★ 7 / 10
Frank Borzage presents us here with quite an
CinemaSerf
Frank Borzage presents us here with quite an effectively abridged version of the Hemmingway story of wartime romance. "Frederic" (Gary Cooper) is an American…
Frank Borzage presents us here with quite an effectively abridged version of the Hemmingway story of wartime romance. "Frederic" (Gary Cooper) is an American soldier who finds himself in hospital being cared for by nurse "Catherine" (the almost porcelain-like Helen Hayes). Their's is quickly a love story that has to compete with the atrocities of the Great War as he and she are both transferred and it becomes harder for them to communicate and be together. "Frederic" isn't helped by the well meaning interventions of his captain "Rinaldi" (Adolphe Menjou) who ensures that their written correspondence is unanswered - but when "Frederic" learns that a baby is due and that "Catherine" is now in Switzerland, he must rush to her side - even if that means desertion. To be honest the production isn't the best and the lighting could be doing with some extra wattage, but there is a genuine sense of chemistry between the couple and of frustration as their romance blossoms despite the prevailing difficulties. I reckon it's the best cinematic adaptation of this frequently quite torrid story, and well worth a gander,
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★ 7 / 10
An Academy Awards Best Picture nominee, this is
genplant29
An Academy Awards Best Picture nominee, this is a very good film that, despite its occasional experimentation and evident striving for greatness, doesn't quite…
An Academy Awards Best Picture nominee, this is a very good film that, despite its occasional experimentation and evident striving for greatness, doesn't quite reach the mark it hopes to. Nonetheless, it's unmistakably high quality and remains very watchable, enduringly appealing, and, in places, impressive.
The big glaring shortcomings are the experimental moments - which don't work and are distracting - and the fact that Miss Hayes is, much of the time, given over-ripe, unnaturally worded and stagy sounding dialogue to speak - and so much of the time, despite that she does give a fine, clearly talented performance, she does so in stage-performer mode and with "impress them with my craft" line delivery, rather than in the much more subtle and truly naturalistic way that's right for movie acting. I'm not faulting Miss Hayes' performance, instead am opining that she gives a stage star's version of subtle movie acting, rather than a movie actor's version thereof.
For some reason, all the stagily worded dialogue was given only to Miss Hayes to speak. Other characters are given infinitely more real and believable sounding dialogue. Perhaps Paramount expressly wanted to capitalize on Miss Hayes' stature and deserved reputation as one of the greatest stage stars of her time, therefore ordered script writers to "pour it on thick" when it came to lines for her to speak.
An additional shortcoming of this film, for me, has always been that I never have found Cooper and Hayes to seem like a credible couple; his chemistry with and towards her seems 100% natural and believable, though her interactions with him always feel, to me, like she's performing, rather than it being convincingly real life-like. I don't mean to sound like I'm faulting Miss Hayes, as she was, as we know, tremendously gifted. Her performance in this movie feels, to me, like it would have been spot-on on the stage. Another issue is that Miss Hayes has always struck me as miscast in this, as she seems neither remotely British nor the irresistible beauty that characters express to one another that she is.
Very strong points of the movie are the cinematography (winner of the Best Cinematography Oscar), which is superb throughout, particularly throughout the impressive and memorable roughly four minutes exodus to Milan montage; it's outstanding. Too, the sets (nominated for the Best Art Direction Oscar) are marvelous. Also the performances by Cooper, Adolphe Menjou (as Cooper's surgeon best friend Rinaldi), Jack La Rue (as the priest), and Mary Philips (as Catherine's nurse best friend Fergie) are each perfect and wonderful.
Definitely make sure that it's the beautiful near pristine KINO release of this film that you watch, and not one of the degraded, too often butchered, public domain releases. On the KINO version (which is 89 minutes in length), the picture and sound is near perfect, and you'll readily be able to fully appreciate the visual glory of this film.
This is a movie that, despite my having the stated "issues" with it - and heretofore I failed to also mention its at times shameless ultra-melodrama (the letter-writing scene, or the final scene, anyone?) - I nonetheless always very much enjoy watching it, whenever I periodically do, and am always readily able to appreciate the things about it that are terrific. I consider this a very good film, and appreciate and enjoy it as such. I find myself feeling drawn to watch this again a time or two just about every year - and usually do.
FYI: This review is also presented as a post on TMDb's **AFtA** message board, if wishing to comment/discuss.
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★ 7 / 10
A Memorable Film In Need of Restoration
gftbiloxi
The 1932 film version of Ernest Hemmingway's A FAREWELL TO ARMS will never challenge the likes of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT--but while it fails to capture…
The 1932 film version of Ernest Hemmingway's A FAREWELL TO ARMS will never challenge the likes of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT--but while it fails to capture the horrors of World War I it is remarkably effective at capturing the novel's sparse and unyielding prose. A good deal of the credit goes to writers Garrett and Glaizer and director Borzage--but the real interest here is not so much in the cinematic interpretation of the Hemmingway novel as it is in the cast, which is remarkable.
Actress Helen Hayes was already among the leading lights of the New York stage when she was lured to Hollywood for a handful of films in the early 1930s--and it is easy to see what all the fuss was about. Plaintive beauty aside, unlike most stage and screen actors of the era she is completely unaffected in her performance and proves more than powerful enough to overcome the more melodramatic moments of the script. She is costarred with Gary Cooper in one of his earliest leading roles, and while the pairing is unexpected, it is also unexpectedly good: they have tremendous screen chemistry, and in spite of the film's dated approach they easily draw you into this story of an ill-fated wartime romance between a nurse and an ambulance driver.
The film is also well supplied with a solid supporting cast that includes Adolphe Menjou, Jack La Rue, and Mary Philips, and while clearly filmed on a slim budget--something most obvious in the battlefront sequences--the camera work is remarkably good. Unfortunately, all this counts for nothing unless you can find a print of the film that you can stand to watch. It is sad but true: the 1932 A FAREWELL TO ARMS seems to have fallen into public domain, and the result is a host of DVD and VHS releases that range from the merely adequate to the incredibly dire.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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