The Sun Also Rises (1957) User Reviews

Flawed 'Lost Generation' Story...

[cariart · 7/10 · 1 October 2003]

THE SUN ALSO RISES was 20th Century Fox's big-budget 'prestige' film for 1957, based on one of Hemingway's best-known novels, shot on location in Paris and Mexico (substituting for Spain), and starring the studio's long-reigning superstar, Tyrone Power, surrounded by some of the screen's most legendary actors (Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Mel Ferrer, and Eddie Albert). With all the talent assembled in front of and behind the camera, producer Darryl F. Zanuck felt confident that the film would be an enduring classic for both his own independent company, and his studio.

It wasn't, unfortunately...

The problem with the film was a fundamental one; the 'Lost Generation' Hemingway wrote of were disillusioned young Americans, who, shattered by the horror and brutality of a meaningless 'Great War', lost their innocence, and became a 'live fast, die young' crowd of expatriates, settling in Paris. These were men and women in their twenties and thirties...yet the actors chosen to portray them were all ten to twenty years older! The most glaring example of this can be seen in the film's star, Tyrone Power. As newspaperman Jake Barnes, a vet whose war injuries render him impotent, unable to satisfy the woman he loves (Ava Gardner), and, therefore, the 'perfect' observer of his love's romantic entanglements with other men, Power seems more a victim of a midlife crisis than a young man devastated about losing his manhood. In his next-to-last film, Power, at 44, was aging badly, his hair thinning and his slender, 'movie idol' good looks surrendering to a middle-aged paunch. Only when he smiles do the years seem to lift, a bit, and a ghost of the "too handsome to be true" younger man appears. Adding to his physical deterioration was an undiagnosed heart condition, which would kill him, in less than two years.

His co-star, Ava Gardner, at 35, was going through a decline, as well, but, as with her character, Lady Brett Ashley, her vices were the cause of her self-destruction. Both Brett and Ava were hedonistic women too fond of booze, bullfighters, and nightlife, and in Ava's case, once-classic features were beginning to develop bags and wrinkles that makeup and lighting couldn't hide. Seeing Power, Mel Ferrer, Flynn, and young future film mogul Robert Evans (as a bullfighter), all lusting after her can lead a viewer to wonder if the War had impaired everyone's eyesight, as well as their judgment!

Coming off best are Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert. Flynn, at 48, long past his 'glamorous' prime (he and Power had been Hollywood's best-looking 'swashbucklers' of the early 40s), had become a very credible character actor, usually portraying variations of himself. His 'Mike Campbell', an alcoholic who is impoverished but still clinging to his pride, was, sadly, a dead-on assessment of Errol Flynn, as well. Like Power, he would be dead in two years, a victim of his own excesses. On the other hand, Eddie Albert, at 49, had long been health-conscious, and his performance as a drunk was simply good acting; paired with Flynn, they 'steal' the film, particularly during the famous Pamplona bull run, when the duo flee for their lives (while guzzling wine), and Flynn attempts to use a bad check as a cape to 'fight' a bull!

The drama seems overdrawn, the romance lacks 'fire', and the resolution is a hollow one. Even with the pretty scenery, Hugo Friedhofer's soaring film score, and Henry King's skill as a director, THE SUN ALSO RISES fails to generate more than a curiosity value, at the sight of so many actors, past their prime, trying to seem youthful and dynamic.

The studio just released the film on DVD; seeing photos of Power, Flynn, and Gardner between takes, and hearing director Henry King's audio reminiscences of the production are possibly more entertaining than the feature, itself!

Generation Lost for 15 Years

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 June 2009]

Two insurmountable problems keep The Sun Also Rises from being a great film classic. The first was the ever present Code which prevented the frank discussion of impotency and secondly the fact that the cast was 15 to 20 years older than the roles they were portraying. Maybe had the film been identified as 1932 instead of plainly set in 1922 Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, and Ava Gardner and the rest could have gotten away with those performances. The pity is that they all try very hard under an impossible burden of age. They would have been a dream cast around 1946. Ironically this cast is a lost generation unto itself.

Tyrone Power is in the lead as Jake Barnes, the hero modeled after author Ernest Hemingway himself. Barnes received a war wound below decks just as Hemingway did in World War I. The close brush with impotence himself no doubt inspired Hemingway to write The Sun Also Rises. That fact has kept him from resuming a relationship with the love of his life, Lady Brett Ashley as played by Ava Gardner.

