The film opens with a tolling bell and a quotation from John Donne's "No Man Is an Island." Then the action literally explodes on the screen with an act of sabotage by Robert Jordan (Gary Cooper), who has just struck a blow for the young Spanish Republic against the fascist Nationalists. As one of about 60,000 foreigners who have come to fight for Spain's freedom, Jordan's story plays out against a background of cataclysmic world events.

Jordan is immediately assigned the task of blowing up an important bridge behind the Nationalist lines in the Guadarrama Mountains, near Segovia. The main story line follows him as he joins a ragtag troop of guerrillas in pursuit of his mission. The guerrillas are led by the forceful Pilar, in an Academy Award-winning portrayal by Katina Paxinou. An equally pivotal character in the band is cunning, treacherous Pablo (Akim Tamiroff), who may at any moment defect to the Nationalist side if it profits him. The guerrillas are a motley crew of pan- European characters, each with his own life story and reason for being in that place at that time.

And then there is the innocent, vulnerable, incredibly beautiful Maria (Ingrid Bergman), who was rescued from Nationalist rapists and is now protected by the guerrillas. Under Pilar's watchful eye Robert and Maria fall in love. With the signing of Ingrid Bergman to play the role of Maria, Paramount jumped on the post-"Casablanca" bandwagon. Echoes of the earlier film that were not in Hemingway's novel crop up as Robert morphs from the stalwart freedom fighter to the lover who is torn between duty and love.

A lengthy film of about 160 minutes, FWTBT takes time to explore the relationships between characters, even the lesser lights. We find out who is strong and weak, who is in favor of the war and who is not, and get a glimpse into how each one might react when the chips are down. A particularly meaningful interchange is when Robert explains to the guerrillas that although the Communists are on their side (under orders from the Soviet Cominterm), the fascist governments of Germany and Italy are supplying the Nationalists with Panzer tanks and Stuka dive-bombers. In reality those governments were testing their armament in preparation for the coming world war.

SPOILER: The end of the film is a whirlwind series of scenes in which Robert almost single- handedly demolishes the bridge as the Nationalist army approaches. Then fate takes a hand. To escape, the guerrillas must ride across an open area through a hail of enemy machine-gun and light artillery fire. Everyone makes it across but Robert, bringing up the rear, who is blown from his horse by an exploding shell. Too wounded to ride, Robert must be left behind with a machine-gun to slow the advance of the Nationalists.

With courage and great pain Robert delivers his "hill of beans" and "where I'm going you can't follow" speeches to Maria. He promises that they will be together in spirit but stops short of saying, "We'll always have Guadarrama."

Maria is thrown onto the back of a horse and the band gallops away, her screams fading into the distance. Fighting nausea and unconsciousness, Robert sets up the machine-gun and fires directly into the camera (mirrored at the end of "Bataan" with Robert Taylor). Smoke and cordite fill the screen, and the scene dissolves to the giant bell tolling a warning to mankind.

In 1943 Hemingway and the everyone in the film knew to their sorrow that the Nationalists had won the Civil War in 1939 and that Spain now lived under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. They could not know that, ironically, with Franco's death in 1975 Spain named King Juan Carlos I sovereign of the democratic constitutional monarchy that rules the Kingdom of Spain today.

The picture narrates how an American professor(Gary Cooper) enlisted to the International Brigades (Brigade Lincoln) resolves to join himself with a group of rebels during Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) : The guerrilla is formed by a bunch of peasants : Vladimir Sokoloff , Akim Tamiroff , Arturo Cordoba , Katina Paxinou and he then falls in love with the gorgeous Ingrid Bergman . He's ordered by the Republic's authority blowing up a bridge and he'll have to confront a lot of dangers and risks and stifle the facing off among the members of the motley commando .

Runtime film is overlong , the run is about two hours and half but isn't dreary . It's based on Ernest Hemingway book magnificently translated to Cinemascope big screen . The movie has tension , drama , a love story , derring-do, warlike adventures , heroic events , romantic tale and although sometimes is slow-moving , isn't boring , neither tiring . Cooper and Bergman are attractive and romantics , both protagonists were especially selected by Hemingway . The secondary cast is impressive : Tamiroff , Vladimir Sokoloff , Joseph Calleia , Fortunio Bonanova but Kattina Paxinou -actress myth in Greece- is top notch, thus she won the Academy Award , Oscar , as the best support cast for her role as the impulsive , lusty and brave guerrilla woman . Exceptional and glimmer cinematography by Ray Rennahan and enjoyable music by Victor Young . The motion picture was well directed by Sam Wood. The picture was prohibited in Spain by the censorship until recent years . Rating: Very good . Above average .

