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{{Short description|1943 film by Sam Wood}}
{{Infobox Film |
name = For Whom the Bell Tolls | {{Other uses|For Whom the Bell Tolls (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox film
image = For_whom_movieposter.jpg|
| name = For Whom the Bell Tolls
image_size= 150px|
| image = For_whom_movieposter.jpg
caption= original film poster|
imdb_id = 0035896| | alt =
director = ] | | caption = Theatrical release poster
distributor = ] | | director = ]
| producer = Sam Wood
writer = ] (novel)<br>] |
| screenplay = ]
starring = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>] |
| based_on = {{based on|'']''|]}}
released = ], ] |
runtime = 170 min. | | starring = {{Plainlist|
* ]
language = ] |
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
}}
| music = ]
| cinematography = ]
| editing = {{Plainlist|
* ]
* ]
}}
| studio = ]
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1943|07|14|], premiere}}<ref name="AFI">{{cite web |url= https://catalog.afi.com/Film/437-FOR-WHOMTHEBELLTOLLS?sid=ee60e25f-6aa5-4614-8b57-e2d2f048bbfe&sr=15.419929&cp=1&pos=0 |title=For Whom the Bells Tolls |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=2024-07-11}}</ref>
| runtime = 170 minutes (19 reels)
| color_process = ]
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $3 million<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Mounting costs of film|url=https://archive.org/details/variety150-1943-04/page/n52/mode/1up?|page=5|date=14 April 1943|access-date=9 August 2024}}</ref>
| gross = $17.8 million (worldwide)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety221-1961-01/page/n48/mode/1up|title=All-Time Top Grosses|magazine=]|date=January 4, 1961|volume=221|issue=6|page=49|issn=0042-2738|access-date=2022-06-26|via=]}}</ref><ref name="Variety">{{cite magazine|date=October 15, 1990|title=All Time Film Rental Champs|magazine=]|issn=0042-2738|page=M-158|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref>
}} }}


'''''For Whom the Bell Tolls''''' is a ] film based on the ] by ]. It stars ], ], ] and ]. The movie was adapted by ], and directed by ]. Great attention to detail in keeping with the accurate depiction and the novel's successful translation to film was aided by Hemingway himself, who was present on the set during filming. '''''For Whom the Bell Tolls''''' is a 1943 American ] ] produced and directed by ] and starring ], ], ], ] and ]. The screenwriter ] based his script on the 1940 novel '']'' by American novelist ]. The film is about an American ] volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the ] against the ]. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman).


''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' was Ingrid Bergman's first ] film. Hemingway's desire for Cooper and Bergman for the leading roles was much publicized, but Paramount initially cast ] with Cooper. After shooting footage with Zorina's hair cut short (truer to the novel's character—a shorn head—than Bergman's "look" in the film), she was replaced with Bergman.<ref>"Ingrid Bergman Replaces Zorina." '']'', 5 August 1942.</ref>
==Awards==
The movie won the ] (Katina Paxinou) and was nominated for ] (Gary Cooper), ] (Akim Tamiroff), ] (Ingrid Bergman), ], ], ], ] and ].


''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' was nominated for nine ], including ]. The film claimed one win as Katina Paxinou won Best Supporting Actress. ]'s soundtrack for the film was the first complete score from an American film to be issued on record.<ref>Patrick Robinson. 1980. ''Movie Facts and Feats: A Guinness Record Book''.</ref>
==Other Versions==

There was a ] version broadcast on ], ] and retained Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Akim Tamiroff for their respective characters.
==Plot==
During the ], an American language teacher, Robert Jordan, who lived in Spain during the pre-war period, fights in the ] against ]'s forces. An experienced dynamiter, Jordan is ordered to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a critical bridge with the aid of a band of local anti-fascist ]. The bridge must be blown up to prevent enemy troops from traveling across it to respond to an upcoming offensive against the fascists.

]
Jordan meets an old man, Anselmo, who is a guerrilla fighter who will serve as Jordan's liaison with the local guerrilla fighters. Anselmo leads Jordan to a group of Republican guerrillas who are led by a middle-aged man named Pablo. Jordan falls in love with one of the guerrillas, a young woman named María. María's life was shattered by her parents' execution and her gang-rape at the hands of the ] (part of the ]) at the outbreak of the war. Jordan has a strong sense of duty, which clashes with the unwillingness of the guerrilla leader Pablo to commit to helping with the bridge-blowing operation, as it would endanger him and his band. At the same time, Jordan develops a new-found lust for life which arises from his love for María. Pablo's wife Pilar displaces Pablo as the group leader and pledges the guerrillas' allegiance to Jordan's mission. However, when another band of anti-fascist guerrillas, led by El Sordo, is surrounded and killed in a desperate ], Pablo destroys Jordan's dynamite detonation equipment, hoping to prevent the bridge demolition and thereby avoid fascist reprisals on his camp. Later, Pablo regrets abandoning his comrades and returns to assist in the operation.

]), who acts as Robert Jordan's guide.]]
However, the enemy, apprised of the coming offensive, has prepared to ambush the Republicans in force and it seems unlikely that blowing up the bridge will do much to prevent a ]. Regardless, Jordan understands that he must still demolish the bridge in an attempt to prevent fascist reinforcements from overwhelming his allies. Lacking the equipment destroyed by Pablo, Jordan and Anselmo improvise an alternative method to explode the dynamite by using ]s. Jordan attaches wires to the grenades so that their pins can be pulled from a distance. This improvised plan is considerably more dangerous than using conventional detonators, because the men must increase their proximity to the explosion.

While the guerrilla fighters—Pablo, Pilar, and María—create a diversion for Jordan and Anselmo, the two men plant and detonate the dynamite, costing Anselmo his life when he is hit by a piece of debris from the falling bridge. While the guerrillas are escaping on horseback, Jordan is maimed when a fascist tank shoots his horse out from under him. Jordan cannot feel his legs and he knows that if his comrades stop to rescue him, they too will be captured or killed. He bids goodbye to María and ensures that she escapes to safety with the surviving guerrillas. Armed with a ], he waits until the horse-mounted fascist soldiers appear in his gun sights. He then pulls the trigger, firing a sweeping barrage at the oncoming soldiers. The film ends with Jordan firing the Lewis gun directly at the camera.

==Cast==
]
{{Cast listing|
* ] as Robert Jordan
* ] as María
* ] as Pablo
* ] as Agustín
* ] as Anselmo, the guide
* ] as Rafael, the gypsy
* ] as Fernando
* Eric Feldary as Andrés, the courier
* ] as Primitivo, the lookout
* ] as El Sordo
* Lilo Yarson as Joaquin
* ] as Pilar
* ] as Paco
* Adia Kuznetzoff as Gustavo
* Leonid Snegoff as Ignacio
* Leo Bulgakov as General ]
* ] as Lieutenant Berrendo
* ] as Captain Gomez
* ] as Colonel Miranda
* ] as Staff Officer
* ] as Captain Mora
* ] as The Sniper
* ] as Colonel Duval
* ] as Kashkin
}}

==Production==
Paramount Pictures initially cast actress ] opposite Cooper before replacing her with Bergman. The day's papers described the recasting: "They compromised on Zorina's hair, cutting it to two inches; the rest of the makeup was true to the book. The results were shown to Paramount executives. They gasped. 'No glamour,' they explained. 'She looks like a dishrag.' Sam Wood, producer-director, sighed. 'The part doesn't call for glamour,' he tried to explain. 'Well, she ought to have glamour without looking like it.' They tried it. They put caps on Zorina's teeth, touched up her facial makeup with a bit of mascara here and there, tailored the baggy pants to a slim hip, and gave the shirt an uplift. She looked more like the lovely Zorina but not at all like the hapless 'Maria.' They gave up. Miss Bergman was tested for the part. The tests were made with her hair long and the executives beamed. She looked glamorous. Tomorrow they will cut her hair short. They will dress her in baggy pants and a formless shirt. After that, no one knows."<ref>"Zorina Loses Role of 'Maria' When Makeup Loses Glamour." Buffalo Evening News, 5 August 1942. (A widely-syndicated United Press article)</ref>

===Restoration===
The film was originally released in a ] format, at 170 minutes (not counting intermission). For re-release, it was trimmed to 134 minutes, and it was not seen at its full length until the late 1990s, when it was archivally restored to 168 minutes. This restored version is the one that has been released on ]. The restoration was photochemical, not digital, and the titles and some of the scenes in the early reels are slightly to significantly out-of-register.

==Reception==
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' was ], earning $6.3 million in distributor rentals in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety163-1946-09#page/n180/mode/1up|title=All-Time Top Grossers|work=]|date=September 25, 1946|page=5}}</ref> A re-issue in 1957 earned an additional $800,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety209-1958-01#page/n4/mode/1up|work=]|date=January 1, 1958|page=5|title='For Whom the Bell Tolls' (1943) Estimated Repeat Take, $800,000|access-date=February 22, 2019}}</ref> When adjusted for inflation and the size of the population when released, it ranks among the top 100 popular movies of all time at the domestic box office.<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 100 Movies 1927-2021 by Box Office Popularity|url=https://www.bestmoviesof.com/article/Top_100_Box_Office|website=Best Movies Of}}</ref>

''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' holds a 67% rating on ] based on fifteen reviews.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/for_whom_the_bell_tolls | title=For Whom the Bell Tolls &#124; Rotten Tomatoes | website=] }}</ref>

