Borzage, Frank

A Farewell to Arms

The 1932 version of A Farewell to Arms owes as much to the shimmering house style of Paramount Pictures as it does the novel by Ernest Hemingway. If Hemingway purists can get past the romanticizing of the book, however, this film offers its own glossy appeal. On the Italian front in World War I, an American ambulance driver (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a nurse (Helen Hayes, before she became the official First Lady of the American The-a-tah). Cooper was a Hemingway friend in real life, and later played the hero of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; his boyish simplicity is just right for director Frank Borzage's heartfelt approach. Image Entertainment's DVD release is a stunningly gorgeous improvement on the muddy prints of this film that had been circulating for years, a fitting tribute to the Oscar-winning cinematography of ace cameraman Charles Lang (this is the kind of lush black and white that can capture the glow from a cigarette as it plays across Cooper's darkened face--a breathtaking touch). The jaded battle scenes show the influence of the hit film version of All Quiet on the Western Front, especially in a gripping montage depicting Cooper's progress alone through the war zone. Hemingway would have none of it, of course; he once disdainfully wrote that "in the first picture version Lt. Henry deserted because he didn't get any mail and then the whole Italian Army went along, it seems, to keep him company." This is first and foremost a love story, however, and as such it succeeds beautifully, right through to the remarkably intense ending. --Robert Horton

An American soldier and an English nurse share an ill-fated romance in World War I. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway.

China Doll

No one could ladle out sentimental schmaltz more effectively-or successfully-than director Frank Borzage. China Doll was the blacklisted Borzage's first film effort in ten years. Victor Mature plays American air force officer Cliff Brandon who while stationed in the orient in WW2 marries his Chinese housekeeper Shu-Jen (Lili Hua). She is subsequently killed in the war whereupon Brandon leaves their baby with strangers before he goes off on a bombing mission. Fifteen years later Brandon returns to China hoping against hope to be reunited with his now-grown-up daughter. Ward Bond costars as cagey missionary Father Cairns while other supporting roles are filled by singer Johnny Desmond Olympic athlete Bob Mathias and up-and-coming leading man Stuart Whitman. After China Doll Frank Borzage directed one more film--The Big Fisherman--before bringing his 45-year movie career to a close.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 027616073822 Manufacturer No: M107382

Victor Mature's long-suffering, bloodhound visage is the central image in Frank Borzage's wartime romance drama China Doll, a perfect example of what critic Andrew Sarris once referred to as Borzage's films about war as an intrusion on the emotional privacy of lovers. Mature plays Air Force Captain Cliff Brandon, stationed in China and training elite pilots by day during World War II. At night, Brandon becomes a drunken loner shunning the company of his men, Red Cross nurses, and local women who try to sell him comfort. Things change when Brandon, stumbling home from a bar, agrees to buy an old Chinese man's daughter, Shu-Jen (Li Hua Li), for three months, a decision the officer instantly regrets in the cold light of day. Convinced by his sole confidante--a priest (Ward Bond) running an orphanage--that the only honorable way out is to let Shu-Jen fulfill her three-month obligation, Brandon soon finds himself falling for her and re-embracing life. With the world on a collision course with itself, however, Brandon and Shu-Jen's shared destiny departs from the life of mutual salvation and closeness they've earned. Borzage's delicacy with the love story finds echoes in parallel relationships between other characters. In fact, struggling for a clear path to intimacy in the midst of battle seems very much on the minds of everyone in this movie. Action sequences are reasonably crisp, though they're not designed to thrill so much as devastate viewers. A climactic scene set at an Air Force base under attack by Japanese pilots is one of the most powerful and poignant wartime visions in American cinema. --Tom Keogh

Meet John Doe/A Farewell to Arms

195 minute double feature film DVD.

Gary Cooper Classics (Fighting Caravans, A Farewell to Arms, Meet John Doe, Stolen Jools)

4 movies on 2 DVD's

1. Fighting Caravans (1931, run time 80 minutes) Also starring Lili Damita
A young frontiersman (Cooper) facing a misdemeanor jail term, talks French-born Felice (Damita) into posing as his wife to avoid being arrested. They join a wagon train headed West, and he is sole trail guide as they battle Indians and a villanous gun-runner. Their seesaw relationship provides an interesting love theme. Based on a Zane Grey novel.

2. A Farewell To Arms (1932, run time 83 minutes) Also starring Helen Hayes
Based on Ernest Hemingway's novel, this is a World War I love story about paramedic Lt. Henry (Cooper) and nurse Catherine Barkley (Hayes). This poignant, ill-fated romance takes place in Italy where the two fall in love and will stop at nothing to be together. Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture; Best Art Direction.

3. Meet John Doe (1941, run time 135 minutes) Also starring Barbara Stanwyck
A suicidal down-and-outer, "John Doe" (Cooper) is manipulated by an ambitious politician and a newspaper writer (Stanwyck). This Depression-era parable illustrates the decency of the common man triumphing over cynicism, big-money influence and power. Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Story.

4. Stolens Jools (1931, run time 20 minutes) Also starring Norma Shearer
This humorous story is an investigation of the theft of Norma Shearer's jewelry at a big, star-packed party. Party goers include Joan Crawford, Laurel & Hardy, "Gabby" Hayes, Buster Keaton, Maurice Chevalier, Irene Dunne, the list goes on and on.

Stage Door Canteen

From back cover, "A young soldier on a pass in NYC visits the aed Stage Door Canten, where famous stars of the theater and films appea, and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. He meets a pretty young hostess, they fall in love, and both enjoy the talents of the entertainers.