This is a fine film, very popular in its day for depicting the desperate fight for freedom that even civilians engaged in by choice, at a time when democracy was in fact truly threatened and there was a very real possibility it would disappear from the earth. Because of the bravery of so many men and women of that time, the freedom that many today take for granted was assured. But it is by no means permanent.

The film is relatively heavy but certainly many modern films about current events are equally heavy. One is either involved or not but I found it a great story of a small group of people who have survived a great deal of pain in life and who have little to lose. The film presents the characters very well, allowing us to like and understand them. It was shot in Technicolor on realistic locations and beautifully designed by William Cameron Menzies. The music by Victor Young is outstanding.

In case anyone may not know, Ingrid Bergman was the choice of Ernest Hemingway. In fact, he went out of his way to see to it that the ballet dancer and actress Vera Zorina, who was originally cast and who had begun shooting the film, was replaced by Bergman. Hemingway also wanted Gary Cooper and no one else to play Robert Jordan. How can these actors be 'miscast' when the author who created the characters felt they were perfect for the roles?

When I first saw For Whom the Bell Tolls, I thought it was overlong and overrated. Since then, I've decided to re-evaluate the film and have decided that the film can be summed up as follows.

PROS:

(1) Hemingway and Cooper were friends, and Hemingway wrote the Robert Jordan character with Cooper in mind and handpicked Cooper for the role. Sure, it would have been nicer if this film had gotten made when he was younger, but it's hard to imagine anyone other than Cooper playing Jordan.

(2) This was only Cooper's second color film in a long and illustrious film career that began in the silent era, and Bergman's first color film. It's a treat to see both stars in Technicolor, and both of them are utterly luminous in their close-ups (I'd say Cooper actually has a slight edge here since, unlike Bergman, he didn't benefit from a soft focus effect, and it's hard to imagine another leading man of this era who was better suited for close-ups than Cooper was, even though he was in his 40s here and a little past his prime).

(3) Some reviewers felt that Cooper and Bergman had no chemistry, but I strongly disagree. The two were having an affair while working on this film. If Bergman seems like she's gushing over Cooper, she probably wasn't merely acting.

(4) If Cooper seems wooden to some people, he's supposed to be playing a stoic character who exemplifies grace under pressure, but is also sensitive, idealistic, and quietly romantic at the same time.

(5) It's hard not to notice that Cooper's look in the film must have been the inspiration for Indiana Jones, which makes me think that this film was much more influential than I had previously thought it was.

CONS:

(1) This didn't need to be a nearly 3-hour movie, and I wish it were 30 minutes shorter.

(2) I appreciated the supporting actors and initially liked their performances, but when I re-evaluated the film, I felt that they were over-acting and seemed like caricatures (and no, I'm not referring to their make-up; I'm referring to their acting).

(3) I wish there would be a properly restored version of this film.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is not without its faults, but I give credit to Old Hollywood and Sam Wood for even making a film that is this faithful to a novel--so faithful that it moves at a glacial pace at times, but I also think that people had longer attention spans back then and did not need instant gratification like people do now.

These days I usually have to be in the mood to enjoy old movies like this. There's just a certain style to them that takes some getting used to every time. And that's no different here. But there's also a nostalgia factor at work, and once you get into it you can really enjoy this movie.

Terrific performances from Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman both. She's really beautiful, isn't she? And a wonderful story from none other than the great Ernest Hemingway. Once you get used to the old acting style and everything that comes with it, you can really enjoy this classic film. Recommend.

This film has a reputation for being somewhat boring, even turgid. For the first hour, I can certainly see the point of that. Not a great deal happens in the first 60 minutes or so, other than a rather predictable and over ripe Hollywood romance springing up between Cooper and Bergman. There's no action, no real sense of an external threat (surprising considering the setting) only a few not too interesting squabbles between the partisans.

This however changes pretty much when the weather changes. As the snow begins to fall there is a new urgency to the film. Nationalist troops show up and the squabbles take on a darker edge with a real sense of menace. There is a truly superb performance from the drunkard which deserved an Oscar. Then Pilar (well played too) recounts his past history and we see him in a more sympathetic light. From then on our feelings towards the drunkard constantly shift between disgust and pity, perhaps the subtlest aspect of the film.

