-Story-
There is no doubt that this is an interesting film. The plot revolves around Roberto an American, who’s gotten himself involved in the Spanish Civil war. I’ve got to admit, I don’t really know all that much about the War, then again that’s not what the film focuses on. Roberto sets out on a dangerous mission out to the mountains where he awaits an appointed time when he must blow up a strategic bridge for the war effort. Seems simple enough, except that the bridge is guarded. Add to that the fact that the leader of the band of revolutionaries Roberto joins up with is led by a traitorous lowlife. Also there’s the matter of the blond haired blue eyed (yeah right!) escaped Spanish prisoner Maria and her dewy eyes set squarely on Roberto. It’s a tough job and he might not make it out alive. Suspense, intregue, sabatoge, and a love story to boot.
Only the likes Earnest Hemmingway could have brought this story to life. Actually, to tell the truth this film plays just as well as any typical ‘Sunday Afternoon Classic” fare on any of a million local tv stations. Nothing too spectacular, a decent story but with a distintly dated feel. The men are men, the women are secondary, and the writing is cliched. Maybe Hemmingway was drunk when he wrote this one, because it strikes me as a fine 1940s film, but I just can’t see it as a classic.
One thing I absolutely cannot ignore is the fantastically poor dialogue, especially at the almost incomrehensible ending of the film. Our protagonist wastes his final words with the woman he loves to spout of some nonsensical metaphysical philosophy. Far from the expected tender parting words, Roberto succeeds only in confusing absolutely everyone. Even Maria doesn’t get it. Very, very depressing. A potentially good ending was just destroyed by rediculous writing.
2/5-Look-
This film strikes me as a fairly normal movie from 1943, at least in my experience. I should probably say that I’m not overly familiar with the movies made during WWII but I know that they were often propoganda machines or simply designed to expose the rightousness of Americans. I’d be interested to compare this to other wartime films. Not that this film doesn’t meet the propogandic criteria, in fact one of our protagonists major speeches revolves around why he feels a duty to his brothers, the Spanish freedom fighters. Interestingly we don’t avoid the other side of the coin either, we see a fairly brutal mob lynching at one point. Perhaps that’s where the writing strength lies, not the dialogue, but the feelings and theme. Anyhow, this is niether here nor there. The film looked pretty typical to me. All the close ups of Ingrid Bergman were overly glossed, I think this was before soft lighting. It actually looked like the real, true to life vasoline on the lense trick made fameous back in the 20s and 30s. The color was pretty bad too, but they didn’t really start restoring films at least until I’m sure the print began to turn bad. They also had pretty bad color film back then. Anyhow, that’s just a quip of mine and you can’t really fault the film for the technology or idioms of the day. I really liked the way this film looked, even though the staging was pretty obvious at times.
3/5
-Acting/Direction-
This is a star vehicle if I’ve ever seen it. A studio film made in the old style. Gary Cooper, looking dapper and far removed from the old west for which he is so famous plays our leading man Robert Jordan. The always lovely Ingrid Bergman plays Maria, and once you get past the fact that a Spanish girl would never look like that, it’s not that hard to accept her in the role of the helpless lovestruck refugee. The stars are truly that, stars. Preening for the camea; striking dramatic poses, et all. I’m sure this had something to do with the director, a man named Sam Wood who according to the Internet Movie Database was a thouroughly innundated Studio system director, creating such classics as “Goodbye Mr. Chips”, a version of “Our Town”, and apparently an uncredited directing presence on “Gone With the Wind”!!!
Anyhow, the film is pretty fantastically cliched. Bergman is unflappable in her devotion. Cooper aloof at times caring at others and suitably tall dark and handsome. Neither of our heros think much anything of falling madly in love over the span of three days, but then again this is war, and love is a truly crazy thing isn’t it? Well, it’s pretty much what you’d expect. A good example of Paramount working the system. They used to churn out loads of these films. I’d bet this didn’t take more than a month to make. Just incredible.
3/5-Overall-
A pretty interesting studio film. Hemmingway’s influence obviously had no bearing on the script. Cooper and Bergman are exactly what you want when you watch them, perfect movie stars. Aside from the rediculous dialogue and ending, a very fine film. Check it out if your into studio classics.
Note - Am I crazy or was the only bell in the film at the opening title sequence? Does anyone think this is odd? They never even explained that tolling bells are supposed to symbolize death?!! What's up with that???