As a jaded sophisticate Gardner is great, but Hemingway again wrote about a lusty young woman with all her sexual appetites intact and unfulfilled. All Power can do is watch how she collects the men around her.

And they do flock be it, exiled Count Gregory Ratoff, dissolute British army veteran Errol Flynn, self conscious Jew Mel Ferrer, and eager young bullfighter Robert Evans. None of them measure up to Power, but Power can't give the lady what she most needs.

The location cinematography is great from Paris to Mexico which substituted Spain for the famous bull fighting scenes and the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona. I'm guessing that Henry King did not film in Spain because the Franco dictatorship did not want a film that glorified the days before his dictatorship even under the monarchy which Franco swore to restore. Ernest Hemingway being a veteran for the Republic was also not an author looked kindly on by the Caudillo.

Ernest Hemingway has had accusations of anti-Semitism hurled at him and no doubt because of the way Mel Ferrer's character of Robert Cohn is written. Cohn has sustained a lot of prejudice in his life, he became a boxer in college to help deal with it. He's also a bumptious sort, Power tolerates him even likes him on a certain level. The others in the group make it plain every way they don't want him around. But he's under Gardner's spell and there's no talking to him. In many ways Mel Ferrer does the best acting job in the film.

The Sun Also Rise marks Power's farewell film at the studio which carefully nurtured his stardom, 20th Century Fox. It also was his ninth and last film with director Henry King. It was at Fox where Power got his breakthrough role in Lloyd's Of London, also directed by Henry King. They had quite a screen partnership themselves and are rarely discussed as a director/actor team.

This is one film that could stand a remake, but where could you get a cast as classy as this one today even if they are a generation behind to be making The Sun Also Rises.

sad film for a variety of reasons

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 5 October 2005]

This is a depressing movie on several levels, the first being the actual story, about the "Lost Generation" after World War I hanging out in Europe and being drunk and/or unhappy and disillusioned. For me it's one of those movies to watch when you really want to dwell on life's misery and wax philosophical and feel like there's something romantic about disenchantment.

The second depressing thing is the casting, which is a major problem. Tyrone Power had been the most important star at 20th Century Fox for many years - in fact, when he became a star in the late 1930s, each film he made was a bigger hit than the one before. He literally kept the studio solvent. He was cast in this film at the age of 42 which was near the end of his life. He and the rest of the actors are all too old. I suppose to have made it with younger actors would have made it less of a big movie, but in fact, people like Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Wagner (both Fox actors) and Natalie Wood were closer to the right age. But you can see how that would have made it seem a lighter film.

In Power's case, I have read several comments here about how bad he looked. Were he alive, I'm sure he would thank you, as his fondest desire in life was to lose his looks. As far as he was concerned, his impossibly beautiful appearance wrecked his acting ambitions. The funny part of it is, in candids taken during the filming, one of which is included in Mai Zetterling's All Those Tomorrows (she was his then girlfriend and on the set with him) he looks absolutely fantastic, healthy and tanned, not at all what is being described here. He also had all his hair for those who seemed to think he was balding. His hair was downright luxuriant in Solomon and Sheba, the film he was making when he died. In fact, in photos taken one hour before he died, he looked better than he did in "The Sun Also Rises." Go figure. Zetterling states that he reported to the set daily on 3 hours sleep and took pills to stay awake to attend social functions that he felt were necessary. He told Zetterling that he was pretty impressed with how bad Errol Flynn looked. Apparently he was envious. Zetterling felt once filming started that he looked exhausted and haggard, but he didn't seem to care. Frankly, I thought he looked fine, particularly in the beginning of the movie. I think you can tell the scenes where he was running on no sleep. And as far as looking bad, what about Ava Gardner? At 35, she was a mess. Someone in the comments said that with all these men chasing after Brett, people would think the war had made everyone's eyesight dim. That's really not so - Gardner until the day she died had men falling for her right and left, including the husband of one interviewer who brought her flowers every day his wife spoke with Gardner. She was a very magnetic and sexy woman, and we can assume Brett Ashley had the same gifts.

That all being said, the ages are wrong but the acting is right, even if it comes not from disillusioned youth but disillusioned middle age. This is particularly true of Power as the impotent Jake Barnes and Gardner as Lady Ashley. I would think as far as the emotions, the roles were very close to their own lives at that point. Power felt he had achieved nothing; he was supporting wives he no longer loved who lived in houses he paid for and would never enter, and he was only proud of a few films. In the last years of his film-making, Tyrone Power turned in some wonderful performances in this movie, Abandon Ship, and Witness for the Prosecution. A shame he wasn't able to continue and do the sorts of roles he wanted.

