Oscars flashback: ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ turns 80

Susan King
·7 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Eight decades ago, the United States was in the second full year of World War II. And there was little escape from the horrors of the global conflict. The war even dominated cinema-seven of the top ten films of the year were war-themed. The second highest grossing film of the year was “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which opened on July 14, 1943, earning $6.3 million-nearly $3 million more than the beloved Oscar-winner “Casablanca,” which placed No 6 that year.

Paramount spared no expense bringing Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel set during the Spanish Civil War about Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer with a Republican guerrilla unit tasked with blowing up an important bridge. Hemingway witnessed the Spanish Civil War firsthand as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. In 1940, Paramount shelled out a staggering $150,000 for film rights. The New York Times wrote: “According to contract, Paramount paid Hemingway $100,000 for the property, agreeing to an additional 10 cents a copy for each volume sold up to 500,000.

More from GoldDerby

Paramount’s star director Cecil B. Demille was slated to direct the epic. But he left the film for another project that eventually wouldn’t be made. Sam Wood, who had directed such hits as the 1935 Marx Brothers’ classic “A Night at the Opera,” 1939’s “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” for which Robert Donat won the best actor Oscar and 1942’s “The Pride of the Yankees,” starring Gary Cooper in his Oscar-nominated role as Lou Gehrig.

Hemingway had modeled Robert Jordan after his buddy Cooper, who had starred in the 1932 adaptation of his “A Farewell to Arms.” He urged the studio to cast him as Jordan, as well Ingrid Bergman as Maria, the young Spanish woman he meets at the rebel camp who had been raped and her parents executed. New York City Ballet star Vera Zorina, who was married to George Balanchine at the time, was cast as Maria. According to TCM.com, though she was under contract to Paramount at the time she was best known for musical comedies such as the 1941 Bob Hope flick, “Louisiana Purchase.” Rumor has it that because she got the role because she was having a fling with someone in the executive suites at the studio

Meanwhile, Bergman was dying to play the role. While all the drama was going on at Paramount, she was at Warner Brothers making “Casablanca.” Zorina flamed out after three weeks of shooting on location in the Sierra Nevadas. Bergman wrote in her autobiography “Ingrid Bergman My Story” that she received a call from producer David O. Selznick’s office (she was under contract to Selznick at the time) about the movie. “Paramount wanted to test me. No, not an acting test. They knew about that, but how would I look with my  hair cut off.  I said I was willing to cut my head off for the part of Maria. I made the test on the day after we finished ‘Casablanca.’ They didn’t cut my hair, they just back-combed it and pinned it up.” She got the job and cut off her hair. Bergman’s closed-cropped curly hair became a thing at the local beauty parlors across the country.

Character actor Akim Tamiroff was cast as Pablo, the fiery leader of the guerrillas who are supposed to help Jordan in his mission.

There was just as much drama surrounding the casting of Pablo’s wife Pilar described by sparknotes.com as  the embodiment of “the earthiness, strength, and wisdom of the Spanish peasantry.” The most likable character in the novel, Pilar “pushes Robert Jordan and Maria’s romance, commands the allegiance of the guerilla fighters.” Paramount eventually cast venerable Greek actress Katina Paxinou, who had been on a theater tour in the U.S. when war broke out, stranding her in this country. At her audition, she informed everyone she came from  three generations of guerillas in her homeland.

When the Technicolor production opened, critics weren’t happy that they had diluted the political message to play up the romance between Robert and Maria. Part of the problem with the politics was the fact that the Francisco Franco’s Fascists won the war and were neutral during World War II. According to TCM.com., the Franco government applied pressure on Paramount to “rewrite history.  As a result, the film never clearly identifies Cooper and his allies as members of Spain’s liberal Republicans or the enemies as Franco’s soldiers.”

And besides, the romance between Robert and Maria is hot, though the production code put their foot down on some of the novel’s more adult aspects of their love story. But the earth moves between these two gorgeous film stars. Their chemistry just leaps of the screen.

Maria: “I do not know how to kiss or I would kiss you. Where do the noses go? Always I wonder here the noses will go.
(They kiss)
Maria: “They’re not in the way, are they? I always thought that they would be in the way. I love you Roberto. Always remember, I love you as I loved my father and mother, as I love our unborn children, as I love what I love most in the world, and I love you more. Always remember.”

Bergman admitted she was more than smitten with Coop: “There was something very fine, very good in his nature or it wouldn’t have come through on the screen with such reality-such sincerity.” And as someone remarked to her: “Really Ingrid, you must stop looking at him like that. You just sit there looking. I know you are supposed to be in love with him in the picture, but not too much in love with him.”

The film earned nine Oscar nominations including best film, actor, actress, supporting actress and actor. Wood was ignored. “Casablanca” was the big winner at the Oscar ceremony in 1944, winning best picture, director for Michael Curtiz and adapted screenplay. Paxinou took home the only Oscar for “Bell Tolls,” dedicating the award to her fellow actors at the Royal Theatre of Athens telling the star-studded audience. “I hope they are still alive. But I doubt it.”

Bergman would later ask Hemingway what he thought of the movie. Initially, she was thrilled when he said he had seen it five times. Then he explained he didn’t like it at all. “I went into see it. After I had seen the first five minutes, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I walked out. They had cut out all my best scenes and there was no point to it. Later I went back again because I thought I must see the whole movie. I saw a bit more, and again I walked out.  It took me five times to see that movie. That’s how much I liked it.”

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.