Farewell To Arms (1957)

Jennifer Jones	Nurse Catherine Barkley
Rock Hudson	Lieutenant Frederick Henry
Vittorio De Sica	Major Alessandro Rinaldi
Mercedes McCambridge	Miss Van Campen
Elaine Stritch	Helen Ferguson
Luigi Barzini	Court Martial Colonel
Georges Bréhat	Captain Bassi
Memmo Carotenuto	Nino, the doorkeeper
Patrick Crean	Medical Lieutenant
Albert D'Amario	Arrested Officer
Victor Francen	Colonel Valentini
Angelo Galassi	Firing Squad Commander
Stephen Garret	Captain defenfer
Guidarino Guidi	Civilian Doctor
Carlo Hinterman	Café's customer

Director	Charles Vidor John Huston
Writer	Ernest Hemingway Laurence Stallings Ben Hecht

Farewell to Arms is the second film version of Ernest Hemingway's World War One novel—and also the last film produced by David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind). Rock Hudson plays an American serving in the Italian Army during the "War to End All Wars". Jennifer Jones is his lover, a Red cross nurse. They have a torrid affair, which results in Jones' pregnancy. As the months pass, Hudson and Jones lose contact with one another, and Jones believes that Hudson has forgotten her. But a battle-weary Hudson finally makes it to Switzerland, where Jones is hospitalized. The baby is stillborn, and Jones dies shortly afterward, murmuring that her death is "a dirty trick." Filmed on a simpler scale in 1932 (with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes starring), A Farewell to Arms was blown all out of proportion to "epic" stature for the 1957 remake—so much so that its original director, John Huston, quit the film in disgust. Still, the basic love story is touchingly enacted by Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones. — Hal Erickson

Edition Details
Release Date	5/24/2005
Packaging	Keep Case
Screen Ratio	2.35:1
Subtitles	English; Spanish
Audio Tracks	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround [CC] FRENCH: Dolby Digital Mono SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
Layers	Single Side, Dual Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes	1

Personal Details
Purchase Date	5/24/2005
Owner	Thomas Eisenmann
Store	Best Buy
Purchase Price	$14.99
Condition	Excellent
Reviewed	Widescreen Review
Bit Rate	384 KB
Anamophic	Yes
Links	DVD Empire Amazon US IMDB

Anamophic

Special features include the theatrical trailer and Fox Movietone News, which offers A Farewell to Arms Hollywood Premiere New Year Sensation, Photoplay Magazine Awards, and Meg at the Premiere of A Farewell to Arms.

Special Notes:
From the Ernest Hemingway novel and the play by Laurence Stalling's

Story Synopsis:
A Farewell To Arms is based on Ernest Hemingway's romantic tragedy of World War I and the play by Laurence Stallings. After falling in love during the war, American Lieutenant Frederic Henry (Hudson) and English nurse, Catherine Barkley (Jones) are soon separated. But fate brings them together again, only to once again be torn apart. After Frederic deserts his duty and finds his true love yet again, the two escape to Switzerland hoping to find happiness, but what awaits them is nothing but tragedy. (Tricia Spears)

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD picture exhibits imagery that is inherently soft, slightly smeared, or downright blurry. Colors are generally well saturated, though fleshtones can appear a bit brownish. Most of what is undesirable about the picture is related to the dated source element, as edge enhancement and pixelization are limited. (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 3.0-channel soundtrack uses each of the front three screen channels to recreate the entire stage, but the incessant distortion and background noise can become irritating. Slight separation across the front channels can be appealing, but is not used as often as one would expect with this format. Dialogue is centered nicely on the center channel, even though all three channels are used in its reproduction. Based on the age of this film, the soundtrack is rather clean and unobtrusive. (Danny Richelieu)