For Whom the Bell Tolls

Movie Review: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Year of Release: 1943
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Sam Wood
Cast: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Arturo de Córdova, Vladimir Sokoloff

Plot outline: A U.S. mercenary, Robert Jordan, and an army of peasants fight for Spanish Republic in the 1930s civil war (IMDb).

With such fidelity to the original that practically nothing was left out except all of the unmentionable language and the more intimate romantic scenes, Ernest Hemingway's wonderful novel of the Spanish civil war, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," is brought to the screen in all its richness of color and character. In spite of its almost interminable and physically exhausting length - it takes two hours and fifty minutes to cover less than four days in a group of people's lives - and in spite of some basic detruncations of the novel's two leading characters, the movie vibrates throughout with vitality and is topped off with a climax that's a whiz. The emphasis is primarily upon the conflict within the band of loyalist Spanish guerrillas to whom Robert Jordan goes for aid in his perilous mission to blow up an enemy bridge. And the study of character among those Spaniards, the definition of the braves and the cowards, is the matter of absorbing interest for at least two-thirds of the movie. The rest is the tingling action-business of the calculated blowing of the bridge, which is as tense and vivid melodrama as anyone could normally stand. In their fidelity to the novel, the script and the direction were overzealous, if anything, and lingered too long over matters which might have been profitably compressed. The script caught the flavor and the spirit of the novel handsomely, and the direction gained an intimacy with the characters through constant close-ups which is well-nigh unique. The quality of their work is flawless. However, the superb characterizations are the outstanding merit of the movie. Gary Cooper as Robert Jordan and Ingrid Bergman as Maria are fine, though limited in their opportunities. Bergman is perhaps a shade too gay. But Katina Paxinou as Pilar, the rugged Spanish woman who is the tower of strength, is a marvel of tenderness and violence, the Spanish peasant character in fluid mass. And Akim Tamiroff as Pablo is a masterpiece of dark and devious moods, as fine an expression of animal treachery and human pride as has ever been put on the screen. Likewise, Vladimir Sokoloff as Anselmo, the aged man of iron; Joseph Calleia as El Sordo, the invincible; Mikhail Rasumny as Rafael, the gypsy clown; Fortunio Bonanova as Fernando, the realist, and many more perform excellently. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars