For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Hemmingways classic novel about love set against the spanish civil war. Includes trailer notes and bios. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/02/2003 Starring: Gary Cooper Ingrid Bergman Run time: 116 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Sam Wood
Customer Review: Bad Hemingway Karaoke
I love the passion in this film! Always! Made in the year o' my birth.('43) (Still) This film kills Fascists! Now more than ever, despite its and our, scaredy cat, watered down versions. Great character actors--Akim Tamiroff and his "people" insurgent guerrilla band; Mother Courage, force of Nature, "Pilar", Katina Paxinou, who won the Academy Award for this. And of course, Bergman and Cooper, May and December, blue eyes, Rushing mountain stream, snowbound Love in Bomber Jacket. "I'll hold the legs of the machine gun..Roberto!" They move the earth! But the soundtrack sucks! It's barely audible in places. Bad lipsynch! And we need those words! Now more than ever! They still "Tolls"...
Customer Review: Five Kleenexes! at least
I'm not a fan of war films. There is too much shooting for me in this and I wondered if Hemingway had a love affair with guns. It's very long and some of the sets look really fake. Sometimes I lost track of the characters. However I had to give it five stars! Why, after all these criticisms? One, for the theme. Although these specific characters were fictional, they were based on real people who gave their lives fighting for their principles. Not the least of these heroes and heroines was an American who gave up his academic career, as did a lot of others, to go to Spain to help the locals fight fascism. This is a story worth telling. Secondly, the cast is perfect! It's said that Hemingway personally selected Cooper and Bergman and they are wonderful. Gary Cooper was such a special man, his presence alone makes the film worth watching. The young Ingrid Bergman adds her own luminous qualities to the character of Maria. You can see why the American guy fell for her in spite of his resolve not to become personally involved. They are magic together, in spite of the age difference and one quickly forgives the fact that she doesn't look at all like a Spanish peasant. Who cares? The scene where they have their last night together could have been excessively, embarrasingly maudlin if played by lesser actors, but these two really pull it off. Anyone who can sit through the scene where she is forced to leave Cooper without shedding at least a few tears must have no heart. The Greek woman who plays the amazingly strong Pilar, is certainly memorable, too, as is the Russian who plays her loose cannon of a husband, Pedro. It is a little dated and, as I said earlier, very long. But it is worth sitting through (it took me two evenings) and you'll remember it for a long time. Bring Kleenex!