Gardner's activities are well documented. She drank all night and slept all day and bullfighters were her thing, though "my man Frank" as she called him was always in the background.

Flynn and Eddie Albert are terrific - the dissipation was starting to pay off well for Errol Flynn, but unfortunately he wouldn't live long enough to make much money from it. These two had the showiest roles - in fact, in a somewhat lifeless film, they lifted it up. Mel Ferrer's character wasn't sufficiently fleshed out to tell if he was doing a good job or not.

If you can put the ages aside, this is a good, not very good, and not great film - but great as far as production values and acting. Hemingway is very difficult to put on screen, as we all know from sitting through films based on his books and stories.

A final note: For those who didn't like Power's performance, consider Jake's wild enthusiasm over the bullfights. While Power was making Blood & Sand, he actually had to attend a bullfight. Of course, a great deal was made of him and he was sitting with his wife, Annabella, down front and center. Unfortunately he became violently ill over the whole thing. In order to leave with some dignity, Annabella said she was sick so they could get out of there. So give the man some credit - Jake sure did look like he was enjoying himself.

A positive comment of the movie

[slam21c · 6/10 · 15 October 2000]

It was great to see 2 of Hollywood's film idols on a film together. Tyrone did look tired in this movie. Errol and Eddie Albert as two drunks were very funny. Tyrone, as always, was great as a jaded WWI veteran. Ava Gardner was also very interesting to watch and I thought she played her character very well. The bullfighting was very graphic for its time, however, the actor who played the bullfighter couldn't act.

Terrible casting ...

[Reviewer99 · 6/10 · 6 December 2020]

In Hemingway's novel the characters are in their mid to late 20's with one in their mid 30's. The movie clearly has actors in their mid 30's to their 50s. They look like middle aged adolescents with too much money and time on their hands not a young post WWI generation.

The Best Laid Plans!

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 January 2010]

I've always loved this book. I saw this movie the last time when I was in a college Literature class. My memory was that it was a Cinemascope film on a conventional screen. When Tyrone Power got into bed, the bed was about three feet long, as was his body. Anyway, I now remember that this is pretty much a dull film. It is talky and not very well edited. While the bullfight scenes were interesting, they were narrated by Power so we would know what was going on. The one thing that was personal is Ava Gardner. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Especially when she was in her party girl mode, she is utterly striking. I also enjoyed Errol Flynn, the Hemingway of the story. His character has some life. Power as Jake Barnes is a limp fish in this one. He is so laid back that he wet-blankets every scene. Of course, a war injury has left him impotent and he will never have Lady Brett. This sad fact is there in the beginning and everyone knows, so he has pretty much given up. There are a couple times when he thaws out, but it is hard to feel a lot of sympathy for him. In the book, he is portrayed in such sad terms. I'd forgotten that Robert Evans played the bullfighter, Romero. I am haunted by his cockeyed look as he peers into the crowd. It is the strangest look. One thing that does come out of this is that I have decided not to become a bullfighter anytime soon. This film hasn't been available for a long time, so when it was released, I got it right away. It was just out of curiosity and I have to admit I was disappointed.

time to waste

[HelloTexas11 · 4/10 · 14 April 2008]

'The Sun Also Rises' is a movie in which a lot happens and nothing happens. Maybe it would be better to say, nothing means anything. Which may be the point Ernest Hemingway was trying to make in the novel the film is based on. We follow a group of people, some who have known each other and some who have just met, as they make their way on a sort of moveable feast (sorry, couldn't resist) across France and Spain. They make witty conversation, argue, eat, drink a lot, go to the bullfights, fall in and out of love, and occasionally come to blows. Lady Brett Ashley (Ava Gardner) is more or less in love with Jake (Tyrone Power) but over the course of the movie manages to flirt, have affairs, or become engaged to just about every other prominent male character. They include Robert (Mel Ferrer), Mike (Errol Flynn), Bill (Eddie Albert), and Pedro (Robert Evans). I suppose depending on one's mood, one could read any number of meanings into the plot: the hopelessness of love, the eccentricities of human nature, the futility of life itself, or maybe that the best thing one can do in trying to deal with any of these is to get drunk in as many different places as possible. The novel, as I recall, had a good deal more style than the film and was worth reading simply for the enjoyment of Hemingway's tough, spare prose and dialogue. It didn't add up to much but it was a good read. The movie is tedious and pointless for the most part, and badly cast. The characters seem too old, and hence foolish, for traipsing around Paris and San Sebastian to no purpose. The bloated screenplay makes it seem as though their ramblings and besotted adventures MUST have some meaning, but when it's all over, it's apparent they don't. There is an interesting bit of casting in Errol Flynn portraying playboy Mike Campbell, the drunkest of all, who has a memorable line when he explains that he went bankrupt "two ways- gradually and all of a sudden." As has been pointed out, Flynn seems to be almost playing himself, and his scenes are the best. But they are not enough to sustain 'The Sun Also Rises,' a film that takes over two hours to arrive nowhere.

