Movie Review #4

"A Farewell to Arms"

“A Farewell to Arms” is a 1957 American drama film directed by Charles Vidor, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. It is set in Switzerland and Italy during World War I, and is based on the book “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway.

During the First World War, an American soldier, Lieutenant Frederic Henry, is serving alongside the Italian army when he meets an English nurse, Catherine Barkley, and they engage in an affair. During action on the front line, Henry is wounded by a mortar shell and is transferred to an American hospital in Milan. Frederick's friend, the doctor, convinces the army that Frederick's knee is more severely wounded than it actually is and the two continue their romance but never get married. Before Henry returns to the front, Catherine reveals she is pregnant. They are both pleased with this, however, and cannot wait to see each other again. Back at the front, Henry is caught by the Italian police who accuse him of treachery leading to the Italian defeat. Knowing he will be executed, Henry jumps into the river and escapes with the current. He manages to return to Catherine and they both escape to Switzerland in a boat. Claiming to be tourists, the two are allowed to remain in neutral Switzerland. Catherine's pregnancy is lengthy and painful, and the baby, delivered through a Caesarean, is stillborn, though she dies shortly afterward. Frederick leaves, shocked, and wanders the empty streets.

As for the acting, I think it is not as good as I expected it would be, for the actors seem to be rather talented. Rock Hudson here visibly tries hard but he seems very out of his depth, though the emotion conveyed by him in the last scene was deeply touching. 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.

Visually, this film looks amazing, the scenery and costumes are also gorgeous. The direction is fine, and the music is beautiful and cleverly composed. The camera work is better than average, with some amazing location photography. Director Charles Vidor does striking things during the film with an on-location, and a wide-screen camera. Vidor shows massive, panoramic tableaux, and pans over a line of hundreds of soldiers trooping through the mountains. Besides, the film also presents some spectacular landscapes of the Alps and its lakes.

All in all, I can’t say that I fully enjoyed the movie, for it concentrates mainly on a love affair, on finding and losing love, in particular. Moreover, I think that such a tragic story requires great performances to put it across. It gets only a few of them in this picture. In addition, some important scenes were unreasonably cut and re-interpreted, making me think this film lives separately from the original novel.