==Accolades==

===16th Academy Awards===
;Wins<ref name="Oscar">{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1944 |title=The 16th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners|access-date=2014-02-27|work=]}}</ref><ref name="NY Times">{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/91991/For-Whom-the-Bell-Tolls/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017225605/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/91991/For-Whom-the-Bell-Tolls/awards |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-10-17 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=] |date=2012 |title=NY Times: For Whom the Bell Tolls |access-date=2008-12-16}}</ref>
]
* ]: Katina Paxinou

;Nominations
* ]: Paramount
* ]: Gary Cooper
* ]: Ingrid Bergman
* ]: Akim Tamiroff
* ]: ]
* ]: ''Art Direction:'' ], ]; ''Interior Decoration:'' ]
* ]: Sherman Todd, ]
* ]: ]

===1st Golden Globe Awards===
Wins

* ]: Katina Paxinou
* ]: Akim Tamiroff

==Other versions==
There was a one-hour '']'' version broadcast on February 12, 1945, which retained the principal cast from the film: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Akim Tamiroff.<ref name="Toledo">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2O0iAAAAIBAJ&pg=3091%2C1412544&q=Ingrid+Bergman+Gary+Cooper+Whom+Bell+Tolls |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Monday Selections |page=4 (Peach Section) |newspaper=Toledo Blade (Ohio) |date=1945-02-12 |access-date=2021-07-16 }}</ref>

==See also==
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. ''The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film'' (2nd ed. 2005) pp 133–135.


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{imdb title|id=35896|title=For Whom the Bell Tolls}}
* {{IMDb title}}
*{{tcmdb title|id=75353|title=For Whom the Bell Tolls}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{Mojo title}}


===Streaming audio===
{{1940s-drama-film-stub}}
* February 12, 1945 on ]; 50 minutes, with the original stars (])
<!-- Gary Cooper -->
<!-- Ingrid Bergman -->
<!-- Akim Tamiroff -->
<!-- Katina Paxinou -->


{{Sam Wood}}
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{{Dudley Nichols}}
]
{{Ernest Hemingway}}
]
{{Authority control}}
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Latest revision as of 18:10, 27 December 2024

1943 film by Sam Wood For other uses, see For Whom the Bell Tolls (disambiguation).
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySam Wood
Screenplay byDudley Nichols
Based onFor Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
Produced bySam Wood
Starring
CinematographyRay Rennahan
Edited by
Music byVictor Young
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company		Paramount Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
Running time170 minutes (19 reels)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million
Box office$17.8 million (worldwide)

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 American epic war film produced and directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia. The screenwriter Dudley Nichols based his script on the 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film is about an American International Brigades volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman).

For Whom the Bell Tolls was Ingrid Bergman's first Technicolor film. Hemingway's desire for Cooper and Bergman for the leading roles was much publicized, but Paramount initially cast Vera Zorina with Cooper. After shooting footage with Zorina's hair cut short (truer to the novel's character—a shorn head—than Bergman's "look" in the film), she was replaced with Bergman.

For Whom the Bell Tolls was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film claimed one win as Katina Paxinou won Best Supporting Actress. Victor Young's soundtrack for the film was the first complete score from an American film to be issued on record.

Plot

During the Spanish Civil War, an American language teacher, Robert Jordan, who lived in Spain during the pre-war period, fights in the International Brigades against Francisco Franco's forces. An experienced dynamiter, Jordan is ordered to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a critical bridge with the aid of a band of local anti-fascist guerrillas. The bridge must be blown up to prevent enemy troops from traveling across it to respond to an upcoming offensive against the fascists.

The guerrilla fighters plan their mission.

Jordan meets an old man, Anselmo, who is a guerrilla fighter who will serve as Jordan's liaison with the local guerrilla fighters. Anselmo leads Jordan to a group of Republican guerrillas who are led by a middle-aged man named Pablo. Jordan falls in love with one of the guerrillas, a young woman named María. María's life was shattered by her parents' execution and her gang-rape at the hands of the Falangists (part of the fascist coalition) at the outbreak of the war. Jordan has a strong sense of duty, which clashes with the unwillingness of the guerrilla leader Pablo to commit to helping with the bridge-blowing operation, as it would endanger him and his band. At the same time, Jordan develops a new-found lust for life which arises from his love for María. Pablo's wife Pilar displaces Pablo as the group leader and pledges the guerrillas' allegiance to Jordan's mission. However, when another band of anti-fascist guerrillas, led by El Sordo, is surrounded and killed in a desperate last stand, Pablo destroys Jordan's dynamite detonation equipment, hoping to prevent the bridge demolition and thereby avoid fascist reprisals on his camp. Later, Pablo regrets abandoning his comrades and returns to assist in the operation.

The old man Anselmo (played by Vladimir Sokoloff), who acts as Robert Jordan's guide.