A sad tale of love and bullfights, Hemingway style

[lora64 · 10/10 · 14 July 2001]

Because of one weak link -- the unfulfilled love between Jake (Ty Power) and Brett (Ava Gardner) -- a series of futile events take place, also of unrequited love that each involved player has to deal with, some through anger others through forgetfulness in partying and drink. However, Saturday night revelry runs its course and relentlessly a Monday morning awaits all.

It's a kind of roller-coaster ride at first where the individuals seem so intent on taking from life all they can get from it, as if they were soon to leave it behind, an aftermath no doubt of the First War when most had no tomorrows to live or plan for.

I've seen this movie many times and it still draws my attention, that's how excellent the actors and settings are, not to mention the spectacular photography of the Pamplona bull run (always dangerous and still so even to this day) and the pageantry of the bullfight scenes in the ring.

This is one movie that I easily recall most scenes from because they are so much a part of how real life is and not how we wish it could be. A thoughtful tale of life's experiences.

Blame the book

[howardeisman · 7/10 · 4 October 2009]

The genius of Hemingway's novel is that the narrator naively and gradually reveals what a bunch of self centered, talentless, bigoted bunch of losers his central characters were. Their drinking was not so much angst as superannuated college kids on a binge. Now, some eighty years later, Robert Cohn comes across as the best of them. He cared, he loved, and he was the only successful one of them.

How do you make a movie about such unattractive characters?. Would you ask top stars to play contemptible people? The characterizations of the leads were all compromises; Lady Brett becomes a misty romantic, not a rather dull, dumb lost woman (as in the book). Given only empty stereotypes to portray, the actor's performances ring hollow and purposeless. The characters played by Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert were not written with any characterizations at all, thus allowing the actors to do colorful shticks.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was good. The story moves. Minor characters are well done. The movie is Hemingway, but Hemingway lite. Mel Ferrer was good; he should have had a bigger role. His character, Robert Cohn was a contrast to all the rest of the characters. This works in the book, but hardly existed in the film

No Plot, No Story

[drhersh · 2/10 · 24 June 2018]

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.

As grim as Hemmingway could get.

[imdke · 8/10 · 13 May 2007]

There are several films from the '40's to the '60's that I prefer to experience, rather than jump into Pauline Kael's skin. Let her successors dissect and occasionally say something of pith.

George Herbert said, "Time is the rider that breaks youth."

All the principal characters in this sad tale are broken. In their dissipation and aimless, joyless pursuits, they didn't stand for much of anything. It has been said that the cast was just too old for these roles. But they looked perfect for their roles, a group of people who were caught in a tepid tide pool, waiting to be washed out to sea. They were all tarnished goods.

I was especially impressed by Errol Flynn's performance. Of all of them, he was the most pitiful. Remember the song, "Tired of living and scared of dying?" That's him-a far cry from Captain Peter Blood.

Next is Robert Cohn (Mel Ferrer). He was a rich aimless child, eager to fasten himself to others, like a limpet. College had done nothing for him, except to make him an even greater useless snob. Then Lady Brett transformed him into a swine before casting him aside, because 'she couldn't stand his damned suffering.' After a crushing defeat at the hands of Brett and her bullfighter, he wisely headed home to Frances, if she would still have him.

Now we come to Jake and Lady Brett Ashley. These two truly loved one another, but in a very unhealthy way. She lost a husband to the Great War and never recovered. He gave "more then his life" to the war. His impotence was probably not the real reason Brett would not marry him, nor he, her. Damaged goods.

This film is excellent. Important, as is the book, emotional Tours De Force. Hemmingway is incredible.

