Directed by Frank Borzage. Starring Gary Cooper, Helen Hayes, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Philips, Blanche Friderici, Jack La Rue.
If you want to see Gary Cooper in an Ernest Hemingway story, stick with "For Whom the Bell Tolls"; this first attempt to adapt a Hemingway novel into a feature film is badly dated, even to the point of embarrassment (unless "no" didn't actually mean "no" in the 1930s). Cooper's WWI soldier and Hayes' Red Cross nurse share a rampant, ill-fated romance, though the chemistry they share is as limited as their height difference is distracting. The ending (and scenes leading up to it), a mix of limp acting and overwrought melodrama, is a slog to sit through; originally released with an alternate "happy ending" that theaters could choose between for the screenings! Redeemed somewhat by Charles Lang's assured, Oscar-winning photography and Menjou's zesty performance as Cooper's Italian friend. Remade multiple times, including once as a miniseries; Hemingway's experiences that inspired his semi-autobiographical novel were dramatized in the 1996 film "In Love and War." Also won an Academy Award for Sound.
38/100
If you want to see Gary Cooper in an Ernest Hemingway story, stick with "For Whom the Bell Tolls"; this first attempt to adapt a Hemingway novel into a feature film is badly dated, even to the point of embarrassment (unless "no" didn't actually mean "no" in the 1930s). Cooper's WWI soldier and Hayes' Red Cross nurse share a rampant, ill-fated romance, though the chemistry they share is as limited as their height difference is distracting. The ending (and scenes leading up to it), a mix of limp acting and overwrought melodrama, is a slog to sit through; originally released with an alternate "happy ending" that theaters could choose between for the screenings! Redeemed somewhat by Charles Lang's assured, Oscar-winning photography and Menjou's zesty performance as Cooper's Italian friend. Remade multiple times, including once as a miniseries; Hemingway's experiences that inspired his semi-autobiographical novel were dramatized in the 1996 film "In Love and War." Also won an Academy Award for Sound.
38/100