000 Austrian and Hungarian prisoners, or an amazing reversal of Caporetto just a year after the 1917 disaster. And, as the military commander alluded to in the feature film, it was done by the Italians on their own as virtually all of the American troops went to France to help the beleaguered French and British against the desperate German offensives of 1918.

Jones was too old

[JamesCartwright · 5/10 · 16 August 2021]

Rock Hudson wasn't bad but it was painfully obvious that Jennifer Jones was a lot older than him. It was absurd she was supposed to be English when she sounded just as American as Hudson and Elaine Stritch. The film is spectacular but too overblown for a trifling romantic story.

Hemingway strikes out again!!!

[Doylenf · 11 May 2001]

Strange that one of America's favorite writers has no success in having his novels transferred to the screen with any fidelity or improvement over the original. 'A Farewell to Arms' is a lumbering, turgid, over-stuffed movie that never seems real. Chemistry between Hudson and Jones is simply not there--Jennifer Jones, in particular, seems remote and detached as the nurse even when she's supposed to be wildly in love. And then there's the matter of length--it seems to go on forever with a very weak resolution.

David O. Selznick wanted to create something that would rank alongside his 'Gone with the Wind' as an epic romance with a war background--but the talky script defeated everyone. Hemingway himself publicly disowned the movie, claiming that Jones was far too old for the part and unhappy about the film in general. At any rate, it was not the hoped for success and did nothing to halt the decline of Selznick's career--or Jennifer Jones' career for that matter. A big disappointment.

Just read the book

[jjanen · 6/10 · 18 May 2021]

Recently read the book...disappointed by the movie as it departed from the story in several key areas. The scenery was pretty.

The Unique Problems Of Hemingway And Selznick

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 25 September 2008]

A lot of people are being terribly unfair to this production of A Farewell To Arms. Not that it's a great film, it misses that by a good distance, but that even films that are the best adaptations of Ernest Hemingway's work fall far short for Hemingway purists. And David O. Selznick was far from a Hemingway purist.

No Selznick when it came to the career of his wife Jennifer Jones lost all kinds of sense of balance. Another reviewer was quite right, Jean Simmons, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor all would have made acceptable Catherine Barkleys.

One thing also to remember that we're not even starting out with pure Hemingway to begin with. Both this version and the 1932 version that starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes are not just based on the novel, they are based on a play that was adapted from the novel by Laurence Stallings who wrote What Price Glory. The play ran for 30 performances in 1930 and starred Glenn Anders and Elissa Landi on Broadway. I suspect the Depression had a lot to do with the closing as it did many shows that year.

Originally John Huston was slated to direct and he had directed Jones in both We Were Strangers and Beat The Devil with little or no interference from Selznick. But Selznick fired Huston and replaced him with Charles Vidor because allegedly too much attention was paid to Rock Hudson and not enough to Jennifer.

That's ironic as all get out because the novel itself is as all Hemingway works is male chauvinistic in the extreme. If he wanted to showcase Jennifer, any Hemingway just ain't the vehicle. He should have used one of the Bronte sisters.

Since the novel is male oriented Rock Hudson makes a fine Fredric Henry, the idealistic man who volunteers on the Italian front as an ambulance driver to experience war so he can write about it when it's over. On that Italian front it didn't look like it was ever going to be over.

That's another problem with this work, how do you sell it to the movie going public, as a romance or an anti-war tract? If you're Adolph Zukor for Paramount or David O. Selznick probably romance is the aspect that does sell.

The third major character in the film is that of the Italian army doctor Major Rinaldi played here by Vittorio DeSica. This version is more faithful to the book and presents Rinaldi as a three dimensional character.

In the 1932 version Adolphe Menjou was Rinaldi and Menjou did fine with the part as your typical suave continental type. Here Rinaldi's outspokenness about the futility of the Italian campaign leads to tragedy. It also led to an Oscar nomination for Vittorio DeSica as Best Supporting Actor. It was the only recognition A Farewell To Arms got from the Academy and DeSica lost to Red Buttons for Sayonara.

Whether Huston or Vidor did them, the battle scenes and the scenes of retreat are shattering and moving. Given the unique problems of Hemingway and Selznick, we're lucky the film came out as good as it did.

