Farewell To Arms

A Farewell to Arms

Film Review

The title of the film under consideration is A Farewell to Arms. It is a 1957 American drama film directed by Charles Vidor. The screenplay by Ben Hecht, based in part on a 1930 play by Laurence Stallings, was the second feature film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1929 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. The previous one dates back to 1932.  It is distinguished by its hand-picked cast - Rock Hudson as Frederick Henry, Jennifer Jones as Catherine Barkley.

First of all, let me give you the brief reconstruction of the events. Frederick Henry is an American serving as an ambulance driver for the Italian Army during World War I. He fell in love with a nurse - Catherine Barkley. During the retreat of the Italian Army Henry deserted, and he and pregnant Catherine make their way to neutral Switzerland. For some months they live happily, but in the spring Catherine gives a birth to a still-born child, and dies shortly afterward.

The main thing, I‘d like to mention is the play of the actors who managed to feel their characters, their souls, mood and the way of thinking even. I am amazed by the way they took the message of the writer. However, sometimes the development of the love affair did not seem natural, they overacted.

Further, I’d like to concentrate exactly on this overacting. In my opinion, the director shifted the accents a lot. This film lacks that all-important awareness of the inescapable presence and pressure of war. It focuses on the love affair of 2 characters. The essential excitement of a violent love is strangely missing here. Mr. Hudson is most noticeably unbending, as if he was cautious and shy, but Miss Jones plays the famous Catherine Barkley with bewildering nervous moves and grimaces. The show of devotion between two people is intensely acted, not realized, but, as I’ve already mentioned, it was a peculiar feature for me in their acting.

To conclude, the film helped me to imagine the main heroes, the events described in the book. I really enjoyed watching the film because I watch such “old” films rarely but always admire the work and skillfulness of the actors.