Frederic Henry, a U.S. officer meets and begins to fall in love with an English red nurse, Catherine, while stationed in Italy during WWI. While on the front, Frederic is injured, ending up at the very hospital where Catherine works. While recovering, the two fall deeply in love with one and other, with the War constantly threatening to pull them apart. The first film adaption of Ernest Hemingway's classic novel, Frank Borzage's 'A Farewell to Arms' is a sweltering tale of everlasting love in a time of war. While the film remains almost solely focused on the love story, Borzage makes sure to continuously remind the viewer of the danger which surrounds these characters during nearly every second of their time. Sequences of romance are often abruptly interrupted by gunfire or worse - a harsh reminder that creates a nice contrast to the story. While the film does touch on these characters feelings of war and the nature of why we fight, It doesn't concern itself too much with this, opting to focus on the romance. While this is probably the worst Borzage film I have seen, which doesn't say much, it still shows Borzage's impressive directorial talent with some fantastic camera work, reminiscent of Max Ophuls, which is incredibly advanced for the time period. He just has such a profound ability to capture the story visually, capturing the intimacy between these two characters in a visual way. This is particularly impressive considering the small amount of actual screen time that exists between the two main characters, though Helen Hays as Catherine, really steals every scene she is in. 7.5/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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