A Farewell to Arms (1957 film) A Farewell to Arms (1957 film) A Farewell to Arms is a 1957 American DeLuxe Color CinemaScope drama film directed by Charles Vidor. The screenplay by Ben Hecht, based in part on a 1930 play by Laurence Stallings, was the second feature film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 1929 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. It was the last film produced by David O. Selznick. An earlier film version starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson) is an American officer serving in an ambulance unit for the Italian Army during World War I. While recovering from a wound
A Farewell to Arms (1957 film) Hecht script and Selznick's invariable tendency to overkill are equally to blame." In his review of the DVD release, Jeremiah Kipp of "Slant Magazine" awarded the film two out of a possible five stars and stated, "To those willing to endure "A Farewell To Arms": Don't be a hero! . . . We have David O. Selznick to blame for this bloated two-hour-plus Technicolor remake, announcing from the larger-than-life opening credits set against epic shots of sunsets, mountains, and valleys that he's aiming for another "Gone with the Wind" . . . without compelling lovers at the heart of his