Reviews on movie A Farewell to Arms (3)

Indeed, how to convey the unique charismatic laconism with the intonation of sadness that what happened will never happen again. And surprisingly ordinary, told stories in this style become close to many readers, probably displaying some successful attitude towards the environment, desired for repetition, reproduction.
If you retell the plot, without this Ernest Batkovich intonation, we get a boring story about love - well, met, talked, loved. On the war, they came, they retreated. And that’s how it looks on the screen of this movie. It turns out that for the transmission of such minor events, there are not enough beautiful actors, large extras and alps as scenery. And you need to visually capture the literary intonation! This is a challenge for an artist - not an ordinary master! Moreover, the paradox is that the conciseness of the statement in literature carries great difficulties in reproduction on the screen. As close as possible, in my opinion, to Hemingway’s statement in the cinema is the film not by its source – The Last Inch of 1959.
An attempt to reproduce the unique atmosphere of Ernest Hemingway’s works simply by retelling the plot in a single-dimensional way did not work for the authors. We will look further in which film it was possible to catch.
4 out of 10

The First World War. In the Italian army serves American Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson). By profession, he is a journalist, but he was a lieutenant of the medical service on the front. His best friends are military surgeon Alessandro Rinaldi (Vittorio De Sica) and chaplain Galli (Alberto Sordi). When Lieutenant Henry returns to the front from a short vacation, Major Rinaldi introduces him to the English nurse Catherine, which opens a love story.

The main villain of this long and little-loved film critics made producer David Selznick. He approved his 40-year-old wife Jennifer Jones for the main role, and director John Huston, who disagrees with the raw script, was replaced by Charles Vidor.
What's the result? Jones is old for her role. Hudson’s hero is wounded, in love, and on the run. Alberto Sordi received a heroic but ineffable role. De Sica, although nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, plays a familiar character. But most importantly, the sense of balance between military and romantic scenes is completely lost. Sometimes it seems that Lieutenant Henry and Miss Katherine simultaneously play in two films.
Only the battle episodes were really good. But they are constantly drowning in romantic syrup.
5 out of 10

Not a movie, but an energy hole. A famous wartime love story written by Hemingway finds itself in the tight corset of Hollywood standards. They "align" the story, making it trivial. After all, the question of love and pregnancy during the war can be solved in very different ways.

Almost the entire film we see the love revelations of Jennifer Jones and Rock Hudson. The actors are spectacular and genuinely beautiful, but they do not make a special impression on me. The fact is that they never for a moment leave the feeling that they play roles. And they themselves, it seems, shooting in the film was not easy. It is known that Rock Hudson for him refused the star role of “Ben-Hur” and then was very worried.
In the end, the tape turns out to be a faceless reflection of the Waterloo Bridge - also a love story of a soldier and a lonely girl during the war. Farewell to Arms is a pragmatic production project. There are all the necessary components for success - Hemingway's name in the credits, to the extent of explosions and extras, stars in the lead roles and studio scenery. There is only one thing: sincerity. Such stories should be shot so that the film gnaws at the viewer all the emotions.
4 out of 10