One can say the dialogue is rather over-blown but this is typical of romantic films of the time. But the scenes of the atrocities committed in the name of 'freedom' are well done and surprisingly brutal even for a film of 1943.

Ernest Hemingway was most particular about how is work should be portrayed on screen. He had hated the version of A Farewell to Arms that was done ten years earlier.

What he did like was Gary Cooper's portrayal of a Hemingway hero. He and Cooper got to be good friends, so he was Papa's first and only choice to be Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The novel grew out of Hemingway's experience in the Spanish Civil War that raged for almost four years. A number of generals not liking the leftist trend the new Spanish Republic was taking pulled a military coup d'etat. The whole world took sides with the Soviet Union aiding the Republic's defenders and Italy and Germany aiding the Nationalist Generals.

The USA was officially neutral, but people had their opinions. Believe it or not many supported the rebelling generals seeing them as upholding traditional Catholic Spain. But some in America organized the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of volunteers who fought for the Republic. Some in there were U.S. Communist Party members, but a whole lot were idealists. All of them had a lot of difficulty after World War II, for shall we say being to prematurely anti-Fascist.

Gary Cooper plays just such a volunteer and he's got a mission, to blow up a key bridge in the Guadarrama mountains. He makes contact with the guerrilla band of Akim Tamiroff and Katina Paxinou. Of course fighting with them is Ingrid Bergman, so we had some romantic interludes there which steamed up the screen.

This was quite a year for Ingrid, she did Casablanca as well that year and her name became synonymous with romance. She was not the first choice here. Director Sam Wood did not like his original leading lady Vera Zorina and replaced her with Bergman who he really wanted in the first place.

In fact Wood was a second choice. Paramount originally scheduled this film for Cecil B. DeMille. I'm betting there were some creative differences between DeMille and Papa Hemingway. If this had become a DeMille type film, it would have been a disaster.

Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, and Katina Paxinou all got Academy Award nominations. Only Paxinou won the Oscar for this film. A great performance, but also probably a tribute to her refugee status. She had fled her native Greece when the Nazis took over where she was a leading member of their national theater. She accepted her Oscar in memory of her late colleagues there.

The only criticism of the film came from those that thought it lingered too long on Cooper and Bergman's romance. Something by the way they were having in real life as well.

But Ernest Hemingway liked the film just fine and I think most will as well.

As a Spaniard and a historian, I've always found this film deeply moving. Here in Spain, the films on our Civil War have become so common that, for youngest people, the war seems to be some kind of ancient mythology. This movie allows us to see how the Spanish War was perceived by other countries in contemporary dates. Actually, we cannot forget its importance as a test for WWII. Maria's life remind me of the stories that my grandma used to tell. Men went to war, but women were often ravaged by the winner army as revenge. What really amazes me is the lack of awareness that many people have on my country and their audacity on showing it. I think that's the effect of decades of Mexican actors playing Spaniards in Hollywood films. As a blonde, pale skinned, Caucasian woman, as the majority of my compatriots (remember, we're Europeans), I think Bergman's appearance fits perfectly her part.

The DVD archivally restored version of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" suggests that this film was deemed worthy of attention to preserve it for today's and future audiences. Watching this DVD, one can see why it's continuing to survive, where other films made during its time have tended to fall out of public attention.

One thing which is extremely impressive is the peerless work of William Cameron Menzies. His production design is artful, inventive, and just plain beautiful. Shot for shot, there are wonderful compositions, set designs, lighting and photography. The color is some of the most striking ever filmed, rich and vibrant. Ray Rennahan's cinematography is also a joy to behold, and Victor Young's romantic quasi-Spanish score wraps up every scene with lush atmosphere and thematic character-situational motifs.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with Katina Paxinou outstanding. It is certainly a fine production.

Alas, what I find completely cool is Hemingway's skewed consciousness. He occasionally paid lip service to sensitivity toward his fellow beings, but actually he did not appear to hold others in high value. His attitude toward the "enemy" or the "target" is characteristic of his sickly way he tended to see things. The total disregard he held for animals in his real life activites emerges in his writings on human interaction. It's a consciousness of violence, scheming, ploting, and general conflict. That all this is the stuff of action and adventure allows the sickness to mask itself very skillfully. Scratch the surface, however, and one finds an ill view of the world.

Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, the prelude to WWII, this is one of the great action/adventure films of all time and the best screen adaption of any Hemingway novel. Cooper and Bergman set the sparks flying like Bogie and Bacall, and are sexier on screen without ever taking their clothes off than any of todays red hot lovers stark naked. Coop's hat alone deserves an honorary Oscar for Best Costume. Old pros like Vladimir Sokoloff, Akim Tamiroff and Fortunio Bonanova (whom film buffs will recognise as the opera coach from "Citizen Kane") keep that inimitable Hemingway dialogue moving at a brisk pace and Katina Paxinou, who copped the Best Supporting Actress award, is the embodiment of one of Hem's greatest characters. I have the 156 min version taped off cable and the added footage makes you hungry to see the whole 170 minute version (if it still exists). Don't miss this one. Four stars.

For Whom the Bells Tolls is a thrilling novel and one of the most acclaimed books of the 20Th century. It depict very accurately the turmoil of Spain during the civil war alongside the upheavals of the previous century.Only three years after it was first publish and in the heights of WW2 this movie was very relevant upon debut.

Set on the mountains between Madrid and Segovia, Robert Jordan, the reflection of Hemingway himself or shell I say his alter ago, joins a group of insurgents in the Fascists side, together they show us the complicity of war, while everyone need to choose their side whereas opinions and creed sometime prove us that nothing can be black or white, add it the toughness of daily fighting and you get a fabulous story.

Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman enshrined us that this movie will take us all the way to the path of glory, though, Katina Paxinou, as Pilar took the best supporting actress in the academy awards.

As one of my favorite books I was more than looking forward to watch Sam Wood adaptation. The book influence was poignant, showing us the life of the simple soldiers in the Republic and criticise the high rank of the local Communist party and the Soviets in particular, it was banned in the Soviet Union for many years on. Unfortunately the movie doesn't show the political intrigue that eventually causes the Republic to loose the granting Franco decades of reign, instead the movie put it emphasis on the love story between American explosive expert, Robert Jordan (Cooper) and beautiful young comrade, Maria (Bergman). To my opinion, the movie took from the book it main objective, nevertheless the movie is worth watching and can be describe as good American love-drama.

Gary Cooper is too wooden and detached in this performance. It may have worked for Wyatt Earp, but his stone face makes you wonder what Maria could possibly have seen in him.

I read the book, which is far more subtle than the movie. What I find particularly missing is Robert Jordan's passion for Spain. It is because of his love for the Spanish people that he fights for the Republic. I do not see any of this passion in Cooper's performance.

How could they possibly do this movie, and omit its most famous line? "Did the earth move for you?" A universal synonym for doing the diddly. I guess they were very puritanical in those days.

The movie does a good job of depicting the incompetence of the Republican hierarchy, and why they lost the war.

I have read a fair amount about the Spanish Civil War. Why did the West stand aside and allow these atrocities to happen? Hemingway's novel graphically illustrates the dilemma: on one hand you have the Republic, socialists, communists, Anarchists, Russians and Stalin. On the other hand you have the Nationalists, Fascists, Franco and Hitler. Talk about the pot and the fire.

What most people usually get wrong when they see movies is that they all should be so damn realistic.Don't you people have enough realism in your own lives.When I watch movies I want to be transported to either fantasy land or experience something different than just the drab existence of life. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a romance set against the Spanish Civil War.The Civil War isn't the important thing of the movie,it's the beautiful love story between Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman (how lovely she looked at this stage in her career).The whole cast perform great with especially Katina Paxinou's towering performance of Pilar a standout.Beautiful color cinematography and a great score by Victor Young are assets that makes for an enjoyable movie experience.

I'm not really an Ernest Hemingway fan, and I'm certainly not a Gary Cooper fan, but there's a lot to appreciate in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Ingrid Bergman delivers one of her finest performances, beaten out at the Academy Awards by the ridiculously overrated Song of Bernadette. I love Jennifer Jones, but I never felt she deserved her Oscar for that performance. It should have been Ingrid's year! She's everything the character calls for, innocent beyond belief and terribly traumatized. She delivers a heartbreaking monologue about her abuse, and with all the feeling she puts into reliving the memory, it's shocking to see the little her costar gives her in return. Still, it's her scene, and as wooden as Gary Cooper is, he's not able to ruin it.