The Great Stone Face

[JamesHitchcock · 4/10 · 27 May 2005]

Had she not been married to the producer, Jennifer Jones would not have been the most obvious choice for the leading female role in this tragic tale of an affair between an American soldier and an English nurse, set against the backdrop of the First World War. Her British accent is not perfect, and in the fifties it was unusual for a big romantic lead to go to an actress in her late thirties, even one as attractive as Miss Jones, especially when she was several years older than her leading man.. There were a number of beautiful young British actresses in Hollywood around this time, such as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons and Joan Collins, any of whom might have been more convincing in the role, but Miss Jones had one important attribute they all lacked, namely a marriage certificate with David O. Selznick's name on it. In the event, the film turned out to be such a turkey that they were doubtless grateful not to have it on their CVs.

The film tells, at great length, the story of the romance between Frederick, an American volunteer serving with the Italian Army as an ambulance driver and Catherine, a nurse with the British Red Cross. After the Italian defeat at the battle of Caporetto, Frederick is wrongly accused of being a German spy and sentenced to death. (The film paints a very harsh picture of Italian military justice; it would appear that Italian Courts-Martial had the power to pass the death sentence after a trial lasting all of thirty seconds without hearing any evidence and without allowing the defendant to be legally represented or to speak in his defence). Frederick manages to escape and to cross the border into neutral Switzerland, accompanied by the pregnant Catherine.

Hemingway's novels have not always been a great success when filmed. Howard Hawks succeeded in making a good version of "To Have and have Not", a film that is considerably better than the book on which it is nominally based, but that is because he largely ignored Hemingway's plot and turned the film into a remake of "Casablanca", set in Martinique rather than French Morocco. Like the 1943 version of "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "A Farewell to Arms" is overlong and fatally slow moving. It is also miscast. Jennifer Jones never makes Catherine come to life. As for Rock Hudson, his assumed Christian name could be unfortunately appropriate. He could be as solid as a rock but also as impassive as one, and in this film his Frederick seems an impersonation of the Great Stone Face. Despite the passion and emotion inherent in Hemingway's plot, the emotional temperature is always far too cool. The picture has little going for it apart from some attractive picture-postcard views of Italian and Swiss scenery. It is hardly surprising that it was not a success and that its failure ended Selznick's career as a producer. 4/10

A goof. Shortly before the battle of Caporetto, an Italian officer states that Russia had already concluded a separate peace with Germany. That battle started in October 1917, at a time when Kerensky's Russia was still fighting alongside the Allies. The Russian Revolution did not take place until November; it was only the "October Revolution" by the old Julian calendar. The new Bolshevik regime signed an armistice with Germany in December 1917, but a separate peace was not signed until the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918

Directed by Charles Vidor

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 16 May 2018]

Two days before shooting was due to commence on the David O. Selznick remake of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms ('57), director John Huston left the set in the Italian Alps, following a disagreement with the producer. At a press conference a few weeks later, Selznick explained that singly their differences would sound trivial, but there were "hundreds of them". Calling Huston "a talented man", the producer said there are certain men who ought to do their own producing.

Selznick's definition of a producer's duties was that he supervise "every camera set-up, every frame". He said his understanding with Charles Vidor, who replaced Huston, was complete. Nevertheless, he added that there was need for more rugged individuals (indicating Huston and himself) making movies. Beyond Farewell, Selznick enumerated his future plans as package deals with 20th-Fox for Tender Is the Night and Mary Magdalene; developing Gone With The Wind as a stage operetta; and a TV spectacular of Rebecca, sometime within the next two years.

Between Huston's desertion on 22 March 1957, and Vidor's appointment on 5 April, the film had been carried on by second unit director Andrew Marton, who had completed shooting all the film's major battle scenes - involving 14,000 soldiers and 2,000 mules and horses - before Vidor arrived at the Udine location.

Although more faithful to Hemingway than the earlier version with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes (in that film, Henry deserted because he suspected that Rinaldi was having an affair with Catherine), Selznick's remake entirely fails to capture the spirit of the novel. One example will perhaps suffice to show how thoroughly the film overdoes things. The last line of the novel reads: "After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain."

In the overdone film, however, Rock Hudson walks out of the hospital; we hear music, and then the voice of Jennifer Jones. Next we have a brief flashback in which Jones says, "We're going to have a strange life, but it's the only life I want." The flashback fades out, a heavenly choir fades in, and we see the early morning sun as Hudson retreats down a long avenue. Then it begins to rain. Overdone!

