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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 069

A Farewell to Arms

193288 minUnited States
RomanceDramaBiography
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
English
This copy runs
88:55
Subtitles
English

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Synopsis

An American ambulance driver and an English nurse meet on the Italian front during the First World War. Their tentative attraction becomes a relationship that military duty repeatedly interrupts. Frank Borzage's adaptation concentrates on the couple's effort to create a private refuge while the wider conflict keeps dictating the terms of their lives.

Cast

DirectorsFrank Borzage

Inspirations

The film adapts Ernest Hemingway's novel and the stage version by Laurence Stallings. Hemingway's wartime experience informed the book, but the lovers and their story remain literary constructions. Frank Borzage's direction places particular emphasis on the romance within the war setting.

Reception and legacy

The production won Academy Awards for cinematography and sound recording. Those awards recognise two important parts of its effect: expressive visual composition and the relatively new possibilities of sound cinema.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

WikipediaInternet Archive

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

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