A Farewell To Arms [1932]

---

---

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1932 version of A Farewell to Arms owes as much to the shimmering house style of Paramount Pictures as it does the novel by Ernest Hemingway. If Hemingway purists can get past the romanticising of the book, however, this film offers its own glossy appeal. On the Italian front in World War I an American ambulance driver (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a nurse (Helen Hayes). Cooper was a Hemingway friend in real life, and later played the hero of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; his boyish simplicity is just right for director Frank Borzage's heartfelt approach. The Oscar-winning cinematography of ace cameraman Charles Lang is the kind of lush black and white that can capture the glow from a cigarette as it plays across Cooper's darkened face--a breathtaking touch. The jaded battle scenes show the influence of the hit film version of All Quiet on the Western Front, especially in a gripping montage depicting Cooper's progress alone through the war zone. Hemingway would have none of it, of course; he once disdainfully wrote that "in the first picture version Lt. Henry deserted because he didn't get any mail and then the whole Italian Army went along, it seems, to keep him company". This is first and foremost a love story, however, and as such it succeeds beautifully, right through to the remarkably intense ending. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

---

Synopsis
During the Great War an American member of the Italian Medical Service meets and falls in love with an English nurse. When he learns that she is pregnant and has left her job he deserts in order to search for her. Based on the true story of Ernest Hemingway's love affair with nurse Agnes Von Kurowsky.

---

Customer reviews

review by: Nicky MW date: 2008-02-21 rating:
Awful quality
I bought the Elstree Hill version which is also awful quality, pleased it only cost a couple of pounds.

---

review by: date: 2007-07-20 rating:
Okish Movie terrible dvd
Im glad i brought this movie for a pound.
Terrible transfer of this movie realy unwatchable.
If you like the story then get the the 1950 movie its much better.



review by: date: 2003-04-28 rating:
The pits
It serves you right if you really don't want to spend any money on dvd quality and you get stuck with LaserLight's edition, which is truly awful, sound and picture-wise. I mean, you're not liable to encounter a worse transfer than this one, so be warned.
The picture itself is great, of course, even better than I remembered. It has the extreme audacity to be unapologetically fullblown, certainly not romantic in the Hollywood, but neither quite as cynical as the Hemingway novel. The style is almost gothic, with a wonderful Adolphe Menjou thrown in for sleek comedy. The battle sequence almost parallel the ones i Milestone's groundbreaking 'Nothing Quiet on the Western Front', and Helen Hayes' deathscene has got to be among the most touching ever, only it gets a little heavy on the Wagner 'Liebestod' side.
If you ever wondered why Gary Cooper made it big, this is the picture to watch. You will be unable to take your eyes from him.
But this LaserLIght transfer is the pits. The worse. Awful.

---

Similar products

For Whom The Bell Tolls [1943]
The Snows Of Kilimanjaro [1952]
A Farewell To Arms [1957]
Mr Deeds Goes To Town [1936]
All Quiet On The Western Front [1930]

---

Similar categories

Video . Video . Categories . Classic Films . Drama . 1930s
Video . Video . Categories . Drama . General
Video . Video . Refinements . Condition (condition-type)
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Classics . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . PG
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1939 and earlier
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . VHS

---