A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Directed By: Frank Borzage
Written By: Benjamin Glazer, Oliver H.P. Garrett
Starring: Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou
Length: 85 min.
Genre: Romance
Based On: the novel "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
Academy Awards
Winner: Best Cinematography
Winner: Best Sound, Recording
Nominee: Best Picture
Nominee: Best Art Direction
Looks like the masses are with me on this one over the Academy and the critics. This movie was fucking terrible. A 6.6 in IMDB for a major movie isn't good, neither is 52% on RT.
Our "hero" Frederic Henry, played by Gary Cooper, is an ambulance driver from America and his "best friend" (I guess), Rinaldi, played by Adolphe Menjou (who was great as always), is an Italian doctor. The movie takes place in Italy during The Great War.
Rinaldi convinces Frederic to go out on a double date. Rinaldi's girl is named Catherine (Helen Hayes) and Rinaldi sets Frederic up with a woman named Helen. Well, our "hero" decides to be the world's worst wingman. Frederic and Catherine had run into eat other briefly the night before during an air raid. Frederic was drunk and creeped out Catherine. Now, even though she recognizes him as the guy that creeped her out the night before, decides to go fro a walk with Frederic because, as I said, Frederic is the world's worst wingman.
So, Frederic then rapes Catherine. I know, I know, 'it was a different time', but I'm pretty sure when a guy goes in for the kill, if the woman is saying "No, please, no", that was rape in any time. So he totally rapes her, and after the two of them fall in love.
Their relationship is against army regulations, so when he is sent back to the front, she is transferred to Milan on Rinaldi's suggestion. Soon after, Frederic is wounded in an attack and Renaldi sends him to Milan for treatment. Half the time, it seemed like Rinaldi was helping Frederic, the other half of the time he was getting the way trying to split them up.
When Frederic is sent back to the front after he recovered, the two lovers write each other often. However, neither of them receives the other's letters (Renaldi's interference again). Frederic then deserts the army to go find Catherine, while Catherine had gone to Switzerland to have his child (she had kept that little fact from him). When she finds out her letters were sent back unopened, she faints. She has the child stillborn and Frederic gets there just in time to watch her die...of something. The end.
Garbage. Total garbage of a movie.
My Rating: 2/10
IMDB User Rating: 6.6/10 (4k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 92% of Critics (12-1), 52% of Audience (3.2 / 5 ; 5k votes)