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For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943): Film vs Book

Film · 1943 · Directed by Sam Wood · Starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman

About the film

An American fighter joins a guerrilla band during the Spanish war.

How close is it to the book?

Close to the book

The film keeps the main story but softens the book's frank language and politics.

Read or watch first?

The novel's long inner passages are central.

What the book gives you

For Whom the Bell Tolls cover

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

A passionate, vivid story of courage and love set in the mountains of Spain. It captures how much can matter in just a few days.

Who will like it: Readers drawn to intense stories of love and duty in a time of war.

Watch on AmazonBack to the book