Greek actress Katina Paxinou also shines as the tough Pilar, and she won both the Oscar and the Rag awards for her film debut. Afterwards, she returned to Greece and created a theater company; pretty cool, huh? She delivers an equally memorable monologue about what it's like to be ugly but know in your heart that you're beautiful. With such fantastic female performances, it's hard to believe the story isn't really about them. It's actually about Gary Cooper, an American backpacker who gets roped into fighting alongside the rebels in the Spanish Civil War. Akim Tamiroff is the most prominently featured soldier, and Gary has to figure out if he's trustworthy or not. If you're a Hemingway fan, you've got to rent this one. It's very exciting, despite a lackluster leading man. Plus, Ingrid Bergman looks absolutely adorable with short, curly hair. Her blue eyes pop out in her first Technicolor movie!

I've not read the Hemingway novel on which this film is based, nor will I spend any time summarizing the plot, as others here have already done a fine job of that. Let me just add my voice to those who have praised this film as a very good romantic adventure of its time. It of course has one foot obviously placed squarely in WWII propaganda (Gary Cooper as the iconic romantic American hero), but it's also highly entertaining.

It's longer than it needs to be, and it's a bit talky, but it nevertheless doesn't drag. The highest praise must go to the art directors, who fashion an impressive set perched among some rocky mountains that feels extremely authentic. The color photography isn't as vibrant as other Technicolor products of the time, but that may be due to age. And there's a terrific lush score to go along with the action.

I've never been a huge fan of Ingrid Bergman, but she's not bad here. Gary Cooper is perfectly cast and is required to do little more than just be Gary Cooper, but it works. The most colorful performances come from Akim Tamiroff and, especially, Katina Paxinou as two members of the Spanish revolutionary group. Paxinou is a firecracker, giving an intense performance that dominates the screen whenever she's present.

A highly enjoyable Hollywood product from the war years.

Grade: A-

Several of the previous reviewers have pointed out the real problem with this movie, which I just saw for the first time in half a century. The dialogue is artificial, sometimes very pretentious, sometimes very empty - all that talk of living on through the other, repeated over and over again, etc. The cast is a fine one, and could have done great things with a better script - and perhaps a better director. But too much of what is here is hard to watch.

One scene near the end of the movie makes the point very clearly, when Robert says goodbye to Maria. The situation is very similar to the end of Casablanca, which was in production at the same time with the same leading lady, Bergman. The lines Cooper is given to say farewell to her character and those Bogart has to say goodbye to Elsa make the Casablanca scene so much more powerful. Elsa is so much more interesting, and appealing, than the overly emotional Maria. (Bergman plays them very differently.)

I couldn't recommend that anyone sit through this movie. It's too long, and too uninteresting, for what it delivers. And, despite what other reviewers have written, I found the Technicolor very unnatural and not at all attractive.

Yes, the music was pleasant, but not remarkable.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is such a classic of American literature that I am disarmed by the prospect of reviewing its 1943 adaptation by Sam Wood. Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize-winner wrote so many classics rooted in his experience of war and more generally the globe-trotting adventure his life was, that my appreciation of the film, would only be limited to the observation of a few Hollywood idiosyncrasies injected within a story of much complex magnitude. I assume that one of the key-elements of the story resides within the existential tension tearing the soul of Robert Jordan, an International Brigades volunteer and dynamiter working for the Spanish Republican Army and whose mission is to blow up a strategic bridge.

Anyway, I watched many classics without reading the original books so this one shouldn't be an exception. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (the movie) invites from its very opening quotation the viewer not to cheer, weep or wish for someone's death, any death is one of humanity and that war, while not being futile, can never end with a proper victory. This injunction allows us to set a new mindset on warfare as a predicament that brings the worst and that the only reason to take side is when one cause can prevent a war. This is a less an idea of righteousness but of practicality and it is essential not just on a narrative level but because it makes a connection with the war against the Nazis. The book was written in 1940 when USA hadn't entered the war, things had naturally changed in 43.

A victory of the fascist regime would pave the way to the downfall of Europe. On that level, Jordan is not a mercenary but a crusader. The film doesn't preach its cause but exposes it through the varying degrees of motivation within a gallery of colorful characters among which Cooper is a tower of virile steadiness? There's Anselmo, the guide (Vladimir Sokoloff), Rafael, the cheerful gypsy (Mikail Rasummy), Fernando (Fortunio Bonanova). The pillar of the group is the fittingly named Pilar (Katina Panixou) a fighting woman who carries more strength and courage than all the other men including her husband Pablo (Akim Tamiroff) who's past his prime and seems more driven by an instinct of conservation than caution, when does one end and cowardice start is besides the point, Pilar carries the flame for two.

