"A Farewell to Arms" is based upon the semi-autobiographical novel of Ernest Hemingway's experiences in World War I when he served as an ambulance driver for the Italians who fought the Austrians and Hungarians (1915-1918). Lt. ("Tenente") Frederic Henry (Rock Hudson) sustains a leg wound from a shell on the Alpine front and while recuperating in the military hospital meets English nurse Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones). Thus begins their love affair. Over time the nurse eventually gets pregnant. Meanwhile, with the urging of head nurse Van Campen (Mercedes McCambridge), Lt. Henry is deemed well enough to return to the battle front in time for the 1917 tragedy at Caporetto.

In 1917 the exhausted Russians, obviously on the brink of defeat, were negotiating with the Germans and Austrians to pull out from the war. Thus many divisions were diverted from the Russian to the Italian front. And at Caporetto the Central Powers broke through the defensive line. The subsequent retreat was tragic, and this part is well-filmed. Because of the disaster the Italian command did take extraordinary measures to save their country (as explained in Hemingway's book). Dismayed, Lt. Henry decides to make a separate peace and deserts the army; he slips across Lake Como into Switzerland with his girlfriend. When childbirth time comes, Nurse Barkley enters the nearby hospital. While Henry is in the Swiss restaurant near the hospital, a customer remarks that the Italians had finally held the line at the Piave River. (In the book, Henry says that The Western front, though, was beginning to crack.) SPOILER ALERT: The worst possible situation happens to Miss Barkley. With the loss of both his stillborn child and of his lover, Henry is crushed. As in the book, the dejected Frederic Henry walks alone out of the hospital into the rain.

"A Farewell to Arms" was David O. Selznick's last movie as a producer, and it is a bit too long. But production values are very high, and the cinematography is wonderful. The on-location filming at the actual places of Alpine battle is excellent. There are interesting long shots of the Italians using great effort to move their supply trains over vast mountains. Their war was indeed a vertical one, unlike that of the Western, Russian, and Turkish fronts. A major negative of the movie seems to be insufficient chemistry between the two main leads. Furthermore, the acting of Jennifer Jones is uneven. Frankly, she was far too old for her part. In her defense, like Nurse Barkley in the novel, she is effective when she exemplifies her dilemmas and flightiness. By the way, she was producer Selznick's wife. Vittorio DeSica, a great director in his own right, received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He is Major Alessandro Rinaldi, Lt. Henry's friend, whose mental state notably shifts from optimism and worldliness into pessimism and war-weariness. Over all, while AFTA is not a great film, it is still decent enough to watch. Those who enjoy prolonged battle scenes will be disappointed, though. We really do not see the Italian troops storming the Austrian positions.

Bonus Information (The Aftermath): Ernest Hemingway really was wounded on the Italian front and had an affair with Agnes von Kurowsky, an American – not English – nurse. At age 26 she was older than Hemingway; she eventually became engaged to an Italian military officer but married someone else. She survived the war and lived a long life. On World War I's Italian front there were two battles after Caporetto, and both were Italian victories. The first was the Battle of the Piave River, which occurred in June 1918. The Germans were hoping for an Austrian triumph to knock out the Italians, but their offensive failed. The battle was decisive, as it foretold Austrian defeat and breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a few months later. General Foch, Allied Commander-in-Chief on the Western front, wanted the Italians to conduct an immediate counter-offensive to knock Austria out of the war (and perhaps invade Germany through Bavaria), but Italian General Armando Diaz refused because of logistical problems. Then, in October of the same year, with the initiative of the Central Powers failing on all fronts, the Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto netted 400,000 Austrian and Hungarian prisoners, or an amazing reversal of Caporetto just a year after the 1917 disaster. And, as the military commander alluded to in the feature film, it was done by the Italians on their own as virtually all of the American troops went to France to help the beleaguered French and British against the desperate German offensives of 1918.

The very successful producer, David O. Selznick, had a very publicized affair with a young actress, Jennifer Jones. Selznick divorced his wife, married Jones and spent the rest of his career trying to make her a star of the first magnitude. Unfortunately, he OFTEN miscast her and the quality of his films was sometimes compromised. His once golden touch was gone and this film was his last--and his last attempt to promote Jones. Now I don't hate Jones--she was fine in some films such as "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and "Portrait of Jenny". But, she was also quite terrible in a few of his movies because she was just wrong for the parts. In particular, she was ridiculous in the sleazy and extremely silly drama "Duel in the Sun". "Indiscretion of an American Wife" was another mistake--a bad film that was ill-matched to her screen persona (though I am not sure if anyone could have saved this film). Here in "A Farewell to Arms", Selznick is trying to get his 38 year-old wife to be believable as a 21 year-old nurse. Poor Jennifer....I think her career actually would have been better had she not been promoted by Selznick, as her Oscar-winning role in "Song of Bernadette" came before he became involved with her career.

The original film starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. It was a hit back in the early 30s but hasn't aged well. In particular, the sound is a SERIOUS problem if you try to watch it. So, the notion of a remake isn't a bad thing.

In this version, Rock Hudson and Jones play the fated couple. Hudson is an American who has volunteered as an ambulance driver for the Italians. The US has not yet entered the war and some Americans did volunteer with Brits, French and Italians...and even the Germans (after all, the US was neutral during most of the war). This character was based, in part, on Ernest Hemmingway's own experiences driving an ambulance in the war.

Hudson falls for a very young British nurse (Jones). At first, his advances are boorish and she rebuffs him--for a while. Later, when he's injured in combat, he's sent to the hospital where he meets her again. This time, they BOTH are madly in love. So far, so good--these things DO happen. But eventually their attraction for each other becomes dangerous and all-consuming. She becomes pregnant, he is almost shot for dereliction of duty because the Italian army is run by idiots, he goes AWOL, finds her, they run away together, the baby is stillborn and she dies. A lot of stuff happens in between (after all, it runs over two hours in length)--though this is pretty much the film.

The chemistry between the two characters is only fair--but not what you'd want in such a film. Jones was especially poor, as she was SUPPOSED to be British but sounded like an American. And, the dialog between them often sounded silly. The audiences apparently felt the same way, as the film failed to make money when it was first released and the critics were pretty harsh to it. Now the film DOES look nice--the budget was very good and it's obvious that Selznick wanted this to be a big picture. Overall, it's painfully slow and should have been a lot better.