Farewell to Arms A (1932)

A fairly good adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel (by Benjamin Glazer 7th Heaven (1927) and Oliver H.P. Garrett) about two officers in World War I falling for the same nurse (played by Helen Hayes). Gary Cooper plays the one who wins her (no surprise here) Adolphe Menjou plays the Doctor who doesn’t. Some fairly improbable things plot-wise but blame Hemingway! The film was nominated for Best Picture & Art Direction Academy Awards and won Oscars for its Cinematography (Charles Lang’s only!) and Sound (Franklin Hansen’s only). It was directed by Frank Borzage.

The Doctor had initially found and desired a certain nurse (Hayes) but she reluctantly falls for another officer (Cooper) who’s also one of the Doctor’s friends. The jealous Doctor then conspires to separate the two before his friend is injured and sent to recover where the nurse is working. Once he recovers the lovers are separated again and the Doctor makes sure their correspondence is disrupted. However she has a reason for wanting to contact him and he risks desertion to find her.

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