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For Whom the Bell Tolls  /  The Spanish Earth

For Whom the Bell Tolls
July 24, 2016 - 7:00 pm

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The David and Lucille Packard Foundation

For Whom the Bell Tolls  (1943)


Ernest Hemingway’s novel about the Republican resistance, based on his experience in Spain while The Spanish Earth (1937) was in production, was filmed by director Sam Wood (ironically, a noted anti-Communist) and stripped of much of its political specificity.  Nonetheless it constituted Hollywood's only popular treatment of the war, and was prohibited in Spain until after the death of Franco.  UCLA Film & Television Archive’s restoration adds several minutes to truncated versions that were circulated for years, and will be presented with entry music and an intermission.

35mm, color, 157 min.  DIR: Sam Wood.  SCR: Dudley Nichols.  CAST: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff.

The Spanish Earth  (1937)


Orson Welles' narration of the original version of The Spanish Earth (1937), considered too emphatic by the film's producers, led to the organization of this first release version narrated by Ernest Hemingway.  Minor changes were made to the spoken text; also the removal of praise for the Popular Front, which at the time of its formation included factions that went against Moscow's orthodoxy.

16mm, b/w, 53 min.  DIR: Joris Ivens.