One of my favorite behind the scene stories in classic Hollywood history is where composer Max Steiner was forced to keep the song As Time Goes By in Casablanca because when he attempted to write an original song, presumably so he could make bank on the royalties, Ingrid Bergman couldn’t be brought back in for reshoots because her hair was chopped off for her follow-up role in For Whom the Bell Tolls. This forced Steiner to instead incorporate As Time Goes By heavily into the score of the film. I don’t know why that story tickles my funny bone the way that it does but on top of being one of those funny little behind-the-scene antidotes it also means that had this not happened Casablanca would have had a much feel to it. As Time Goes By is so interwoven into that film that I cannot imagine the movie without it. Whatever I may think about For Whom the Bell Tolls, I am indebted to it for insuring Bergman was unavailable for those reshoots.
As for the movie, itself? This was yet another film that I had watched years ago while not giving it the attention that it deserved. I remembered very little of it other than that Bergman was in it, had very short hair, and that it had something to do with a war. Oh, and it was nearly three hours long and felt it. I have no issues with long films; I love Gone With The Windand that has this one beat by a full hour. But I don’t like long films that feel like they take too long getting to the point. My recollection this morning before starting my re-watch was that this was one of those films that meanders and could have used some trimming. Indeed, there is actually a cut out there that excised a lot of the fat and came in at 134 minutes, skipping the five minute overture and Intermission as well as about twenty-five minutes of the film itself. The full cut of the film wasn’t even available until the 1990’s when it was archivally restored and released to home video. I would like to have compared the two versions to see what was excised but that version was not commercially available to me.
The version I watched this morning was the full roadhouse release and it starts with a full five minutes of nothing but the score, devoid of even a static visual like many other films of the time used. The music itself is beautiful to listen to but leaving the screen blank just doesn’t work for me. Still, it’s just five minutes and can be easily skipped over if you get too impatient. But if the first five minutes are already causing impatience than you are in for a very long viewing experience because there are plenty of other times when it feels like the film has come to a stand-still and stubbornly refuses to get on with the plot.
The film takes place during the Spanish Civil War. Robert Jordan (Gary Cooper), an American language teacher living in Spain during the pre-war period, fights in the International Brigades against the forces of Francisco Franco. A demolitions expert, Jordon uses his expertise to destroy critical routes for the enemy’s troops and supplies. His new assignment is to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a critical bridge, aided by a band of local anti-fascist guerrillas. There is a scheduled offensive against the fascists and the bridge must be destroyed to prevent enemy troops from traveling across it in response.
Jordan meets an old man, Anselmo (Vladimir Sokoloff), his guide through the area. Anselmo leads him through the mountainous terrain and to a group of local guerrilla fighters lead by Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), a man who doesn’t agree with the decision to blow up the bridge because it will endanger his men. Pablo’s wife Pilar (Katina Paxinou) believes that he has lost his courage and usurps his position as leader of the group, committing the men to the plan to destroy the bridge. Amongst the group is Maria (Ingrid Bergman) who was rescued by the guerrillas from the fascists during the onset of the war, her parents killed in front of her. When she was rescued her captors had shaved her head and brutally raped her repeatedly. Now she is a member of the resistance. When Jordan arrives at camp she is immediately smitten with him and he to her.
The rest of the film is filled with planning the bombing, dealing with insubordination as Pablo first quits the group, then returns contrite and seemingly willing to assist, and finally the bombing itself. Unbeknownst to the group, Pablo sabotaged the detonators in an attempt to stop the attack from taking place. He will later repent of this action and admit to Jordan and his wife of what he has done. His initial act of cowardice will seriously jeopardize the mission and will be a key reason for why so many of the men die in the final battle.
When looking at the film as a whole there isn’t one scene that can be excised out completely and leave the film the better. However, nearly every scene goes on for far too long and could have been tightened up to help with the pacing. This is especially true during the many talky scenes that make up the middle of the picture. We get plenty of lengthy back stories, too, explaining Pablo and Pilar’s history as well as Maria’s. This is an attempt to explain away why Pablo is no longer the strong leader he once was and provides some valuable insight into his mindset but it just runs on too long. That is going to be the jest of most of the middle of the film; it runs on too long.
