For Whom The Bell Tolls - 4 stars out of 5 stars

After viewing and later reviewing HBO's "Hemingway & Gellhorn"I was moved to view the 1943 film based on the novel he wrote while in Spain for their Civil War.I had seen this movie once long ago in lieu of reading the book for a school report.Who amongst us hasn't done that??Well,now I do understand  and consider this movie just a touch below Casablanca as a love story with war as a backdrop. This film is far more intense as a lifetime of desire and hope is condensed into but a few days,unlike Casablanca where lives were haunted for years.Pick your poison,both can kill a heart.Odd that Ingrid Bergman should be the object of such love in both movies.I be lov'in her memory.This movie is quite long at 170 minutes and is slow but for the intense action scenes.Not for todays FX crowd at all.But,if your a romantic and understand that nothing,even love,can be more intense than when death, through the threat of war, lurks in every shadow,than this film is for you.Perhaps those youngins of the twilight ilk might enjoy true angst ??Thus 1 star off.
Trailer URL follows the pix and a IMDB summary is below.

Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era -- like Ernest Hemingway and his friends -- has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a bridge in a cave. Pilar, who is in charge there, has an ability to foretell the future. And so that night she encourages Maria, a young girl ravaged by enemy soldiers, to join Jordan who has decided to spend the night under the stars. Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi162005273/