The Snows of Kilimanjaro/Farewell to Arms DVD

The Snows Of Kilimanjaro: This lavish big-budget blockbuster combined tales from Ernest Hemingway's life with Papa's already famous autobiographical novel of the same name. As Harry (Gregory Peck) lies wounded and delirious in an African campsite at the foot of the snow-covered slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro he recounts the story of his life in a series of flashbacks. Writing women and big-game hunting - these are the things that have defined and dominated his existence. In pursuit of all three he has travelled the globe from the salons of Bohemian Paris to the battlefields... of Spain to the plains of Africa. Now in the shadow of the greatest mountain and his own approaching death from gangrene he tries to make sense of his failures. Few Hemingway novels play as well onscreen as they do on paper but under the direction of Henry King Peck and Susan Hayward who plays Harry's devoted beau turn in inspired performances but both are eclipsed by Ava Gardner as Cynthia the love he lost. A Farewell To Arms: Ernest Hemingway's tragic story was first brought to the screen in 1932 by Frank Borzage in a surprisingly sophisticated and respectful form. The director brilliantly alternates objective and subjective camerawork (for which Charles Lang won and Oscar) and obtains superior performances from his leading players Helen Hayes as the British nurse and the sublimely handsome and charming American Ambulance driver Gary Cooper. The storyline was difficult to get past the censors even in pre-code days but Paramount managed to release the film with only brief cuts. However the studio fretted that audiences would not accept the novel's bleak finale and insisted that Borzage film an alternate 'happy' ending. [show more]

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