Errol Flynn's Last Great Role

[prs-51 · 6/10 · 26 September 2016]

Hemingway's great novel "The Sun Also Rises" has three layers to it. On the surface it is about the lives, adventures and falling out of a group of American and British expatriates in France and Spain after World War 1. At a second level there is a subtext running throughout the book about the search for meaning and authenticity in the aftermath of that horrendous war. And thirdly on a literary level there is the revolutionary style of Hemingway's spare prose where so often less is so much more. This film adaptation unfortunately only addresses the surface level – it is arguable whether any film adaptation could embrace all three. How does it rate on its limited scope? Only Errol Flynn as "Mike Campbell" captures the essence of the book character : bankrupt, dissolute, pathetic but still somehow endearing. His model in real life was dead within a decade. Tyrone Power as the protagonist "Jake Barnes" is stolid but unmemorable. Ava Gardner should be ideal as the reckless liberated 20's female "Brett Ashley" but the film fails to provide sufficient back story to explain her promiscuous dissolution and Gardner does not really convince in the role. Eddie Albert fails to project sufficiently the good-natured ebullience and intelligence of Jake's friend "Bill Gorton". Finally Mel Ferrer is merely adequate as "Robert Cohn" who triggers much of the falling out of the group in Spain. Overall this is a disappointing attempt to film what is probably an unfilmable novel. See it to watch Errol Flynn in one of his finest roles.

Up with the sun

[ryancm · 5/10 · 22 March 2007]

A difficult film to describe or love. The characters are pure soap opera and unlikable. The relationship between the Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner is unique which I won't spoil here. Have not read the book which may explain why the characters do what they do. They are a bunch of dead beats and no fun to be around. The best parts of the movie are the magnificent locations, cinematography and musical score, especially in the Paris segment. Tyrone Power was much too old for his role and did not seem to be in character most of the time. Ava Gardner was surprisingly good, as was Errol Flynn. Eddie Alberts characterzation was the same kind of side-kick he played so often, most notably in ROMAN HOLIDAY. Nice the have the movie on wide-screen DVD and worth a look. Look for an uncomfortable Robert Evans as a Spaniard yet!!

Mediocre Film From a Mediocre Novel

[jayraskin1 · 6/10 · 18 June 2010]

Ernest Hemingway's first novel was considered gripping in 1926, but today, the characters seem dull, self-indulgent, bored and boring. It is an interesting character study at times and it is an interesting report on bullfighting in Pamplona, Spain. Still, it is intellectually challenged: lacking complexity, characters who say anything intelligent, or reasons to care about any of the characters.

The production is quite faithful to the book. The director and the cinematography are good. It has a solid cast of actors, but only Errol Flynn seems to really be having any fun. Only occasionally do the other actors light up a scene, most of the time they are just standing around, delivering their lines in an emotional monotone.

Lead Tyrone Power was only 42 when this was made, but he looks 50. He died two years later at age 44. Since the character was supposed to be in his mid-twenties, it was disconcerting to see him in the lead. At first, I wondered when the novel's hero would show up and was surprised when I found that Tyrone was him.

Probably, the producer, Darryl Zanuck, is responsible for this ultimately soporific work. From the casting to the idea of having Mexico substitute for Spain as a shooting location, he made the main decisions. In one of the features on the DVD, the writer Peter Viertel, seems to put the blame on him for the disappointing results of the movie.

This is one of the few cases in Hollywood movie history where staying close to the source material was a liability.

doesn't do the book justice

[rdukeesq · 6/10 · 7 August 2011]

So "The Sun Also Rises" is one of my favorite books, and is a masterpiece by the great Hemingway, well was the movie version a classic well no. Was it good, well I and the friends I watched this movie with enjoyed it. It is good not great, it has its moments some of which are funny others of which show men being men, and a certain Lady Ashley being a slutty drunk way before Paris Hilton made it fashionable. I enjoyed it because it brought back memories from the book I had forgotten, but I would like to see a quality R rated remake of this film someday. It is a great story and I wish the film makers had done it justice, but it was the 1950's and I am sure it was pretty racy for that time but now it is tame to some degree. If you are a fan of Hemingway or of old films you may like this film, but it is no classic and not a bad movie just not a a truly good one either. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/

The Looks from the Matador...

[samanteks · 9 February 2010]

This is a ploddingly slow movie that has some nice action sequences thrown in, and some fun humor, but the funniest parts are the close ups of Pedro the matador during the last bull-fight. (Other reviews have addressed the main cast well-enough).

