A Farewell to Arms (1957)

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screenplay)
Ernest Hemingway (novel)

Release Date:

14 December 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

The story of an affair between an English nurse an an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I.

Plot Keywords:

Italy | Italian Army | Italian Soldier | Armistice | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Lt. Frederick Henry
Jennifer Jones	...	Catherine Barkley
Vittorio De Sica	...	Major Alessandro Rinaldi
Oskar Homolka	...	Dr. Emerich (as Oscar Homolka)
Mercedes McCambridge	...	Miss Van Campen
Elaine Stritch	...	Helen Ferguson
Kurt Kasznar	...	Bonello
Victor Francen	...	Colonel Valentini
Franco Interlenghi	...	Aymo
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Passini
José Nieto	...	Major Stampi (as Jose Nieto)
Georges Bréhat	...	Captain Bassi (as Georges Brehat)
Johanna Hofer	...	Mrs. Zimmerman
Eduard Linkers	...	Lieutenant Zimmerman
Eva Kotthaus	...	Delivery Room Nurse

Runtime:

152 min | Italy:141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Iceland:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #18795) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Australia:G | France:U | Finland:K-16 | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video re-rating) (2005)

Filming Locations:

Alps, Italy

Company:

Selznick Studio, The

Trivia:

Finnish censorship visa # 048328.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the café while Catherine is in hospital, Frederick is shown placing the sugar cubes on the table, with three already there and his hand moving to place there the fourth one. Camera cuts to a different angle and there are suddenly five sugar cubes on the table. Later in the same scene, after he flattens the sugar cubes with his hand, the position of his hand (and sugar cubes) changes instantly and he's holding one sugar cube that he wasn't holding a split second before.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992)

Jennifer Jones Splendid

Jennifer Jones is simply splendid in this David Selznick production. When Jennifer Jones was in a picture with out without the Selznick Studio involved David Selznick did all he could to make sure his great love Miss Jones was shown to every good advantage and also that the picture had the finest in production values.

The Camera work here in particular the scenes in the Alps is magnificent and for the mid 1950's astounding. My quibble with the film is that Rock Hudson is too distant to be Jennifer's lover. Perhaps another actor such as Paul Newman would have been much better. (Years later when Newman was a superstar Jennifer had a cameo in his "Towering Inferno"). Selznick chose Hudson and gave him top billing over Jennifer due to Hudson's great success in George Stevens great "Giant" and the fact he was the number one box office star in the World.

I recommend this film for Jennifer and also to see a maestro Producer at work in Mr. David O Selznick