Another example: Vidor seems to have mistaken the retreat from Caporetto for the flight from Atlanta, and has tried to make a Technicolor epic out of black-and-white non-epic material. He is not helped, either, by the playing. Rock Hudson is not an actor who can quote Andrew Marvell and get away with it. Jennifer Jones unleashes too much hysterical emotion at the beginning of the film to have any reserves left for her ordeal at the end. Worst offender of all is Alberto Sordi, the wonderful comedian of La Bella di Roma, who is utterly out of his element as a sort of European version of a Bing Crosby priest.

On completing A Farewell to Arms, Vidor gave himself an extended vacation. In May 1958, he turned up on the international jury of the eleventh Cannes Film Festival, where he distinguished himself by protesting against the screening of Anthony Asquith's Orders to Kill.

But Charles Vidor was usually quiet-spoken and congenial; although he was always annoyed that pressmen persistently quoted him as saying that the thing of which he was most proud was not his hard-earned success but the fact that he was the best English-speaking Hungarian in Hollywood. This was a tilt at Michael Curtiz that Vidor never meant to be taken seriously.

In Vienna for background filming on Columbia's Song Without End, Charles Vidor suffered a sudden and fatal heart attack in his hotel room on the night of 4 June 1959. He was only 59 years old.

His body was buried at the Los Angeles Home of Peace Mausoleum the following 11 June, while Jack Benny delivered the eulogy at a memorial service in the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

I suffered through this one

[sawznhamrs-1 · 3/10 · 15 February 2022]

The most boring overacting I have ever seen. Rock is so gorgeously handsome and I don't understand why Jennifer Jones looked so red-cheeked throughout the movie. Maybe it's just because he is so handsome that she looks dowdy, even homely, though her photo posted on IMDb is attractive. I would like to see the film of the same title from the 1930s.

Fortunes of War

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 10 July 2022]

David O. Selznick immediately signals his intention of making another 'Gone With the Wind' by pompously scrolling the credits in big letters across the screen. It's far too long but otherwise not too bad. Everyone complains that Jennifer Jones was too old for the part, but no one objected that in the earlier version Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper were also in their thirties.

Amazing visually but dull

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 20 June 2011]

I really wanted to like A Farewell to Arms. But despite for love for Ernest Hemingway and for Rock Hudson, A Farewell to Arms just didn't work for me. Granted it does look amazing, with ravishing use of CinemaScope and the scenery and costumes are gorgeous as you can see in the first hour. The direction is fine, and the music is beautiful and cleverly composed. However, in the pace the film was very pedestrian, but the pace wasn't the only dull thing about it. I am especially talking about the story, which was overall uninteresting and wasn't affecting, and the script, which is really stilted in a lot of scenes. The ending also felt abrupt. The acting is not good, considering how talented the actors are. I love Rock Hudson, and he visibly tries hard and looks really handsome here but he seems very out of his depth. Jennifer Jones is miscast, and her performance is a very uneven mix of overacting and underacting, also she seems very detached from her character and Hudson as well. As for Vittoria di Sica, he overdoes it so wildly you feel as though he accidentally walked onto the wrong set. All in all, despite the talented cast and director and the beautiful visuals and score, the film was dull. 3/10 Bethany Cox

David Selznick loved Jennifer Jones

[williwaw · 8/10 · 29 January 2011]

David Selznick loved Jennifer Jones and per John Huston in his book "put everything on the line for his adored Jennifer" I met Douglas Fairbanks Jr years ago at a party when he was in New York and Fairbanks remarked that of major producers he knew, David Selznick stood out because of Mr. Selznick's love of great literature. David Selznick's brilliant productions of Gone With The Wind, Rebecca, David Copperfield, et al reflect Selznick's great love of great novels. (David Selznick wanted to but could not get financing for War and Peace starring of course Ms.Jones) One wonders why David Selznick insisted on remaking A Farewell to Arms but push ahead he did. David Selznick made a releasing deal thru 20th (Likely because of Jennifer Jones' attachment and successes at 20th Century Fox -Song of Bernadette, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, et al) and hired John Huston to direct again possibly because of Jennifer's past history with John Huston (Beat The Devil, We Were Strangers). David Selznick micro managed his productions and fired John Huston whom he felt was titling the picture towards a war film versus a highly romantic film, i.e. favoring Rock Hudson over Jennifer Jones. Charles Vidor replaced Huston and also had clashes with David Selznick. In the mid 50's a gigantic production shot on location in Italy had to be a logistical challenge: Selznick also fired Arthur Fellows as line producer. Some of A Farewell To Arms scenes are brilliantly photographed and large in scope as is the trademark of a Selznick International picture.