I doubt there has ever been a matador as miscast as this one. He neither looks nor acts like one - although in his defense, he appears to be trying really, really hard to look important. His expressions are priceless, with that shiny face, and the band-aid. Very funny. I wondered who it was, but as the cable channel didn't run any end-credits, I looked him up here in IMDb. Turns out it was Robert Evans.(?!) At least it's clear now why he turned to producing...

A Ravishing Ava Amidst the Lost Generation

[dglink · 6/10 · 12 July 2020]

Based on Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel, "The Sun Also Rises" relates the idle life of five American and British expatriates living in Paris during the 1920's, members of the post World War I "Lost Generation." Led by Jake Barnes, a foreign correspondent, the friends go to Pamplona, Spain, where the sun and the film shines with scenes of the bulls running and of colorful toreros and corridas. Hemingway was a foreign correspondent in Paris, and a 1925 trip to Spain with his circle of friends inspired the novel. Unfortunately, much of the book's significance appears to have been lost in translation from page to screen. Adapted by Peter Viertel and directed by Henry King, who also helmed an uninspired adaptation of Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," the 1957 film version depicts Hemingway's circle as idle and, indeed, seemingly lost. Indolent and disconnected, Barnes, the surrogate Hemingway character, and his buddies drink excessively, while they chatter pointlessly; the topic of conversation and gossip generally centers on Lady Brett Ashley, a beautiful, promiscuous English boozer.

Ava Gardner is stunning as Ashley, and her performance is the best in the film; her allure is easily understandable, and, often garbed in red tones, she provides enough heat to keep the men warm. And some of the male cast badly need warming. Tired and ashen, Tyrone Power lacks the energy and spark to make Jake come alive; he is no Hemingway. In a flashback replay of "A Farewell to Arms," Jake recuperates from a war wound under the care of Red Cross nurse Brett Ashley; although a romantic attraction arises, Jake is injured in a way that precludes a physical relationship. Also seemingly tired, Errol Flynn appears bloated from drinking; his performance as Brett's fiancee, Mike Campbell, has its moments, and his constantly inebriated character is more colorful and Hemingway-esque than Jake. Sadly, both Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power were well past their prime and in declining health; the two screen legends would be dead within two years of this film's release.

The two other men in the circle include Jake's college friend, Robert Cohn, who is played by Mel Ferrer. Still in love with Brett, Jake is jealous of Robert, who has had an affair with Brett; however, Robert's subsequent stalking of the English woman is borderline creepy. The fourth male, Bill, is played by Eddie Albert as an amiable sort, who is also fixated on Brett. However, Brett brushes the four men aside, when a young bullfighter arrives on the scene, and she seduces him. Young Spanish actors must have been scarce in 1957, because 27-year-old Robert Evans was cast as the 19-year-old Spanish torero; in a laughable performance, Evans stumbles over a fake accent, and he stares at the bulls as though he'd never seen one before. His embarrassing performance is better forgotten, and he subsequently found more success behind the screen as a film producer.

"The Sun Also Rises" is not terrible, just not terribly good. Two hours of talk about a beautiful woman and her affairs, two hours of drinking and drunkenness, two hours of indolence and decadence do not make a riveting movie. While the Pamplona scenes are vivid with color, the Paris scenes are inexplicably rear projection, and neither are not enough to enliven the film. Perhaps those familiar with the novel will find this adaptation a refresher, but otherwise the movie will primarily appeal to fans of Ava Gardner and to those eager to witness two great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age in their declining years.

The Constant Gardner

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 30 November 2009]

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.

A story about life told as close to perfection as possible!

[jackiecook · 10/10 · 17 February 2002]

Tyrone Power was the quintessential choice for the Jake Barnes role. Ava Gardner was superb as the modern day Aphrodite. Errol Flynn and Eddie Albert were charming and added just the right amount of comic relief along with being terrific as the supporting cast. Mel Ferrer added to the opposite end of the spectrum. His dramatic scenes gave us the reality check needed to keep the movie from going to far in one direction. The background scenes were absolutely beatiful! Paris, Spain, the bull fights! Finally the movie shows just how post-war people can lose direction in their lives while looking for love in all the wrong places. This was story telling at it's best!

an odd but interesting film

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 March 2006]

This is certainly an odd movie. Because of when it was made, it's also a little cryptic because you know that there is some serious chemistry going on between the two characters (Tyrone Power and Eva Gardner) but for a while it's not obvious WHY they don't just kiss each other and live happily ever after. I'm about to spoil the surprise, but the problem is Power's penis (or perhaps testicles--they weren't too explicit in the movie--it was the 1950s after all) were blown off his body during the war (wow--did he earn his Purple Heart the hard way). As a result of these frustrations, their relationship is at times very tempestuous and chaotic. Ably supported along the way by a good supporting cast and nice location cinematography, it's an excellent adult film (considering the plot). Watch it and be prepared for a very bittersweet and weird romance.

