Rating: 
Summary: A Classic!
Review: It's excellent. The movie has the best acted and scripted characterization that I've seen in a movie. It's set in the Spanish civil war in 1937. A Canadian national, played by Gary Cooper is sent on a mission to blow up a bridge. He needs the aid and cooperation of the local people. Ingrid Bergman plays an innocent Spanish girl who is hanging with the locals after having been released or escaped from being jailed by the fascists.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: It's excellent. The movie has the best acted and scripted characterization that I've seen in a movie. It's set in the Spanish civil war in 1937. A Canadian national, played by Gary Cooper is sent on a mission to blow up a bridge. He needs the aid and cooperation of the local people. Ingrid Bergman plays an innocent Spanish girl who is hanging with the locals after having been released or escaped from being jailed by the fascists.
Rating:
Summary: INGRID AND GARY FOREVER
Review: No doubt about it ! This DVD deserves a perfect 5 (this is the second that I give after ROBOCOP director's cut). 130 minutes of absolute pleasure with actors who were real stars : Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper. The colors are wonderful, the scenery superb and the musical score terrific. But I hear someone out there complaining : Gosh ! It's a 1943 movie, an antiquity. Don't be afraid, you will not be disappointed. There are also in this movie explosions, gunfires and even torrid love scenes. Just observe how Ingrid Bergman plays with her hair in order to seduce Gary and you will forget all the actual little starlets. This story of a three-days love affair during the spain civil war is about idealism, self-sacrifice and hope. Themes that , I agree, are not specially "in" in 1998 but were developed by Ernest Hemingway, one of the best american writers. A healthy DVD in order to clean our eyes and ears.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Film: Not Deserving of "Full Screen" treatment
Review: Read all other reviews of this film for film's brilliance, Gary Cooper's performance, etc. . However, what is bothersome, as good a reproduction this film is, is that it's reproduced in Full Frame NOT theatrical format as when the film was released or widescreen which, particularly in the case of such a brilliant film as this, it is a cinematic crime not to release a true to intent vesion of any film as visualized/composed by the Director and cinematographer. I cannot understand companies that go to all the trouble to make a film like this transfer to DVD so well and overlook the obvious: showing the film's original parameters as well.There are other film's I refuse to purchase simply because of the destruction of the film's composition that Full Frame productions foist upon the artists who created such cinematic greats. Had a truer visual format been availableI would have purchased it, however, this is one exception that I had to buy because of the overall brilliance of the work. Here is hoping that the future will bring a even greater reproduction of the original intent of the film's entire LOOK.
Rating:
Summary: A Love Story and An Anti-War Film
Review: The more I watch FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS the more I appreciate it. Although the movie drags a bit in places - especially in the beginning - the suspense and action eventually build to a magnificant climax making the wait worthwhile. The film deserves its many Academy Award nominations. Gary Cooper is an excellent choice for Robert Jordan, an idealistic college instructor who joins the loyalist cause as a demolition expert. Ingrid Bergman is so good in the role of the young Maria that it is actually possible to forget that she is Swedish and not Spanish. I can't remember ever seeing much better acting than that of Cooper and Bergman in their final scene together. Of course there are many other memorable moments in this movie such as El Sordo's last stand on a hill against the Fascist forces. Katina Paxinou received an Academy Award for best supporting actress as Pilar who is one of the guerilla leaders and a thoroughly liberated female Gypsy. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS is faithful to Hemingway's novel. The special effects are excellent for their time. However, the army tanks in particular seem to be very unconvincing. Sam Wood was an outstanding director. He also directed PRIDE OF THE YANKEES and the original GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS with Robert Donat and Greer Garson. Above all FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS is a love story. It is also an anti-war film and a story told mostly about guerillas fighting on the losing side in the Spanish Civil War.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film: Not Deserving of "Full Screen" treatment
Review: The most annoying part of the mvie is the casting. Robert Jordan is supposed to be a young blonde man, in his late 20's about, and Maria is supposed to be a 19 year old Spanish girl. Obviously, the movie missed that. The other actors fit farely well, but a lot of the accents were horrible. Also, the book always seemed to somehow use the love between Maria and Robert as a subplot. Robert's conflict with Pablo was just as important. The movie, however, is purely a love story. Overall I thought the book was decent, but slow moving. The movie was worse. Almost 3 hours of nothing. On a final note, to the person who said Jordan should be showing some signs of pain, and that it's ridiculous that he's so calm, read the book. His nerve is severed from the break. Can't feel a thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to Pinpoint
Review: The most annoying part of the mvie is the casting. Robert Jordan is supposed to be a young blonde man, in his late 20's about, and Maria is supposed to be a 19 year old Spanish girl. Obviously, the movie missed that. The other actors fit farely well, but a lot of the accents were horrible. Also, the book always seemed to somehow use the love between Maria and Robert as a subplot. Robert's conflict with Pablo was just as important. The movie, however, is purely a love story. Overall I thought the book was decent, but slow moving. The movie was worse. Almost 3 hours of nothing. On a final note, to the person who said Jordan should be showing some signs of pain, and that it's ridiculous that he's so calm, read the book. His nerve is severed from the break. Can't feel a thing.
Rating:
Summary: a great Hemingway adaptation
Review: When Hemingway picked Cooper and Bergman for this 1943 film, he couldn't have done better. They're heavenly to look at, and the chemistry between them is palpable. The dialogue has retained the style of the book, and they make it so natural, which is not an easy feat. Set in 1937 Spain, this Civil War story is an action packed adventure, but above all, it's a love story. Terrific cinematography by Ray Rennahan, a good atmospheric score by Victor Young, and a slew of interesting character actors (Katina Paxinou won the Oscar for best supporting actress) back the magnificent leads.
Cooper is not only gorgeous, but gives a subtle, lovely performance, and Bergaman, looking younger than her 29 years with her short, curly hair, is luminous...I love the scene where she gets her first kiss, and says "I always wondered where the noses went". Directed by Sam Wood, who a year earlier had directed one of Cooper's most famous films, "The Pride of the Yankees" (and in '45, was to team again with Cooper and Bergman in "Saratoga Trunk"), did a wonderful job with Hemingway's novel...it stands up to many viewings, and is a must for Cooper and Bergman fans.
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