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Ernest Hemingway, the famous Americanwriter, was one of the representatives of “the lost generation”. He was good atdepicting the life and the inner world of “the lost generation”, especially theyouth. A Farewell to Arms is one of his masterpieces. Because of thesimilarities between the hero and Hemingway himself, many critics regard it asan autobiographical novel. The novel develops with the themes of war and love,exposing the brutality and absurdity of World War I, and the unforgettable painit caused. At the same time, Hemingway extolled beautiful and unselfish love.In an age filled with war and chaos, pure love served as a beacon in thedarkness, bringing hope, comfort and courage to people.
A Farewell to Arms is a tragic love story.It develops with the themes of war and love, describing the fate anddevelopment of different characters. The war is cruel, absurd and it isindifferent to man’s plight. While the beautiful love brings people hope andhelps them forget the painful experiences. Love can be an antidote for thepainful feelings of war, but it can not change the basic unforgiving hardnessof the world. In an indifferent and uncaring universe, love between Henry andCatherine, though beautiful, is doomed to failure. Actually, the title of thenovel is a pun. “Arms” may refer to the weapons as well as the arms of a lover.Henry not only made his farewell to the war, but also to his love.
As the title of the novel makes clear, AFarewell to Arms concerns itself primarily with the war, namely the process bywhich Hederic Henry removed himself from World War I and left it behind. Thenovel reveals the development of Hemingway’s philosophy of life—the universe is an unordered one. There is no God towatch over man, to dictate codes of morality, or to ensure justice. Instead,the universe is indifferent, sometimes even hostile to man’s plight. In thenovel, this indifference is best exemplified by the war—an ultimately futile struggle of man against man.There are no winners in a war, and there are no reasons behind the lives thatare taken.
Having witness the violence of the war andthe dramatic changes of his surrounding people, Henry decided to desert thearmy. Away from the war, Henry received a lot of help from the porter, Simmons,and Emelio. They helped him out of friendship and as a support to his farewellto arms. Other men, such as the proprietor of the wine shop, were willing tohelp him simply because he had the courage to desert the war. Therefore, it isquite clear that most civilians were sick of the war, and willing to doanything they could to help those who left the army.
A Farewell to Arms is one of the finestnovels coming out of the war, reflecting the widespread disillusionment withwar and a world that allowed such barbarity. To Hemingway the war was a botchcheerfully begun by men with romantic notions of glory and honor, but foughtwith savagery. And to the end, as soldiers risked their lives fighting theenemies, their leaders, safely away from the front, told tales of valor,patriotism and duty. Few of them thought about those soldiers who had becomecynical and disillusioned to the war.
For many years, David O. Selznick hadwanted to film the Hemingway novel, but Warner Bros. owned the property and refusedto sell it to him. He found himself in an advantageous bargaining position whenWarner Bros. bought the remake rights to A Star is born, to which he owned theforeign rights. Without them, the studio could not release their intendedremake with Judy Garland overseas. Selznick offered to relinquish his rights toStar in exchange for the rights to Farewell, and Warner Bros. agreed.
On October 25, 1956, Selznick contacteddirector John Huston at the Blue Haven Hotel in Tobagoand enthusiastically welcomed him to the project. He advised him his contractwith 20th Century Fox called for severe financial penalties if the film wentover schedule and budget, and urged him to concentrate wholly on the film untilprincipal filming was completed Elznick’s concerns increased as Huston began totinker with the script and spend an inordinate amount of time on pre-productionpreparations, and on March 19, 1957, he sent the director a lengthy memooutlining the problems he foresaw arising from Huston’s lack of cooperation. Twodays later, Huston announced he could not agree with Selznick on any of theissues he had raised and quit the project. Based on correspondence to CharlesVidor, it appears the producer's relationship with Huston’s replacement wasacrimonious as well. The producer later said the film was "not one of thejobs of which I am most proud.”
The film was shot on location in theItalian Alps, Venzone in the Provinceof Udine in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, and Rome. It was budgeted at $4,353,000, andgrossed little more than that.
According to Carlos Baker’s 1969 biographyErnest Hemingway: A Life Story, the Nobel Laureate was informed by Selznickthat he would receive a $50,000 bonus from any profits the movie made. Unhappyat Selznick’s nepotistic decision to cast his nearly 40-year-old wife as acharacter intended to be in her early 20s, he wrote back “If, by some chance your movie, whichfeatures the 38-year-old Mrs. Selznick as 24-year-old Catherine Barkley, doessucceed in earning $50,000, I suggest that you take all of that money down tothe local bank, have it converted to nickels, and then shove them up your assuntil they come out your mouth.”
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