Jennifer Jones was a beautiful movie star. I would recommend a review of Ms. Jones career, as Ms. Jones is sadly forgotten but was a huge box office star and acclaimed screen actress of her day: Madame Bovary, Good Morning Miss Dove, Duel In The Sun, Ruby Gentry et al Some carp over Jennifer Jones' age in this film but Jennifer Jones looks fine in this picture (but ironically would look even much better years later in a fine and underrated film 20th's Tender Is The Night). My quibble with this film is the dialogue between Jennifer Jones and Rock Hudson which seems so stilted and phony. Has anyone counted the number of times the word "darling" is used?

Rock Hudson, then a gigantic box office star after George Stevens great film Giant and his run at Universal with hits such as Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, etc got first billing over the veteran Oscar Winning Jennifer Jones. Elaine Stritch is wonderfully sassy in a small but pivotal supporting role.

We are likely never to see the likes of David Selznick again, a pioneer in film. Of all David Selznick's movies I liked Gone With The Wind best but also the splendid WWII Film Since You Went Away starring Ms. Jones and a superb Claudette Colbert I wish Selznick had done an original film like Since You Went Away rather than a remake of A Farewell To Arms. Mr. Hudson adored by his female co-stars such as Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Jane Wyman, et al never really had much to say about working with Jennifer Jones. Ms Jones until her death never commented much about anything ever about her career, her Leading Men, or about her stormy private life.

A book on the back story filming of this movie would prove to be interesting. Reading Memo From David O Selznick and David Thomson's Showman would help understand David Selznick's obsession with Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms and Ms. Jones in particular.

This was the final film personally produced by David O Selznick.

Less is more

[kieran-wright · 7/10 · 15 December 2006]

When I was around 17, I came in from a cold winter's day and became engrossed in a film that was running on the TV. The film? A farewell to arms. I could only have seen the last quarter of the film but the final scene reduced me to tears and it's something I never forgot. Consequently, some 10 years later I managed to track it down on video and was a little disappointed.

What is now obvious to me is that 1) the part I saw had little input from Jennifer Jones; 2) the emotion conveyed by Rock Hudson was deeply touching; 3) the setting was also memorable; 4) it was far too long. When viewing the film in its entirety, it is obviously badly in need of the touch of a good editor, although I was somewhat surprised to recently read that it is actually 2 hours and 32 minutes in length. What is particularly disappointing is that Jennifer Jones was clearly miscast, and yes - we all know why.

However, I have seen this actress in other productions - for example 'Gone to Earth', in which she was simply splendid; but her role in this film was most definitely not the kind of part she excelled in.

This could potentially have been Rock Hudson's finest hour, but as with other epic productions of the time e.g. Cleopatra, the best bits most probably ended up on the cutting room floor; however, that said, I can only think of a handful of films that have imprinted themselves on me like this one.

I would be interested in seeing a re-edited version of this with special features.

7 for at least one standout scene; a superb performance by Rock Hudson and its ability to touch someone.

Total crap adaptation

[hnewstadt · 3/10 · 2 March 2008]

This film should be called adventures in Cinemascope. It is like the screenwriter and director tooks the Cliff's Notes page 3 outline and decided that this would be a great vehicle for a film about the Italian Alps. Rock Hudson is pretty good here, but the dialogue bears no resemblance to Hemingway at all. This is a made up version of Hemingway. Hecht, the screenwriter, is a hack. Watch the 1932 version with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. That is great cinema and was made by someone who understood Hemingway and the war in Northern Italy. Gary Cooper is very, very good compared to his performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls where he is stiff as a board and thinks he is in a western.