Shooting the Bull

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 29 August 2012]

After the Great War (aka World War I), a "lost generation of young people" gathers in Paris, where they find happiness elusive. The focus is mainly on newspaperman Tyrone Power (as Jake Barnes), who may be impotent due to a war injury, and sexually insatiable Ava Gardner (as Brett Ashley). She also attracts Mr. Power's athletic friend Mel Ferrer (as Robert Cohn). The two men receive stiff competition from perpetually tipsy Errol Flynn (as Michael "Mike" Campbell), who is Ms. Garner's fiancé. When we meet her, Garner is trying to quit drinking. She falls off the wagon quickly...

After Power's fun-loving pal Eddie Albert (as Bill Gorton) arrives, everyone meets for "the running of the bulls" in Spain. There, Gardner is aroused by young bullfighter Robert Evans (as Pedro Romero)...

Reportedly unconvincing during the rushes, Mr. Evans was supposed to be fired, but producer Darryl F. Zanuck famously said, "The kid stays in the picture!" Evans does look silly, but at least he's the right age. Others in the cast are clearly too old for Ernest Hemingway's youthful characters. Only Mr. Flynn manages to essay a characterization worth noting; he placed fourth in the annual "Best Supporting Actor" poll conducted by the "Film Daily". Director Henry King and photographer Leo Tover put the drinkers in a nice-looking CinemaScope landscape that does not help the story.

**** The Sun Also Rises (8/23/57) Henry King ~ Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Mel Ferrer

A fine throwback to earlier times.

[MOscarbradley · 8/10 · 20 July 2018]

Ernest Hemingway's novel of 'the lost generation' swaning around Europe in the Twenties became this big, prestige production from Darryl F Zanuck and directed by Henry King who was something of a dab hand at turning out big, prestige productions like this. If it's a tad on the turgid side and if the cast were a trifle too old for their roles it's still immensely entertaining and King's direction is often outstanding. It also has old-fashioned star quality of the kind we associate with a much earlier age. Tyrone Power may be miscast as Jake Barnes, Hemingway's 'existential' hero and Mel Ferrer was his usual wooden self but Ava Gardner is surprisingly good as Brett and both Eddie Albert and especially Errol Flynn, (it's probably his best performance), are excellent while Juliette Greco steals her every scene.

Despite all the money that was poured into the picture it wasn't really a success; maybe had it been made 20 years earlier things might have been different but by 1957 a new realism had taken over and epic dramas like this one were seen as dinosaurs. Today it feels like a throwback to a time when Hollywood was king and big, bold movies like this were ten a penny. It's certainly no masterpiece but it's no dog either.

A noble effort

[pninson · 6/10 · 1 May 2008]

Filming Hemingway's introspective, brooding novel "The Sun Also Rises" was a major challenge. Much of the power of Hemingway's story stems from what is not said, what is left out, what is suggested or only hinted at.

In Virginia Woolf's novel "To The Lighthouse", the author goes inside everyone's mind and tells you exactly what all the characters are thinking. "The Sun Also Rises" is the opposite: you read what the characters say to each other and do in public, but even Jake Barnes, the narrator and central character, leaves most of his feelings unspoken. He pushes them aside and tries to soldier on in spite of them.

This is obviously not something that can work on screen. However, this A-list adaptation succeeds, up to a point, in bringing the novel to life without making too much explicit. Although some of the performers are miscast and are much older than the characters in the book, there are solid performances all around.

Those who haven't read the book may find this film slow and rambling. This is not a tightly plotted story; it's more of a character study, as well as a look at a time and place where people were disillusioned and living on the edge of hope. The film does compensate for the loose narrative with spectacular sequences of bullfighting and the running of the bulls at Pamplona.

I originally saw this film in 1971 on a small black and white TV with commercial breaks; I may have even missed the first few minutes. It's a real treat to have the color widescreen Cinemascope presentation available on DVD. Despite its weaknesses, I do like this picture and it really needs a good widescreen transfer to fully appreciate it.

