We are somewhere in the middle. I noticed a couple we had
inherited from my husband’s mother, and some that were gifts. Still others were
an impulse buy at the bookstore or wherever DVDs are typically sold.
I decided to watch some I had never seen, review some
favorites and then sell them to my local rental store. Decluttering always
feels good! And in the age of streaming services, and DVDs on Netflix, I don’t
need to own these at all.
The first one I pulled out was a gift from my sister of A Farewell to Arms, a 1932 black and white
feature based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. Frederic (Gary Cooper) is an American
ambulance driver in Italy during World War I when he meets Catherine (Helen
Hayes), a British nurse, and falls in love. They secretly marry, and due to the
nefarious scheming of Rinaldi (Adolphe Menjou), who is also in love with
Catherine, the newlyweds are separated.
The screenplay is not that well written, but it is after all
fairly early in the history of filmmaking, and writers had a lot to learn. The cinematography
however, is brilliant, and I was pleased to discover after I had watched the
movie that A Farewell to Arms won an
Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Charles Lang. I can see where the
award was a good choice. The camera angles, use of shadows, and choice of subjects
during certain scenes was inspired. Charles Lang had a long, illustrious career
in filmmaking, and I think you’d be surprised if you look up his other feature
films. A Farewell to Arms also won an
Academy award for Best Sound Recording.
Gary Cooper is very tall, six foot three inches of handsomeness,
and with little petite Helen Hayes at just five feet, they make an unusual pair
walking along the streets of Italy. Both actors had long filmmaking careers;
this is an early one for both of them.
I have not read Hemingway’s highly regarded novel of A Farewell to Arms, but I have read
several of his short stories, and his storytelling abilities and writing is
impressive. I think that his novel just didn’t translate to the screen very
well, and that his story on the page was likely much more detailed and
significant than this film.
The ending, for both my husband and I, left us wanting. He
said it was “maudlin” and I just found it cloying and unrealistic. But like I
said, it was 1932 after all.
If you are a student of film, you may enjoy watching it for
the groundbreaking cinematography by Lang. Otherwise I wouldn’t recommend you
take 90 minutes out of your cinema viewing time to watch it.