Anyway, if you are a Hemingway fan, do yourself a favor and do not watch this film. Your best bet is to get the unabridged audio CD and just listen to one of the greatest novels ever written.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

[Brian-184 · 23 January 2000]

Obviously, a great deal of time and money was lavished on this project. Producer Selznick intended it to be a vindication of a career that peaked with "Gone With The Wind" in 1939, and then began a long, slow, almost painful decline. By the mid fifties he had become something of a "has-been" in Hollywood. The result? Pretty much a miss. The book is probably unfilmable, of course, but the screenplay still leaves much to be desired. Rock Hudson is far too shallow to make a go at the over-the-top emotionalism this story needs. The usually wonderful Jennifer Jones, for whom this project was conceived, somehow doesn't seem to exhibit the idealism and resolve the part needs, and that she demonstrated with such seemingly effortlessness in many other films. The direction is stilted and sometimes downright awkward, more the fault of producer Selznick, I would bet, who had a reputation for micro-managing his films, than famed director Charles Vidor.

Simply put, I'm never convinced, not even for a moment, that what is happening is real and not just another movie. Too bad.

Can you slog through it?

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 7 May 2015]

Perhaps this story (by Hemingway) just doesn't work on the big screen. I tried the Gary Cooper - Helen Hayes version, but didn't find that done well enough to make it all the way through the film. I slogged all the way through this version for only one reason -- I admire the work of David O. Selznick. Beginning with 1935's "A Tale Of Two Cities", there wasn't much that Selznick did that wasn't impressive. But, with 1949's "The Third Man", things began going downhill, and certainly was at a nadir with this film.

Selznick made some accomplishments here. Better than most films, I felt this movie showed the horrors of war. Many of the on-location settings are stunning. And, there is at least one top notch performance here -- that of Vittorio De Sica. And, Rock Hudson does well.

But there are problems. Perhaps the biggest problem is Jennifer Jones. Until this film, I never saw the attraction. And after this film...I still don't see the attraction. With some other actress, perhaps I could have done more than simply tolerate this film.

The other problem with the television broadcast of this film is that the movie is badly in need of restoration. The picture is downright fuzzy.

Books and films are two very different mediums. A film producer or director has to tell a story in a very different way than does an author. One has several hundred pages to tell a story. The other has usually about 2 hours to tell the same story. But just maybe this story doesn't work on film. At least in my 2 experiences it hasn't.

A Farewell to Arms

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 25 November 2023]

It was always going to be hard enough to adapt this novel for the screen, and given Gary Cooper did an OK job with it in 1932, I am not quite sure why David O. Selznick concluded that is might be a ripe vehicle for Rock Hudson to reprise. He is the American "Lt. Henry" serving in Italy during the Great War when he meets British nurse "Catherine" (Jennifer Jones). They take an immediate shine to each other but needless to say the War has no time to stop and indulge their affection and the film follows the ups and downs as they try to stay alive and, ultimately, make it to safety with their as yet unborn child. The thing with Hemingway stories, I found, is that they rarely work on a big screen. They are detailed, descriptive and requiring of the reader to use their imagination to create the scenario that's all too easily replaced by the visuals here. That also requires the actors to deliver strong and intricate characterisations that deal with their own issues, sure, but with the issues of loyalty, of professionalism and of tough choices made amidst the atrocities of conflict. Neither of these two here have the gravitas to do those complexities justice and that frequently turns this gripping wartime romance into a not so gripping romance set amidst a war. There is quite an engaging effort from Vittorio De Rica as the inspirational surgeon "Rinaldi" and Elaine Stritch is also to be seen here before she became a lady who lunched. The film looks good, the wartime imagery potent and at times we get a little indication of the true horrors of this war, and of the strains it put on people both in and out of the military, but there's no getting away from the weak and rather insipid casting. Pity!

Major disappointment

[theking-51286 · 1/10 · 2 October 2022]

Rock was fine, but sadly Selznick ruined what might have been a truly great epic by casting his overage wife as the love interest. Jones was a poor actress and she was not at all believable playing a British nurse. She should have at least made a slight attempt at an accent. The film goes on for far too long and was too overblown for a trifling love story.

It is no surprise that Jones did very little after this film had flopped at the box office and received such terrible reviews. Rock would soon recover however as he moved into comedies.

The gigantic battle scenes are impressive, but too brief. Sadly they are not enough to save this flop.

Hudson and Jones!!

