Director: Sam Wood
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Supporting Actress - Katina Paxinou
Nominated for 8 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Paramount
Best Actor - Gary Cooper
Best Actress - Ingrid Bergman
Best Supporting Actor - Akim Tamiroff
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Victor Young
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Color - Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Haldane Douglas; Interior Decoration: Bertram Granger
Best Cinematography, Color - Ray Rennahan
Best Film Editing - Sherman Todd and John F. Link Sr.
Plot: An American freedom fighter is taken in by a band of guerillas, falls in love, and tries to blow up a bridge.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Supporting Actress - Katina Paxinou
Nominated for 8 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Paramount
Best Actor - Gary Cooper
Best Actress - Ingrid Bergman
Best Supporting Actor - Akim Tamiroff
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Victor Young
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Color - Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Haldane Douglas; Interior Decoration: Bertram Granger
Best Cinematography, Color - Ray Rennahan
Best Film Editing - Sherman Todd and John F. Link Sr.
Plot: An American freedom fighter is taken in by a band of guerillas, falls in love, and tries to blow up a bridge.
It always feels important when an Ernest Hemingway novel is adapted into a film but add in a runtime that nears three hours long and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) becomes appointment viewing. That's exactly what happened as this was the second-highest grossing film of 1943. It's been said that Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman were both thought of when Hemingway was creating these characters. When Bergman was offered the role with the caveat that she would have to cut her hair short, she replied that she would "cut off her head" for it. It's this cut hair that has gone down in the annals of cinema history. For Casablanca (1942), the plan was to nix "As Time Goes By" but because Bergman had her hair cut for this film, ideas about re-shoots of Casablanca were discarded. Another actress was cast for this role and had her hair cut short too. Vera Zorina's hair was even shorter than Bergman's so the studio executives balked at this look due to the lack of glamour. Bergman then got the role and she was nominated for her first Academy Award. In fact, this is the third film with nominations in all four acting categories, with the film debut of Katina Paxinou winning the only one (she would also win the first Golden Globe for Supporting Actress). Victor Young's score was also nominated and it became the first complete score from an American film to be released on a record.
The biggest draw for me, aside from seeing Ingrid Bergman in Technicolor, is the history portrayed in the film. The events, skirmishes, and wars leading up to World War II fascinates me and the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s captured my attention when I heard about it in Casablanca when it is referenced that Rick fought in it much like Cooper's character. Although screenwriter Dudley Nichols attempts to depoliticize the story by removing names of actual leaders like Francisco Franco, he does include a line about the Germans and Italians using Spain as a training ground. All of this historical context is developed over the course of the film and the ultimate mission of blowing up the bridge feels important. The actual sequence of these explosions is quite impressive and the tension is palpable. I am surprised this didn't get a Best Special Effects nomination. From the firefights to rigging the bridge to eventual detonation, I was on the edge of my seat. And after spending so much time with these characters, some of their inevitable deaths stung. I enjoyed Cooper's rapport with all of these guerillas, especially his romantic interest with Bergman and the cooperation of the leader in Paxinou. Paxinou's screen debut is a feisty one. If I had to make a list of top cinematic badasses, I would struggle to include women from the 20th century but after seeing this, Pilar would make the cut.
Although I appreciate the time we spend with these rebels, there is way too much of it spent. The extra long runtime is not justified unless you are really into Cooper and Bergman swooning over each other. There is also so much dialogue in the cavern of their camp that really slows down the pace of the story. It takes a long time to get to the explosive ending, and part of me admires the slow build to get there, but I found myself checking the time and not understanding the need for this relatively simple story with no major time jumps to be an epic. The color cinematography, despite its Oscar nomination, also doesn't impress. Some of the night shots on the fabricated sets include some noticeably poor lighting. The smudgy makeup also stands out in Technicolor and it just highlights how the cast is not comprised of Spanish people. Dirty looking faces, sure it works for these characters being up in the mountains, but it's always a bit superficial to include makeup like this on white people.
Overall, this overlong epic of a historical moment in the Spanish Civil War, as thought up by Ernest Hemingway with his favored cast members come to fruition in Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, will mesmerize and excite, especially during the explosive battle sequences. Katina Paxinou stands out as a confident leader but the length and unimpressive Technicolor puts a damper on the film.
My Score: 6/10
The biggest draw for me, aside from seeing Ingrid Bergman in Technicolor, is the history portrayed in the film. The events, skirmishes, and wars leading up to World War II fascinates me and the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s captured my attention when I heard about it in Casablanca when it is referenced that Rick fought in it much like Cooper's character. Although screenwriter Dudley Nichols attempts to depoliticize the story by removing names of actual leaders like Francisco Franco, he does include a line about the Germans and Italians using Spain as a training ground. All of this historical context is developed over the course of the film and the ultimate mission of blowing up the bridge feels important. The actual sequence of these explosions is quite impressive and the tension is palpable. I am surprised this didn't get a Best Special Effects nomination. From the firefights to rigging the bridge to eventual detonation, I was on the edge of my seat. And after spending so much time with these characters, some of their inevitable deaths stung. I enjoyed Cooper's rapport with all of these guerillas, especially his romantic interest with Bergman and the cooperation of the leader in Paxinou. Paxinou's screen debut is a feisty one. If I had to make a list of top cinematic badasses, I would struggle to include women from the 20th century but after seeing this, Pilar would make the cut.
Although I appreciate the time we spend with these rebels, there is way too much of it spent. The extra long runtime is not justified unless you are really into Cooper and Bergman swooning over each other. There is also so much dialogue in the cavern of their camp that really slows down the pace of the story. It takes a long time to get to the explosive ending, and part of me admires the slow build to get there, but I found myself checking the time and not understanding the need for this relatively simple story with no major time jumps to be an epic. The color cinematography, despite its Oscar nomination, also doesn't impress. Some of the night shots on the fabricated sets include some noticeably poor lighting. The smudgy makeup also stands out in Technicolor and it just highlights how the cast is not comprised of Spanish people. Dirty looking faces, sure it works for these characters being up in the mountains, but it's always a bit superficial to include makeup like this on white people.
Overall, this overlong epic of a historical moment in the Spanish Civil War, as thought up by Ernest Hemingway with his favored cast members come to fruition in Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, will mesmerize and excite, especially during the explosive battle sequences. Katina Paxinou stands out as a confident leader but the length and unimpressive Technicolor puts a damper on the film.
My Score: 6/10