Hemingway acolyte A. E. Hotchner stitched together a passel of Papa’s Nick Adams stories, plus a ‘tab’ version of A FAREWELL TO ARMS, for this DOA Bildungsroman about young Ernest. Though if you consider the level of most Hemingway adaptations, it’s actually worth a look. There are fine late career contributions from lenser Lee Garmes & composer Franz Waxman and great location stuff, but they can't redeem the script, Richard Beymer ’s placid lead perf, Martin Ritt ’s square helming or give the story any kind of shape. Best bet is to just sit back and watch the parade of guest stars roll by (an amazing list: Diane Baker, Fred Clark, Dan Dailey, the superb Juano Hernandez, Arthur Kennedy, Jessica Tandy, James Dunn, Eli Wallach, an unfortunate character turn from Paul Newman, and Corinne Calvet, Ricardo Montalban & Susan Strasberg as Italians, natch) as if this were a late ‘50s tv spectacular.
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