THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701250046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 107 lines
ERNEST HEMINGWAY didn't like many of the movies that were made from his novels.
He did have a favorite, though, and a favorite movie star.
He liked what Hollywood did with his short story ``The Killers'' in 1946. The film made stars of both its leads, Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner.
Gardner, the legendary screen beauty, became a close friend of Hemingway's and starred in two other movie versions of his works, ``The Snows of Kilimanjaro'' and ``The Sun Also Rises.''
They met in a hospital in Italy where she was undergoing a gallstone operation and remained friends throughout their lives. In A.E. Hotchner's biography of Hemingway, Gardner said during that visit, ``Papa, I'm just floored you came to see me. I'm just a simple country girl.'' More accurately, she was the symbol of the expatriate American jet setter who walked out on Hollywood and became a European icon. She called him ``Papa'' and he called her ``Daughter'' for the rest of their lives. He recommended her for ``The Snows of Kilimanjaro.'' When he fatally shot himself, a bottle containing the actresses' gallstones was found displayed in the room.
During the filming of ``The Sun Also Rises'' in Mexico, she would secretly telephone him daily and complain about the film, saying ``Papa, you won't believe what they're doing to your book.'' Consequently, he made much trouble with the studio, which couldn't figure out where he was getting his information.
A critical look at the Hemingway films:
``A Farewell to Arms'' (1932) avoided the blood of World War I and cloaked the two lovers, Catherine Barkley and Lt. Henry (Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper), in respectability. Hemingway called it a sentimentalization.
``For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943) was advertised as ``the greatest production since `Gone With the Wind.' '' Hemingway suggested Ingrid Bergman for the role of Maria. Gary Cooper played Robert Jordan and Katina Paxinou won an Oscar as the underground fighter, Pilar. The film totally muddled the Spanish Civil War. Bergman was noticeably more Scandinavian than Spanish.
``To Have and Have Not'' (1944) starred Humphrey Bogart and marked the debut of Lauren Bacall. The locale of Key West was changed to Martinique. Instead of smuggling Chinese immigrants, Bogart, as a fishing boat captain, smuggled a Free French leader. Little of Hemingway's novel remained - except the title.
``The Killers'' (1946) was an elaboration of Hemingway's short story and was a critical smash. It was hailed as ``superb and hard-hitting melodrama. . sultry Kitty, a character created for the film, became a star.
``The Macomber Affair'' (1947) had Joan Bennett as an unfaithful wife who controlled her weak husband, Robert Preston, and had an affair with Gregory Peck, the guide on their African safari. It was faithful to Hemingway's short story ``The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.''
``Under My Skin'' (1950) was based on the story ``My Old Man'' about a young boy who discovers his father was a jerk. John Garfield played the father. The film was a sentimental tear-jerker in which the son discovers the father's indiscretions early on, destroying the surprise ending from the story. It also added a Parisian nightclub singer.
``The Breaking Point'' (1950) was a remake of ``To Have and Have Not,'' starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal. This time Key West was changed to California, but the substance of the novel was much more present than in the first movie version.
``The Snows of Kilimanjaro'' (1952). Perhaps the least faithful to the original work, this film nonetheless captures the spirit of Hemingway, borrowing ideas from many other works. A huge box office success, it is arguably the most popular of all the film adaptations of his work. Gregory Peck plays Harry Street, a writer dying from a leg infection suffered on a hunting expedition near Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. Casey Robinson expanded the short story to include three flashback romances. Susan Hayward played his rich wife but Ava Gardner stole the film as a likable expatriate American whom he meets in Paris.
``The Sun Also Rises'' (1957) was most difficult to film because the novel's power is more in what it did NOT say. Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Eddie Albert and Mel Ferrer played members of Hemingway's ``lost generation'' from Spain's bullfights to the Riviera. Filmed in Mexico, it was generally felt that the cast members were too old.
``A Farewell to Arms'' (1958) was a huge David O. Selznick production with a cast of thousands, made mostly to feature the producer's wife, Jennifer Jones. Jones was too neurotic as Catherine Barkley and Rock Hudson was too schoolboyish as Henry. The film was a critical disaster but made money anyway. John Huston walked off the set and was replaced by Charles Vidor.
``The Old Man and the Sea'' (1958) featured one of Spencer Tracy's finest performances and proved that a simple story could still be made into an epic movie. Directed by John Sturges, it's the story of the old man who ventures too far out to sea after weeks of failure, and hooks a giant marlin. Tracy was nominated for an Oscar, but the film was a box office flop.
``The Gun Runner'' (1958) was the third film version of ``To Have and Have Not.'' This one starred Audie Murphy and kept the Key West-Cuba setting of the original story. Directed by Don Siegel.
``Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man'' (1962) Episodic dramas based on the author's Nick Adams stories were marred by glossy direction from Martin Ritt and the miscasting of Richard Beymer (``West Side Story,'' ``Twin Peaks'') in the Nick Adams role. The cast included Paul Newman, Susan Strasberg, Dan Dailey, Ricardo Montalban, Diane Baker, Jessica Tandy. Only Hemingway's popularity could have prompted such a mish-mash.
``The Killers'' (1964) A remake which is notable because it was the last film of Ronald Reagan before he went full-time into politics - and it was one of the only films in which he played a villain. Angie Dickinson and Lee Marvin also starred.
``Islands in the Stream'' (1977) George C. Scott plays American painter Thomas Hudson in what amounts to two movies. The first concerns a broken family and the three sons who come to live with their father. The second half is an action-adventure. Scott was made up to look like the author, persuading many to think this was autobiography. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
George C. Scott, right, starred in ``Islands in the Stream.''