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| Ava Gardner and Tyrone Power as Brett Ashley, Ernest Hemingway’s troubled lovers & Jake Barnes in 1957’s “The Sun Also Rises.” |
The last hurray of the studio system, as demonstrated by 20th Darryl F. Zanuck, the roving Century Fox mogul, was still firmly engrossed in filming The sun is also rising. Although this adaptation was fundamentally faithful to the story, Zanuck made a big-budget epic on the big screen, with superstars and exotic locations to attract the TV-watching audience, which went against the grain of spirit of Ernest Hemingway’s personal story.
The biggest misstep was box office stars, not only due to their age, but also their aging. The forty-something stars hired to play thrill-seeking lost thirty-somethings seemed more like a mid-life crisis until the sun goes down than The sun is also rising.
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| The lost generation? Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Eddie Albert, & Errol Flynn star in the 1957 film version of “The Sun Also Rises”. |
In the 1950s, Hollywood seemed once again seduced by Ernest Hemingway. Fox filmed 53 years The snows of Kilimanjaro and ’57 The sun is also rising. David O. Selznick produced a mammoth remake of A farewell to arms in ’57. And Spencer Tracy starred in ’58 The old Man and the Sea. However, they received mixed to bad reviews.
Snows And Farewell made a lot of money, probably thanks to their leading men, Gregory Peck and Rock Hudson. The irascible Ernest Hemingway didn’t have much positive to say about any of these adaptations, especially since he made no profit, but he was particularly scathing towards The sun is also rising.
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| Jake Barnes suffers a serious war injury that leaves him helpless, leading him to Barnes and Brett Ashley aside, played by Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner. |
It’s a shame that director John Huston got distracted by another Hemingway adaptation, A farewell to arms. He was fired early by producer and mega-intruder David O. Selznick, who was obsessed with his star/wife, Jennifer Jones. Huston, a like-minded friend of Hemingway, could have brought more courage to The sun is also rising. And Huston would have ably handled alpha male Zanuck and the diverse cast. Or at least, wouldn’t it be nice to think so? Fox’s favorite studio executive, Henry King, was cast and did a solid but sure job.
Hemingway made fun of the film’s locations, but they’re quite charming, although he was right that this adaptation feels like a tourist version of Hemingway’s “Lost Generation.” It was Zanuck’s clever way of appealing to the audience, but there is surprisingly little passion in this literary adaptation. The impression I got was that in exchange for bluntly stating that the hero Jake Barnes is helpless after a war injury, the film is light-hearted about the later consequences in the life of Jake.
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| Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes, in flashback scenes as a wounded soldier, in 1957’s “The Sun Also Rises.” Except for his age, Power is well cast as Jake. |
Tyrone Power as Jake wears loose suits and trench coats that look very hot for summer in Paris and Pamplona. Likewise, his pajamas and thick bathrobe seem to be intended for a New England winter. When Robert Cohn (Mel Ferrer) chats with Jake in the gym, he puts on a bathrobe just to walk from the locker room to a nearby shower. These are telltale signs of how this adaptation is so accomplished. Especially with Lady Brett, who is relentlessly followed by men in packs, and yet there is barely a kiss in this film!
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| Why does Tyrone Power hide in outfits like trench coats or pajamas and bathrobes in the 1957 summer set “The Sun Also Rises?” A perplexity! |
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| Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes. |
As Lady Brett, Ava Gardner’s occasional good humor should have been encouraged more, but she is made to act like a remorseful “bad” girl. Errol Flynn’s unrepentant reprobate offers more authenticity, looking swinger and sweaty while living in Spain. In fact, Ava and Errol’s banter scenes breathe some life into the film.
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| Tyrone Power as Jake Barnes, when he sees old flame Brett Ashley again, in “The Sun Also Rises” from 1957. |
Despite no longer being Fox’s number one leading man, Tyrone Power was brought back to 43 to play Jake Barnes. While Power’s appearance has been prematurely aged, he is solid as the melancholic Jake. Ty was Fox’s version of MGM’s Robert Taylor, but he was still much more sensitive and empathetic than Wooden Bob. Power’s warmth is a huge plus here. It’s a shame this wasn’t filmed at Fox in the late ’40s when Ty was working to expand his lineup with The razor blade And Nightmare Alleyit would have been absolutely perfect.