Stage Door Canteen

Stage Door Canteen (1943), directed by Frank Borzage (A Farewell to Arms) in support of the war effort, prefigures Anchors Aweigh and On the Town in depicting the lives of servicemen on leave in the big city. Countless British and American celebrities put in an appearance--everyone from Dame Judith Anderson to Katharine Hepburn, Count Basie to Benny Goodman. The story concerns three soldiers and the female volunteers they fall for at the canteen of the title--a real-life Manhattan nightspot--before shipping out for points unknown. While the largely unknown principals (Cheryl Walker, William Terry, etc.) handle the drama and romance, bigger stars like Harpo Marx and Tallulah Bankhead take care of the comedy and scene-stealing supporting bits. This historical document was most commonly shown in an edited-for-TV 93-minute version but is now available again in its original--more entertaining--132-minute length. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Forty-eight of America's greatest entertainers star in Sol Lesser's patriotic homage to the soldiers of World War II and the Stage Door Canteen, the famous serviceman's club in New York City. Essentially a two-hour concert held together by a moving storyline involving three girls working as club hostesses and the soldiers on their way to Europe for D-Day with whom they fell in love. A great snapshot of America restored from the original camera negative.

Farewell To Arms, A

Based on Hemingway's classic novel. An American ambulance driver in Italy during WWI meets an English nurse while recovering from wounds. Their love is true but fragile, and the fateful ending is one of the most moving experiences ever portrayed on film. Academy Award for best cinematography by Charles Lang.

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Great Novels on Film 4 Movie Pack

Farewell to Arms This first (and by far the best) film version of Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell To Arms" stars Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Henry's friend Major Rinaldi is envious of the romance and pulls strings to have Catherine transferred to Milan. When Henry is wounded in battle he ends up in the very hospital where Catherine works. The now-pregnant Catherine remains in Switzerland sending letters by the bushel full to Henry. But the jealous Rinaldi sees to it that Henry never receives those letters leading Catherine to conclude sorrowfully that Henry has forgotten her. As the Armistice approaches Henry makes his way to Switzerland hoping to find Catherine. Catherine too is near death but lingers long enough for a tender reunion with Henry.Runtime: 85 minutes Snows of KiliminjaroThis fantastic adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel stars Gregory Peck who plays a character based on Hemingway's crony F. Scott Fitzgerald. While hunting in the African mountains in the company of his faithful lady friend Susan Hayward Peck is seriously wounded; in fact it doesn't look as though he'll survive the night. In the few hours he has left Peck reflects upon what he considers a wasted life. The only time that he truly felt as though he'd made a contribution to the world was when he fought on the Loyalist side in Spain. As for his lost romance with his late wife Aver Gardner Peck still cannot figure out what went wrong.Runtime: 117 minutes Becky Sharp (AKA Vanity Fair) This adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair" made cinema history as the first feature film in Technicolor. The story which vibrantly details the manners and morals of 19th century English society follows the rise and fall of one Becky Sharp. Though a poor orphan Becky has grand dreams-and hopes that a good marriage will assure her fortune. In particular she has her eye on Joseph Sedley the wealthy brother of her best friend Amelia. But even

A Farewell to Arms

The 1932 version of A Farewell to Arms owes as much to the shimmering house style of Paramount Pictures as it does the novel by Ernest Hemingway. If Hemingway purists can get past the romanticizing of the book, however, this film offers its own glossy appeal. On the Italian front in World War I, an American ambulance driver (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a nurse (Helen Hayes, before she became the official First Lady of the American The-a-tah). Cooper was a Hemingway friend in real life, and later played the hero of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; his boyish simplicity is just right for director Frank Borzage's heartfelt approach. Image Entertainment's DVD release is a stunningly gorgeous improvement on the muddy prints of this film that had been circulating for years, a fitting tribute to the Oscar-winning cinematography of ace cameraman Charles Lang (this is the kind of lush black and white that can capture the glow from a cigarette as it plays across Cooper's darkened face--a breathtaking touch). The jaded battle scenes show the influence of the hit film version of All Quiet on the Western Front, especially in a gripping montage depicting Cooper's progress alone through the war zone. Hemingway would have none of it, of course; he once disdainfully wrote that "in the first picture version Lt. Henry deserted because he didn't get any mail and then the whole Italian Army went along, it seems, to keep him company." This is first and foremost a love story, however, and as such it succeeds beautifully, right through to the remarkably intense ending. --Robert Horton

A Farewell to Arms

The 1932 version of A Farewell to Arms owes as much to the shimmering house style of Paramount Pictures as it does the novel by Ernest Hemingway. If Hemingway purists can get past the romanticizing of the book, however, this film offers its own glossy appeal. On the Italian front in World War I, an American ambulance driver (Gary Cooper) falls in love with a nurse (Helen Hayes, before she became the official First Lady of the American The-a-tah). Cooper was a Hemingway friend in real life, and later played the hero of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls; his boyish simplicity is just right for director Frank Borzage's heartfelt approach. Image Entertainment's DVD release is a stunningly gorgeous improvement on the muddy prints of this film that had been circulating for years, a fitting tribute to the Oscar-winning cinematography of ace cameraman Charles Lang (this is the kind of lush black and white that can capture the glow from a cigarette as it plays across Cooper's darkened face--a breathtaking touch). The jaded battle scenes show the influence of the hit film version of All Quiet on the Western Front, especially in a gripping montage depicting Cooper's progress alone through the war zone. Hemingway would have none of it, of course; he once disdainfully wrote that "in the first picture version Lt. Henry deserted because he didn't get any mail and then the whole Italian Army went along, it seems, to keep him company." This is first and foremost a love story, however, and as such it succeeds beautifully, right through to the remarkably intense ending. --Robert Horton