[teleadm-persson · 6/10 · 29 December 2006]

Iv'e read that this is supposed to be an absolutely overwrought misguided big budget movie! and a big flop at the time, .....hmmm nah 2/3 of this movie is actually very good! And I admit I have never read Ernest Hemingways tragic love story!

This movie actually have some of the most impressive co-ordinated battle scenes I've ever seen, that is not faked, cgi, or using back-projection. (LOng before The Longest Day 1962) (For some reason I've seen this movie in some War-movie boxes, and I agree it doesn't belong there, it's a wartime movie and not a war movie!) The hero is an ambulance driver so we are only in the outskirts of War, never in the battle-zones.

Rock Hudson is very good, and he was a new hot star at that time, and this was at the time when he was making tearjerkers with Jane Wyman, a few years before he was seducing Doris Day.

Jennifer Jones is very good too, she was married to producer David O Selznick, so she got many bad reviews just because of that at the time,and yes Love is a Many Splendoured Thing and Good Morning Miss Dove might have suited her better.

Vittorio de Sica!! The great neo-realist director! Bicyckle thief, Umberto D and Miracle in Milan just to mention a few, actually had a huge career as an actor too, for the role in this movie he was actually Oscar nominated!

Alberto Sordi! One of the great Italian comedians! In this film his talents is wasted as a dedicated and warmhearted priest.

Mercedes MacCambridge! has a thankless small role as a snouty nurse.

Oscar Homolka! an even more thankless role as a doctor who apparently reads everything opposite as what it is. When He says Everything is all right, someone is going to die!!

There is too very short scenes that has etched into my mind, and both have to do when they all have to go on the run. This takes place during Italian alpine war against Austria during WW1. 1. A very tired mother carriyng a child, gets a chance to sit down on a lorry small space, she falls asleep and as tired as she is, her baby slips away and falls of the lorry, and the mother is too tired to notice it. 2. Down in a ditch lays a dead mother and a baby still climbs to her dead mother trying to suck milk from her breasts. Those are very tough scence to watch.

Then comes the last 2/3 of the movie and our hero and heroine has fled to Switzerland, and for 30 minutes it becomes a tourist card movie for Switzerland (Though it apparently was Italian alps).

After seeing all the hell that war makes and people fleeing, one might think that such sights might have etched into the soul of a man, something that might not be too easy to brusk off. But not in this movie! Once they have fled to Switzerland, everything is suddenly happy and jouyous, and you wait for an Oompa Bumpa band with Yoddelers to appear behind any tree.

anyway the first 2/3 is very good!

Selznick's folly.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 22 October 2011]

The very successful producer, David O. Selznick, had a very publicized affair with a young actress, Jennifer Jones. Selznick divorced his wife, married Jones and spent the rest of his career trying to make her a star of the first magnitude. Unfortunately, he OFTEN miscast her and the quality of his films was sometimes compromised. His once golden touch was gone and this film was his last--and his last attempt to promote Jones. Now I don't hate Jones--she was fine in some films such as "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and "Portrait of Jenny". But, she was also quite terrible in a few of his movies because she was just wrong for the parts. In particular, she was ridiculous in the sleazy and extremely silly drama "Duel in the Sun". "Indiscretion of an American Wife" was another mistake--a bad film that was ill-matched to her screen persona (though I am not sure if anyone could have saved this film). Here in "A Farewell to Arms", Selznick is trying to get his 38 year-old wife to be believable as a 21 year-old nurse. Poor Jennifer....I think her career actually would have been better had she not been promoted by Selznick, as her Oscar-winning role in "Song of Bernadette" came before he became involved with her career.

The original film starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. It was a hit back in the early 30s but hasn't aged well. In particular, the sound is a SERIOUS problem if you try to watch it. So, the notion of a remake isn't a bad thing.

In this version, Rock Hudson and Jones play the fated couple. Hudson is an American who has volunteered as an ambulance driver for the Italians. The US has not yet entered the war and some Americans did volunteer with Brits, French and Italians...and even the Germans (after all, the US was neutral during most of the war). This character was based, in part, on Ernest Hemmingway's own experiences driving an ambulance in the war.