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| Errol Flynn is most appropriate as Mike Campbell in 1957’s “The Sun Also Rises.” |
Errol Flynn as Mike Campbell stole reviews from mixed reception The sun is also rising received upon exit. Flynn is at his natural best and captures Mike’s mercurial charm and ruthlessness. Errol also captures the sad, romantic and melancholic aspects of the character. However, it is shocking to see Flynn, at 47, looking like an old man, with his ravaged face, tired eyes and thickened waist. Errol and Ty were two of the most handsome men to ever grace cinema and it’s a shock beyond a mistake to see that they both lack their sparkling good looks and good humor. When Flynn runs with the bulls, you half expect him to die of a heart attack. Unfortunately, Power and Flynn died shortly after this film, Ty in 1958 and Errol in 1959.
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| A touching scene between Tyrone Power & Errol Flynn, as realized by their characters the party is over, in 1957’s “The Sun Also Rises.” |
Who had the brilliant idea of bringing Eddie Albert into the group at 50? Although Albert at least looked fit, he was visibly middle-aged. Moreover, its good-natured heaviness seems out of place here, to say the least! This lost generation is believed to be just over 30 years old. Hemingway wrote The sun is also rising based on his own experiences during the First World War and shortly after, and published before Ernest was 27 years old.
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| Lady Brett and her pack of wolves! From left: Mel Ferrer, Eddie Albert, Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, with Ava Gardner in the center. “The Sun Also Rises” from 1957. |
Mel Ferrer was one of those actors who became a leading man, but he was destined to be cast as a villain, with his skeletal face and cold demeanor. Mel was, at best, a star actor. But Ferrer was fit and fresh here, just three years younger than Power. The difference is definitely noticeable, although watching Mel, 6′ 3″, at 40, act like a petulant schoolboy in front of Brett is pretty ridiculous.
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| Mel Ferrer hardly seemed childish and irritable as Cohn in “The Sun Also Rises.” |
Ava Gardner, as Lady Brett Ashley, was categorized as “too old” as a knee-jerk generalization. Ava had just turned 34 when filming began in early 1957, the same age as Jake, Brett, and Robert in the novel. And even though she was no longer the new starlet of a decade ago, The killers And The peddlers, she still looked beautiful. Her wild-child lifestyle betrayed certain telltale signs under the eyes, but this was often the case, much to the dismay of MGM’s makeup department. However, Gardner’s sleek 1920s wardrobe highlights her slim whippet figure and some stellar close-ups show off her magnificent bone structure. And she certainly has a reputation as a charismatic hedonist. I think Ava’s acting is naturalistic and rather understated; Gardner was a great friend and admirer of Hemingway and did his best.
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| Our first look at Ava Gardner as Brett Ashley in 1957’s “The Sun Also Rises.” |
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| Ava Gardner looks in fine form as Lady Brett as she re-enters Jake Barnes’ life in “The Sun Also Rises” from 1957. |
Last And at least Robert Evans is absurd as Pedro. Can you imagine a handsome Jewish boy from New York playing a Spanish bullfighter today? He looks like a Mouseketeer in his bullfighter cap, making faces at Ava’s Brett in the spectator stand! Let’s just say he later fared better as a flamboyant film producer.
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| Seriously, why didn’t Darryl F. Zanuck ask Ava for recommendations on handsome bullfighters, instead of insisting on Robert Evans for “The Sun Also Rises?” |
As with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hollywood has never really done Ernest Hemingway justice. As for The sun is also risingIt’s worth your time and watchable if you can get past the overly-aged cast and the understated storytelling when it should have been passionate.
A much better Tyrone Power film, with the star playing another World War I veteran torn between the love of a strong-willed woman and trying to adjust to post-war life, East The razor blade. My opinion here: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2023/05/foxs-faithful-rendition-of-razors-edge.html
Here is my assessment of the great Ava Gardner: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/01/ava-gardner-faces-fifty-in-style-with.html
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| Ava Gardner and her fabulous jawline, in “The Sun Also Rises” from 1957. |
