 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Apr 19, 2016 - 9:48 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Howard L
(Member)
|
Agree with all the assessments of the films on their own vs. novels and with reading the novel first before viewing the film in order to get a full perspective. In senior English we had a one-semester "Literature into Film" class in which we did just that. The ones I recall were The Informer, Wuthering Heights, Grapes Of Wrath and The Ox-Bow Incident.
That is from a post dated Dec. 18, 2000 in a To Kill A Mockingbird thread. I am now over forty years removed from high school but I feel like I've reached back into the past after having read and then watched For Whom The Bell Tolls. And I'm richer for having done it this way again. I mean you go from classic Hemingway to classic Hollywood and they got it right. Characters, dialogue and narrative leap off the page onto the screen. Very faithful adaptation. So faithful in one off-topic example it has me laughing at myself: as "the reading was very much an endurance test the first two hundred or so pages," so the film before intermission may be considered the same. This is the lengthy getting-to-know-the-characters phase. But what a set-up for the action to come and denouement. You KNOW these folks. You KNOW their devotion to the cause. I wasn't bored.
The setting is the Spanish civil war that broke out just before WW2. It pays to know its basics ahead of time whether you've read the novel or not. The film was made and released not long after the novel and in the middle of WW2 and EH himself was instrumental in selecting the leads.
Gary Cooper was terrific. I've seen him in tons of stuff but this ranks with his best of the best. It's kinda weird having Ingrid Bergman playing a Spanish senorita but man, what a screen pairing. The supporting cast was magnificent. Not a Spaniard in the lot, just a bunch of convincing pros.
I'm trying to describe the score and in my mind "dignified" hits immediately. It's a beautiful background enhancer to the beautiful mountain and interior cave scenario. A cross aesthetically and only aesthetically in my weird mind's ear to the classic "Malaguena" and the love theme composed by Russell Garcia [aha, a Spanish name ] for The Time Machine, the score dignifies the ragtag band of loyalists, the countryside, the cause and the romance between the American, Jordan (Coop), and Maria (Bergman).
I've just scan-read the link referenced directly above (cheers,"finder4545") and it sure makes purchasing the Heindorf-led stereo rerecording tempting. I'm a huge fan of Victor Young and this score just adds to the treasury.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Apr 19, 2016 - 10:53 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Howard L
(Member)
|
Oh I read you, joan. Yes. Cooper was already 40 but his character is like fifteen years younger in the novel (and blond) and the latter's idealism, as such, was pretty much factored out. I was fascinated by his pairing with Ingrid and yeah, forget Maria's long black hair in the novel, too. But oh, the ending was as believable as everything else about their relationship, both in fictional and working senses.
And as Joe pointed out, it's the full roadshow version with overture and intermission. So you will see an expanded version of what you saw as a youngster. Great technicolor, too. Marvelous print.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