Hudson falls for a very young British nurse (Jones). At first, his advances are boorish and she rebuffs him--for a while. Later, when he's injured in combat, he's sent to the hospital where he meets her again. This time, they BOTH are madly in love. So far, so good--these things DO happen. But eventually their attraction for each other becomes dangerous and all-consuming. She becomes pregnant, he is almost shot for dereliction of duty because the Italian army is run by idiots, he goes AWOL, finds her, they run away together, the baby is stillborn and she dies. A lot of stuff happens in between (after all, it runs over two hours in length)--though this is pretty much the film.

The chemistry between the two characters is only fair--but not what you'd want in such a film. Jones was especially poor, as she was SUPPOSED to be British but sounded like an American. And, the dialog between them often sounded silly. The audiences apparently felt the same way, as the film failed to make money when it was first released and the critics were pretty harsh to it. Now the film DOES look nice--the budget was very good and it's obvious that Selznick wanted this to be a big picture. Overall, it's painfully slow and should have been a lot better.

Farewell to preconceptions

[tomsview · 7/10 · 2 January 2014]

Many critics didn't like this movie when it was first released and still don't if reviews on IMDb are anything to go by.

I think that many films, especially from the late 50's and early 60's, took a critical hammering at the time because they seemed old-fashioned in the light of the great changes in cinema that were just starting. But now, over 50 years later, a film such as "A Farewell to Arms" can be evaluated more dispassionately, and as the film is actually set 40 years before it was made, it is now relatively free of the baggage of 1957 and Selznick's interference - I feel that it has far more merit than some would allow.

The film follows Hemingway's novel with Rock Hudson's Lt Frederick Henry wounded while serving as an ambulance driver in Italy during WW1. While recuperating, he falls in love with an English nurse, Catherine Barkley, played by Jennifer Jones. After returning to the front, he is caught up in the retreat of the Italian army, and almost executed as a traitor.

With as much danger from his own side as from the enemy he decides to desert to Switzerland, taking the now pregnant Catherine with him. Although they reach safety, tragedy awaits. The final scenes of this film are harrowing and haunting; they also put to rest any doubts about Rock Hudson's acting ability.

A major criticism of the film is that Jennifer Jones at 38 was too old for the part. From my reading of the novel, Catherine Barkley is an indeterminate age, but she would seem to be older than the reviewer who claims she was 21. After all, she tells Lt Henry that she had been engaged for 8 years to someone who was killed on the Somme - surely Hemingway wasn't suggesting that she had become engaged when she was 13 years old.

The affair is based on fact, details of which didn't emerge until after Hemingway's death. Hemingway was an ambulance driver in Italy, was wounded and did fall in love with his nurse. Her name was Agnes von Kurowsky, and she was actually an American. If you Google her name, there are quite a few photographs of her; it's easy to see why Ernest fell for her - she was gorgeous. But she was also 7 years older than the 19-year-old Hemingway.

They didn't run away to Switzerland together, in fact Hemingway was invalided back to America and never saw her again. She sent him a letter from Italy, "I am now and always will be too old, and that is the truth, and I can't get away from the fact that you are just a boy - a kid". He was dumped.

It affected him deeply, and Agnes turns up in a number of his stories. "In Love and War", starring Sandra Bullock, is a well-made, but somewhat fictionalised account of the real story. So there you are, Jennifer Jones was 6 years older than Rock Hudson, probably not the ages the novel vaguely suggests, but I feel too much has been made of this aspect. Oh, just for the record, Jennifer Jones looks fantastic for an 'old lady' of 38.

Technically there is much to admire - the scenes of the Italian army advancing and retreating are amazing, while Mario Nascimbene composed a lavish score with a recurring raindrop motif that is very effective within the context of the story.

The novel was adapted into a play in 1930, which all the films have drawn material from. "A Farewell to Arms" was first filmed in 1932 starring Gary Cooper, and also appears in a slightly different form as one of the segments in "Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man". But I feel that Selznick's 1957 film is the best version, and still has a lot to offer.

David Selznick Adored Jennifer Jones

[adventure-21903 · 9/10 · 2 April 2020]

David Selznick one of Hollywood's greats with a record of producing Gone With The Wind, Rebecca, Nothing Sacred, etc via his Selznick International. Selznick developed a beautiful girl named Phylis Isley of Oklahoma into a world famous superstar and Oscar Winning actress whom he named Jennifer Jones. Jennifer was exotically beautiful and gave intense performances. Jennifer was superb in the Song Of Bernadette winning the Oscar playing the chaste young girl who saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Jennifer had a big hit in the raucous Duel In The Sun. Jennifer left her husband Robert Walker and married Selznick. Jennifer was sublime in her great hit Love Is A Many Splendored Thing with William Holden which she was nominated for the Oscar.