However, the enemy, apprised of the coming offensive, has prepared to ambush the Republicans in force and it seems unlikely that blowing up the bridge will do much to prevent a rout. Regardless, Jordan understands that he must still demolish the bridge in an attempt to prevent fascist reinforcements from overwhelming his allies. Lacking the equipment destroyed by Pablo, Jordan and Anselmo improvise an alternative method to explode the dynamite by using hand grenades. Jordan attaches wires to the grenades so that their pins can be pulled from a distance. This improvised plan is considerably more dangerous than using conventional detonators, because the men must increase their proximity to the explosion.

While the guerrilla fighters—Pablo, Pilar, and María—create a diversion for Jordan and Anselmo, the two men plant and detonate the dynamite, costing Anselmo his life when he is hit by a piece of debris from the falling bridge. While the guerrillas are escaping on horseback, Jordan is maimed when a fascist tank shoots his horse out from under him. Jordan cannot feel his legs and he knows that if his comrades stop to rescue him, they too will be captured or killed. He bids goodbye to María and ensures that she escapes to safety with the surviving guerrillas. Armed with a Lewis machine gun, he waits until the horse-mounted fascist soldiers appear in his gun sights. He then pulls the trigger, firing a sweeping barrage at the oncoming soldiers. The film ends with Jordan firing the Lewis gun directly at the camera.

Cast

Guerrilla fighters Robert Jordan (Cooper) and Maria (Bergman) embrace.

Production

Paramount Pictures initially cast actress Vera Zorina opposite Cooper before replacing her with Bergman. The day's papers described the recasting: "They compromised on Zorina's hair, cutting it to two inches; the rest of the makeup was true to the book. The results were shown to Paramount executives. They gasped. 'No glamour,' they explained. 'She looks like a dishrag.' Sam Wood, producer-director, sighed. 'The part doesn't call for glamour,' he tried to explain. 'Well, she ought to have glamour without looking like it.' They tried it. They put caps on Zorina's teeth, touched up her facial makeup with a bit of mascara here and there, tailored the baggy pants to a slim hip, and gave the shirt an uplift. She looked more like the lovely Zorina but not at all like the hapless 'Maria.' They gave up. Miss Bergman was tested for the part. The tests were made with her hair long and the executives beamed. She looked glamorous. Tomorrow they will cut her hair short. They will dress her in baggy pants and a formless shirt. After that, no one knows."

Restoration

The film was originally released in a roadshow format, at 170 minutes (not counting intermission). For re-release, it was trimmed to 134 minutes, and it was not seen at its full length until the late 1990s, when it was archivally restored to 168 minutes. This restored version is the one that has been released on DVD. The restoration was photochemical, not digital, and the titles and some of the scenes in the early reels are slightly to significantly out-of-register.

Reception

For Whom the Bell Tolls was the second-highest-grossing film of 1943, earning $6.3 million in distributor rentals in the United States and Canada. A re-issue in 1957 earned an additional $800,000. When adjusted for inflation and the size of the population when released, it ranks among the top 100 popular movies of all time at the domestic box office.

For Whom the Bell Tolls holds a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on fifteen reviews.

Accolades

16th Academy Awards

Wins
Robert Jordan (Cooper) rigs the bridge with explosives.
Nominations

1st Golden Globe Awards

Wins

Other versions

There was a one-hour Lux Radio Theatre version broadcast on February 12, 1945, which retained the principal cast from the film: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Akim Tamiroff.

See also

References

  1. "For Whom the Bells Tolls". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  2. "Mounting costs of film". Variety. 14 April 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. "All-Time Top Grosses". Variety. Vol. 221, no. 6. January 4, 1961. p. 49. ISSN 0042-2738. Retrieved 2022-06-26 – via Archive.org.
  4. Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M-158. ISSN 0042-2738.
  5. "Ingrid Bergman Replaces Zorina." The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 August 1942.
  6. Patrick Robinson. 1980. Movie Facts and Feats: A Guinness Record Book.
  7. "Zorina Loses Role of 'Maria' When Makeup Loses Glamour." Buffalo Evening News, 5 August 1942. (A widely-syndicated United Press article)
  8. "All-Time Top Grossers". Variety. September 25, 1946. p. 5.
  9. "'For Whom the Bell Tolls' (1943) Estimated Repeat Take, $800,000". Variety. January 1, 1958. p. 5. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  10. "Top 100 Movies 1927-2021 by Box Office Popularity". Best Movies Of.
  11. "For Whom the Bell Tolls | Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
  12. "The 16th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  13. "NY Times: For Whom the Bell Tolls". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  14. "Monday Selections". Toledo Blade (Ohio). 1945-02-12. p. 4 (Peach Section). Retrieved 2021-07-16.

Further reading

  • Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005) pp 133–135.

External links

Streaming audio

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