Gary Cooper could rival Buster Keaton for the moniker of The Great Stone Face, here. It serves his character well, though, as this is a man who has been thrust into a war between two foreign entities, neither of which he was born into. The locals are quick to remind him of this often, too. We never really get an explanation as to why he is in this fight personally nor how he ended up in his current position. I have not read the novel so perhaps this is stuff that Ernest Hemingway put in the book that the filmmakers skimmed over in the screenplay. It does leave his character as a bit of an enigma. His stoicism makes the romance between him and Maria feel a bit stiff, too. Until he actually kisses her it wasn’t entirely clear that he was even feeling the romance at all. Gary Cooper was nominated for the Oscar for this film, as was Bergman, but lost to Paul Lukas for his interesting performance in Watch on the Rhine opposite Bette Davis.
Ingrid Bergman is excellant as usual in a role that feels tailored for her. Just months earlier she was playing Ilsa Lund in Casablanca and yet there isn’t a single trace of that performance here. She was an incredible actress, one of the few that was a star while being able to play each role differently. So often the big stars of the screen are playing variations of the same character, banking off of their celebrity persona to keep bringing in their loyal fans. Bergman was not like that. She has a vulnerability in this role that sets it apart from the uncertain but determined Ilsa Lund. The following year she would be the emotionally destroyed young wife in Gaslight. While I’m far from having seen every one of her film roles each one that I have seen has been unique and worth examination. There is a scene halfway through For Whom the Bell Tolls where she is relating the horrors of what the fascists did to her and her family that is haunting enough that even Jordan can’t stand to hear her relate it. Yet she persists, needing to get it off her chest. This film was made during the era of the Hays Code so there was limits to what could be said but it somehow manages to get the horrors across anyway.
Katina Paxinou was the biggest surprise for me, though. I already knew Bergman was capable of great performances. Katina almost beats her, though. This Greek actress manages to bring a level of seriousness and levity to virtually every scene she is featured in. She livens up the screen without dismissing the gravity of the situation. It is a delicate balance that she weaves and does so in a way that makes it look effortless. This was her first role in a major Hollywood picture and she nails it perfectly. Just look at the scene where she is taking command away from her husband, Pablo, showing her love and disapproval of him all at the same time. It’s all there on her face, sacrificing nothing from either side of her loyalties.
The action set-pieces are first rate and the production values are amongst the best, especially for a film of this era. Virtually everything about this production was first rate; there is no doubt this was made for spectacle. Where it falters is in the pacing. The opening is very abrupt with Jordan blowing up a supply train and fleeing from the soldiers. Within minutes he has escaped capture, has a new assignment and is up in the mountains of Spain eyeing his new objective through a set of binoculars. Then the pacing slows down for the next two hours with just one action set piece, albeit a great one, leading up to the finale. There is just too much down time with people sitting around tables debating why they shouldn’t go through with the mission. This film needs about fifteen minutes of this trimmed down to make it flow better.
Aside from the pacing issues mentioned above, this is a first rate production of the classic Ernest Hemingway novel. The locations are beautiful to look at, even though it is fairly obvious it was filmed in the Sierra Nevadas and not Spain. This kind of location filming adds a grandiose to the picture that studio sets couldn’t come close to replicating. Filming it in Technicolor adds to that epic feel, making this all the more beautiful to look at. Hemingway films are very hit and miss; some of the better ones, like To Have and Have Not, jettisoned the novel altogether in order to make a more compelling feature. This one is among the better of the bunch but it could have been so much better with a more judicious editor involved.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Motion Picture: Paramount
Best Actor: Gary Cooper
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Best Supporting Actor: Akim Tamiroff
Best Supporting Actress: Katina Paxinou (won)
Best Cinematography - Color: Ray Rennahan
Best Art Direction - Color: Hans Dreier, Haldane Douglas and Bertram Granger
Best Film Editing: Sherman Todd and John F. Link Sr.
Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture): Victor Young
____________________________________________________
Release Date: July 14, 1943
Running Time: 170 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia
Directed By: Sam Wood
Comments
Post a Comment