World War I · Film · 1932
A Farewell to Arms
An American ambulance driver in the Italian army and an English nurse fall in love between air raids and hospital wards, while the war keeps tearing them apart.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 4 places.
Stop 1: Italian front on the Isonzo
During a bombing raid Frederic meets Catherine on a dark staircase, then leaves for the front, where a shell badly wounds him.
Stop 2: Military hospital, Milan
Key location
Catherine rushes to Frederic's bedside, a priest quietly marries them, and their happiness lasts only until his leave is cancelled.
Stop 3: Turin
Separated from Catherine, Frederic writes letters that never arrive, unaware that Rinaldi is intercepting them.
Stop 4: Brissago, Switzerland
Deserting the army, Frederic races across the border to the lakeside town where Catherine is waiting to give birth.
What really happened
The film adapts Ernest Hemingway's 1929 novel, drawn from his own war: at 18 he drove ambulances for the American Red Cross in Italy, was badly wounded at Fossalta di Piave on 8 July 1918 and recovered in a Milan hospital, where he fell in love with the American nurse Agnes von Kurowsky.
Italy entered the war in May 1915 and fought eleven battles along the Isonzo river, taking Gorizia in August 1916, before the Austro-German breakthrough at Caporetto in October 1917 forced a chaotic retreat to the Piave. The novel's front is the Isonzo sector around Gorizia; the film keeps it vague and concentrates on the love story.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- A Farewell to Arms
- Directed by
- Frank Borzage
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Released
- 1932
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Romance