A Film About Nothing

[arthur_tafero · 4/10 · 21 September 2018]

Ernest Hemmingway was a fairly overrated writer who had one or two successes on the big screen (The Old Man and the Sea). This is not one of his better efforts. Even the combined talents of Tryrone Power and Ava Gardner cannot save this turkey. In the world of macho behavior of Hemmingway, where a man is a man and women are grateful, this film might have made a bit of sense. But that world doesnt exist, anymore. Interestingly, the prologue cites those same circumstances when it says one generation passes away and another takes its place.

Well, this group of dysfunctional, middle-aged men, a bullfighter who fights like my grandmother, and a woman who is obviously out to rescue what little youth she has left in meaningless relationships. A motley crew, headed by a puffy, overweight, and totally boorish Errol Flynn (who will go on to his final film, Cuban Rebel Girls), make this a film that does not really need to be seen.

No one cares about these people, or Hemmingway's book about them, except silver spoons. Not recommended.

"The Whole Show Makes Me Sick"

[stryker-5 · 5 February 2000]

In 1922, anglo-saxon (almost exclusively American) expatriates waste their lives boozing and partying in Paris and, later, in the Basque region of Spain. These shallow hedonists behave like spoiled children, observed with tired detachment by Jake Barnes, journalist and war veteran.

The film is a translation onto celluloid of Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel of the same name. Barnes is a thinly-disguised Hemingway, and many of the incidents in book and film actually took place. The dramatis personae corresponds very closely to Hemingway's own social circle of the time. Lady Brett Ashley (played here by Ava Gardner) is a fictionalised Lady Duff Twysden and the irritating Robert Cohn (Mel Ferrer) represents the real-life writer, Harold Loeb. Mike Campbell, Errol Flynn's character, is really Pat Guthrie and the affable Bill Gorton (Eddie Albert) is a composite of Bill Smith and Don Stewart.

"I was hurt in the war," says the solemn Barnes, and in a reverie sequence we see him convalescing in an Italian hospital, nursed by Brett in her Red Cross uniform. This of course corresponds to the true events from which Hemingway quarried "A Farewell To Arms", and much else besides. As a young ambulance driver on the Italian-Austrian front, Hemingway was wounded and hospitalised in Milan. He fell in love with his nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, later to be fictionalised as Catherine Barkley (in 'Farewell') and as Lady Brett. The particular war wound suffered by Jake Barnes renders him something of an outsider in this coterie of sybarites. Aloof and world-weary, he is able to watch the antics of the others with almost Olympian detachment.

This, then, is the so-called 'Lost Generation'. Gertrude Stein suggested the term to Hemingway as defining the rich, idle wanderers who had been displaced (psychologically as much as geographically) by the Great War. They preen in Paris and pout in Pamplona (then briefly in Biarritz and Madrid), but it's no good. They are unhappy, hollow people and no amount of carousing can remedy the sickness in their souls. "There IS no cure, you know that."

The bullfighter Pedro Romero (Robert Evans) is yet another remodelling of an actual living person. The name is borrowed from the father of the modern bullfight, Pedro Romero of Ronda, who lived in the 18th century, but the man himself is a genuine torero rondeno, the great Nino de la Palma, father of Antonio Ordonez. Both bullfighters were personal friends of Hemingway.

On screen, both Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn seem tired and ill, and indeed they were. Within two years of shooting, both were in their graves. This was in fact Power's final screen appearance.

"The Sun Also Rises" as a movie is slow, flabby and over-long. It is difficult to feel any sympathy for these pampered pleasure-seekers who spend the majority of their time squabbling. The story lumbers along monotonously, and contains far too many mistakes and anachronisms. A film with sunrise in its title really ought not to have a sunSET in its opening credits. Other errors are cited in IMDb's 'goofs' section.

If the Paris segment is slow, the San Fermin sequence is tedious in the extreme. Jake expounds annoyingly on the finer points of bulls and tauromachy, as Brett cues him with clunking lines such as "Just what IS the encierro, anyway?"

Jake's medical condition is meant to carry tragic symbolic power, which is why he scowls when the others say it must be 'swell' to be a steer rather than a bull. However, the true symbolism of the film may well be the unintentional stuff. Jake meets Georgette (Juliette Greco), though each knows nothing about the other and they have nothing in common. The sad pointlessness of their date mirrors the futility of the film itself. Barnes' little group arrives in Pamplona ignorant of San Fermin's history or meaning, but the men go ahead and festoon themselves in feria garb for the entire three days - vapid Americans decking themselves out in phoney costumes, in search of phoney thrills.