drhersh Any book, novel, movie, narrative, consists of a protagonist, opposition and a desire line that drives it forward. Along the way, there will be a climax and a revelation that changes the main character in unexpected ways. The stakes should be high for the main character, and their challenge significant. Here we have no plot whatsoever for about 1.5 hours and then a tepid "fight" of three men for one woman. There is no tension, and no real struggle forward. Some wonderful acting by Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert. Prolonged scenes of bullfights might have been novel in the 1950's but are plodding and dull additions to a dud of a film. The rotten tomatoes review of 37% is generous.

HotToastyRag As much as I didn't enjoy reading Ernest Hemingway's novel, I'm so glad I read it before watching the film adaptation of The Sun Also Rises. It's as tailor made to Ava Gardner as The Great Gatsby was to Robert Redford. I can't help but believe Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald borrowed Jules Verne's time machine, met Ava and Bob, then travelled back to the 1920s and wrote their respective novels. Had I skipped the novel, I would have dismissed the movie as incredibly boring with unlikable characters and a leading lady with no class, low morals, and a sea of unexplained admirers. But that was the core of the book! Peter Viertel's adaptation of the novel was fantastic, keeping the characters and integral dialogues intact but writing scenes that actually flowed and made the audience care about the story-something that was sorely lacking in the novel. Also, a key plot point in the story-the lead character's impotence-was only mentioned once in the novel, and the vague reference went over my head. It wasn't until I was able to follow Viertel's screenplay that I understood the main character's motivations better.Speaking of impotence, that was not a word easily spoken in 1957 Hollywood. While Some Like It Hot was universally credited for the demise of the restrictive Hays Code in 1959, that film was really only the straw the broke the camel's back. 1957 was an extremely groundbreaking year for film censorship. Impotence was openly discussed in The Sun Also Rises, incest and rape were present in Peyton Place, and attitudes towards interracial marriage were exposed in Sayonara. If you're interested in that period of film history, all three of those films are must-sees. In the film, Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner are still in love with each other, even though years have passed and they've decided not to be together. Ava is engaged to Errol Flynn, and Tyrone's friend Mel Ferrer falls in love with Ava at first sight. So, with three men in love with her, there's only one thing to do: take a vacation to Spain with all three of them! The movie famously films bullfights and the Pamplona run, so if you like films that were made on location, you'll want to put this on your list-and it's extremely entertaining to read some backstage stories about the making of this film!Now for the acting, because the technical aspects, music, and screenplay are all very good. Had I not read the novel, I would have dismissed everyone's performances as boring and one-dimensional. Errol is irritable, drunk, and quick-tempered; Tyrone is drunk and cranky; Ava is drunk and crass; Mel is weak and simpering; and Eddie Albert is just drunk. However, that's exactly how the characters were written by Ernest Hemingway! Ava does an extremely good job because all she's doing is playing herself. Tyrone is supposed to be cranky, and Errol is supposed to act like Brian Aherne in The Best of Everything. Mel is supposed to follow Ava around like a puppy dog and gain the audience's sympathy. If I can come up with this much praise for an Ava Gardner movie, it must be good. Do yourself a favor and read the novel first, though. You'll get so much more out of the movie if you do.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1957 by Darryl F. Zanuck Productions, Inc. Released through 20th Century-Fox. New York opening at the Roxy: 23 August 1957. U.S. release: September 1957. U.K. release: 29 December 1957. Australian release: 28 November 1957. Sydney opening at the Regent. 11,703 feet. 130 minutes.NOTES: Locations in Pamplona, Paris, Biarritz, Mexico City and Morelia. Negative cost: $5 million. Initial domestic rentals gross: approx. $4 million (which put it towards the latter end of the top twenty box-office attractions in the U.S./Canadian market for 1957).COMMENT: Flynn indeed steals the show. Not that alas there is too much other talent to overcome. Miss Gardner looks her part all right, but her acting lacks force. Mel Ferrer as usual is excruciatingly dull, Mr. Power as usual is bland, whilst Mr. Albert as usual is mildly irritating. At 130 minutes, this is indeed one long bore. The script has been well described as dreary, snail- paced. "Not only not Hemingway's novel," write Robert Hatch in "The Nation", "it is not much of a story on its own terms." King's plodding direction even fails to get dramatic impact out of the film's many and varied real locations.

writers_reign There's no other way to describe this other than a major disappointment. On paper it was a great opportunity to finally do right by Hemingway - something that still eludes filmmakers - his first real novel (he had published The Torrents Of Spring, a parody, earlier), an immediate best seller chock full of interesting characters and set against a backdrop of Paris and Pamplona (all Hemingway's novels were set outside the USA, Italy twice, Spain twice, Havana, Paris, the Gulf Stream)all one had to do was acquire the rights, commission a screenplay and assemble the right cast. Aye, there's the rub; where Hemingway's characters were lost youths who had been fighting a war less than a decade before the events described in the novel Fox in their wisdom assembled an over-the-hill gang all, with the exception of Mel Ferrer, possessing fine acting chops but badly in need of a touch of jeunnesse. As drop-dead gorgeous actresses go Ava Gardner turned out consistently fine performances and does so here but only Errol Flynn rings completely true as Mike Campbell and even he is clearly too old for the part. Robert Evans demonstrates why he soon gave up acting - though surely it was vice versa - and is so bad he makes Mel Ferrer look good. Altogether a sad treatment of a landmark, albeit now dated, novel.