A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

  • 88% of critics liked it
    (8 reviews)

  • 47% of users liked it
    (5,461 ratings)

This first film version of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms stars Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Cooper plays Lt. Frederick Henry, a World War I officer who falls in love with English Red Cross nurse Catherine Barkley (Hayes)-after first mistaking her for a woman of ill repute.… More

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Benjamin Glazer
Genres
Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics
In Theaters
Dec 8, 1932 Wide
Gravitas

Critic Reviews

  • Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine

    Tissue-thin as these things go, Kino's wafer of a Blu-ray production earns its keep with a fine transfer of a Borzage barnburner.

  • Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

    Noted by many as the best film version of a Hemingway novel.

  • Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

    The first Hemingway novel made into a Hollywood film is also one of the better ones due to Gary Cooper's star turn and Borzage's stylized helming, even if a happy ending was imposed against the author's wishes and protests.

  • Dan Callahan, Slant Magazine

    Cooper and Hays bring Borzage's liking for towering, vulnerable men and tiny, tough women to its visual apotheosis (her head barely reaches his armpit when they walk).

  • Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies

    It's not as good as the book, but it succeeds in its own right, which is really all I ask of adaptations.

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See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • AJ V


    Very long and very melodramatic! Good actors and a realistic story, but it was too melodramatic for my taste.

  • jay n


    Creaky antique with mismatched stars is interesting in how much more openly the couples sexual relationship is portrayed than it would have been just a few years later when the production code had gone into effect. Otherwise it isn't anything to go out of your way to watch.

  • Universal D


    it's a '30's HOLLYWOOD movie, not the hemingway book, so first get over your lit pretensions. if you can manage that small grace, then this is a quiet and precious film, surprising because it's not cooper that stars, no, but helen hayes who makes every scene… More

  • danny d


    a solid portrayal of one of my favorite novels of all time. much of the most impactful war narrative from the source material was removed, but thats understandable since the love story is the most important part and the film was only 90 minutes. what was included was done well and… More

  • Walter M


    [font=Century Gothic][color=navy]"A Farewell to Arms" starts out in Itay in World War I. Catherine(Helen Hayes) is a nurse from England. Frederic(Gary Cooper) is an expatriate from the United States, former architecture student and now an ambulance driver. They meet and… More

Read all 6 featured audience ratings

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