Paxinou (who'd win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) is one of these characters that make the film, like Walter Huston in "The Trasure of the Sierra Madre", she's the soul, heart and a muscle in her own right. She's seen wars, and is so aware of the vulnerability of men in life-and-death situations, not to trust anyone, except for the American Roberto, because his presence alone is a guarantee. Oscar-nominated Tamiroff as Pablo, has a wobbly sense of duty and courage, his character-establishing moment occurs when Pilar literally takes the leadership of the group, when she can spot fear in him, surely a woman can read hands can read much better in eyes. Oscar-nominated Tamiroff is the most ambiguous character and splendidly contrasts with the solid stoicism of Jordan, his blasé attitude speaking volumes about the capability of bravery to desert a man's soul like a soldier his troop.

Not to let the story enclosed behind these rocky clandestine mountain headquarters, there is Maria, Ingrid Bergman at her most innocent and fragile, her hair cut so that she has the look of a little boy. She's a young refugees who falls instantly in love with Jordan. It's strange but when you love, something attaches you to life and makes the idea of death even tougher, it's the irony of facts that war is won by people who don't fear death while love makes you fear it, love is the rebirth of humanity, war its antithesis. Robert can hardly downplay his sentiments but there's a sense of emotional restraint in Cooper that makes him the perfect hero for the film (he was hand-picked by Hemingway) and his calmness is nervous enough not to fool us about the emotional turmoil burning in his heart until its implosion in a spectacular and convincing climactic battle The love story isn't exactly in the same level of passion than a certain role Bergman had in "Casablanca", and Dudley Nichols's script doesn't allow Cooper to shine beyond a certain archetype but it's another romance, another war, another story.

The minimalism of the scope makes the war closer to a guerrilla where men's principles and faith are put into a tough existential equation, where death can strike so quickly that it turns into something to accomplish, not to go through. That necessity raises the question of honor, integrity, bravery and It's interesting that the film's most vivid and powerful moment is the flashback told by Pilar about the previous revolution, when people could circle their former tyrants from the mayor office and one of them looking condescendingly at the vengeful crowd lost all dignity when he was thrown to the ravine. A sight of popular joy turns into a gross and morbid corrida of vengeance that turned the heroes off. When human life is so devalued that even the victory gets a pyrrhic taste. Beware of cheering your enemy's death for even it can mean the loss of your humanity, the bells might toll for thee.

Despite its length, the film manages to be consistently absorbing, mostly for the supporting players. And as someone who used to watch "Midnight Cinema" on French TV Sundays, with all the Hollywood legends' profiles scrolling under a beautiful violin music, It ended with Gary Cooper staring at Ingrid Bergman with her unforgettable short hair. I'm finally glad I could associate this image to a film, a classic of 1943, adapted from a classic I need to read now and definitely Golden Age material.

Ernest Hemingway was always fascinated by the armed conflicts on the European Continent. When the First World War broke out, he signed on to the International Red Cross to be an ambulance driver at the Italian front. Years later, during the bloody Spanish Civil War, he travelled to Madrid and Barcelona to cover that battle for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Hemingway then described his experiences in "For Whom the Bell Tolls". A book many critics rightly consider to be one of the author's most important works.

Paramount Pictures bought the film rights just a few years after "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was published. Something that wasn't popular in every circle. Organizations such as the "Legion of Decency" and "Free America" had already condemned Hemingway's book for its radical content. In addition, the Spanish consulate tried to stop the upcoming movie because they believed it gave an inaccurate view of what had happened during the conflict.

Aware of the problem, Paramount hired a group of writers who worked on the screenplay for months. By the time they finished, most of the political elements had disappeared from the story. Instead, the film concentrates on the action and on the love affair between Gary Cooper's and Ingrid Bergman's characters. The production team then moved on to the Sierra Nevada mountains for the outdoor scenes - a difficult location shoot that sent the movie way over budget.

Despite the criticism that the film painted a much too positive picture of the International Brigades, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" opened strongly in theaters across the United States. Most reviewers also gave it a positive rating, especially when talking about Gary Cooper's and Ingrid Bergman's performances in the lead roles. But in Spain, it was another matter. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" wasn't allowed to be shown in that country until well into the 1970s.

One of the most boring movies I've ever sat through. I kept waiting for some action, and finally got some at the end, but mostly what I saw was a middle aged yankee going bonkers over a very un-Spanish looking woman. There was an overabundance of arguing and infighting among the rebels which accounted for an overabundance of dreary dialogue. Had the entire film been as fast paced as the final 20 minutes, I would have been far more satisfied.