A Farewell to Arms (1932 film) are passed over too abruptly, being suggested rather than told ... Gary Cooper gives an earnest and splendid portrayal [and] Helen Hayes is admirable as Catherine ... another clever characterization is contributed by Adolphe Menjou ... it is unfortunate that these three players, serving the picture so well, do not have the opportunity to figure in more really dramatic interludes." Dan Callahan of "Slant Magazine" notes, "Hemingway ... was grandly contemptuous of Frank Borzage's version of "A Farewell to Arms" ... but time has been kind to the film. It launders out the writer's ... pessimism and replaces it with
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber are on a big-game safari in generalized Africa. We know that the "gun-bearers" and "personal boys" speak Swahili and sometimes receive illegal lashings, as described by the white, professional hunter and guide, Robert Wilson. Earlier, Francis had panicked when a wounded lion charged him, and Margot mocks Macomber for this act of cowardice. Wilson is critical of Macomber, presented in interior monologue, but outwardly tries to shepherd Macomber toward a more accepted "code" practiced by experienced hunters. This is Francis' thirty-five-year-old "coming of age" story. In flashback, we experience Francis' cowardly run from his wounded and charging lion. We also