Interest sustained throughout by art direction, Lang's photography, the battle sequence editing, and Helen Hayes' performance. Cooper is satisfactory but overall the main fault is lack of narrative drive, the story principally devoted to the romance between the two leads. The anti-war theme is present but hardly developed in any intelligent fashion, apart from Menjou's comments on capturing successive mountain ranges. Far better treatment of anti-war themes can be found in All Quiet on the Western Front.
Review of A Farewell to Arms