David Selznick re-made A Farewell to Arms and starred the biggest male star of his era Rock Hudson on loan from Universal along with Jennifer Jones. John Huston was signed to direct but was fired by Selznick because he felt Huston was emphasizing the war scenes of the Hemingway novel versus the love story favoring Jennifer Jones . John Huston in his book called "An Open Book" said it was gallant that David Selznick "put everything on the line" for his "adored Jennifer" Charles Vidor took over the Direction but had his own battles with David Selznick.

This picture is visually stunning with scenes of the Italian Alps fantastic. Selznick loved things "Big" Big Scenes like the burning of Atlanta in GWTW. . Rock Hudson on loan from his studio Universal is manly and fine as the male lead and Jennifer expert and moving in her performance.

This picture was the last produced by Selznick International and was released by 20th Century Fox sort of a home studio for Jennifer: Song Of Bernadette Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, The Man In the Grey Flannel Suit, Good Morning Miss Dove, and Tender Is The Night. Her final film was a joint production of 20th and WB.

Jennifer retired after making The Towering Inferno a massive hit starring Steve McQueen, Pul Newman, Richard Chamberlain, William Holden,and many other stars.

Very colorful and action-packed

[Bernie4444 · 6/10 · 30 September 2023]

A Farewell to Arms (1957) Rock Hudson

David O. Selznick production is based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway, this is a story of the love between ambulance driver, Lieutenant Henry (Rock Hudson) and Nurse, Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones) during World War I Italy. The story is made complex by the interference of Major Rinaldi (Vittorio De Sica.)

Well, I must admit that I have read Hemmingway but not this book. I did, however, see the Gary Cooper movie first. However, it is a story about Love found - love lost - love found - love never lost.

This version seems a little fuller and a lot more colorful than the 1932 version. However, the story is also filled with slapstick comic relief and conversational filler tripe. This is still a tearjerker. It has been suggested that Jennifer was a tad old for the part of a 23-year-old nurse. I was so busy with the story that I did not notice. As far as Rock, I think he was thrown into lots of these movies on his handsome leading man's reputation. Vittorio De Sica acted his part quite well; however, I keep seeing him as Cardinal Rinaldi in The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) (1968.)

See Dr. Emerich (Oscar Homolka) again in The Seven Year Itch (1955) (1955.)

the soup got spoiled

[montgomerysue · 5/10 · 21 February 2022]

There are so many things that are wrong here - not just the fact that Jennifer Jones was too old to play this part in husband Selznick's movie. First, the script. At times, it is very good, while at others it is amateurish and downright silly. You cringe as the actors say some of their embarrassing bad dialogue. Second, the production values are just as inconsistent. Sometimes, the film looks cheap and like it was made on a dime (for example, it's got some of the worst painted backdrops ever filmed - so obviously fake). But, when it is filmed in actual Italian locales, it looks terrific. Third, the acting by the Jones and Hudson is irritating. They really ham it up so much that it must be seen to be believed. In the more lighthearted segments they are sickeningly sweet and sentimental, while in the dramatic parts, they are so overwrought or serious that you just want to slap them into sensibility. The supporting cast is excellent : Vittorio DeSica (who even managed to get nominated for an Oscar for his performance here), the always interesting Mercedes McCambridge, Oskar Homolka, Kurt Kaszner, and the wonderful Elaine Stritch, who someone had the great sense to cast in her role as a sympathetic nurse. The problem is, the two big hams (Jones and Hudson) keep getting in their way, distracting from their fine performances. Maybe that's why DeSica got his nomination - the Academy felt sorry for him. I've read that the filming of this was beset by many problems caused by producer Selznick, who kept firing staff and replacing them. To many cooks spoil the soup - and that old adage is proven here. The result : an embarrassing critical and box office failure.

Selznick never made another movie.

Jones wouldn't make another movie for 5 years.

And Hudson's career was in the dumper until he made a big comeback in those Doris Day movies.

All in all, watch this if you want to be entertained by some jaw-dropping ineptitude. It's kind of amazing.