For Whom the Bell Tolls
This film saved the famous love song "As Time Goes By" from being removed from Casablanca (1942). Ingrid Bergman began filming this movie immediately after completing "Casablanca". For this role, her hair was cut short. Meanwhile, for "Casablanca", Warner Brothers wanted to substitute another song for "As Time Goes By" and re-shoot some scenes with Bergman. However, since her hair had been cut, there would be a problem with continuity (even if Bergman wore a wig), so the idea was dropped.,Early in the film when Gary Cooper's character Robert Jorden meets General Golz, Cooper's shadow can be seen on a wall in the background. In the straight-on angle, it's Cooper's shadow, but in another angle it's obvious another person was used to create the shadow. When Cooper places his hand on his chin, the shadow's move is late by a second.,Pilar: Look I am ugly. Yet one can have a feeling here
[points to her heart]
Pilar: that blinds a man while he loves you. He thinks you are beautiful. And one day for no reason at all he sees you ugly as you really are. And he is not blind anymore. Then you see yourself as ugly as he sees you - and you lose your man and your feeling. Then one day the feeling, that idiotic feeling that you are beautiful, grows inside you again and another man sees you and thinks you are beautiful and it's all to do over again. Now I'm past it. But it still might come again.,Opening credits prologue: any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde: and therefore never send to know For Whom The Bell Tolls It tolls for thee.

Spain, 1937,Original roadshow presentation ran 170 minutes, not counting intermission. Film was later cut to 130 minutes for general release. The restored version released to VHS, laserdisc, and DVD, lists a running time of 166 minutes. This version was produced from a 156-minute archival print, with overture and entr'acte music making up the additional 10 minutes of running time, While this restored version reinstates most of the cut footage, about 4 minutes from the original roadshow remain missing.,Featured in The Buccaneer (1958),"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943): This is Ernest Hemmingway's story of Germany and Italy attacking Spain in 1937, and the anti-fascists who fought against them. Nearly three hours in length (originally with an intermission), there ARE those "epic" moments (issues of freedom, sacrifice, etc.), but overall, it was released mid-WWII as a drama and romance of a very high level (equal to "The African Queen"). Handsome Gary Cooper and lovely Ingrid Bergman star with a cast of gritty mountain fighters, including the bawdy, tough-as-nails Katina Paxinou. Cooper is an explosives expert from America, who makes the private effort to join the anti-fascists. He sees the writing on the wall: if the Axis isn't stopped in Spain, they'll take Europe, England, and then America which of course WAS the actual plan of Germany. Bergman is an accidental member of the fighters, who was saved by this disparate band. The main goal is to destroy a huge, important bridge spanning two mountains, which the Axis needs for transporting troops and weapons. Despite the almost lurid Technicolor (you CAN get it adjusted to something reasonable if you try) (or just switch it to b/w), this is an engaging, if sometimes drawn out story of one effort to destroy one location by a small group of fighters who are willing to die for their people and freedom. The characters and story are more complex and unpredictable than a typical Hollywood film, thanks to Hemmingway. The love story should be expected, but IS used as a device to establish "epic" issues. By the end, I was riveted to the increasingly tense outcome.,