As much as I didn't enjoy reading Ernest Hemingway's novel, I'm so glad I read it before watching the film adaptation of The Sun Also Rises. It's as tailor made to Ava Gardner as The Great Gatsby was to Robert Redford. I can't help but believe Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald borrowed Jules Verne's time machine, met Ava and Bob, then travelled back to the 1920s and wrote their respective novels. Had I skipped the novel, I would have dismissed the movie as incredibly boring with unlikable characters and a leading lady with no class, low morals, and a sea of unexplained admirers. But that was the core of the book! Peter Viertel's adaptation of the novel was fantastic, keeping the characters and integral dialogues intact but writing scenes that actually flowed and made the audience care about the story-something that was sorely lacking in the novel. Also, a key plot point in the story-the lead character's impotence-was only mentioned once in the novel, and the vague reference went over my head. It wasn't until I was able to follow Viertel's screenplay that I understood the main character's motivations better.Speaking of impotence, that was not a word easily spoken in 1957 Hollywood. While Some Like It Hot was universally credited for the demise of the restrictive Hays Code in 1959, that film was really only the straw the broke the camel's back. 1957 was an extremely groundbreaking year for film censorship. Impotence was openly discussed in The Sun Also Rises, incest and rape were present in Peyton Place, and attitudes towards interracial marriage were exposed in Sayonara. If you're interested in that period of film history, all three of those films are must-sees. In the film, Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner are still in love with each other, even though years have passed and they've decided not to be together. Ava is engaged to Errol Flynn, and Tyrone's friend Mel Ferrer falls in love with Ava at first sight. So, with three men in love with her, there's only one thing to do: take a vacation to Spain with all three of them! The movie famously films bullfights and the Pamplona run, so if you like films that were made on location, you'll want to put this on your list-and it's extremely entertaining to read some backstage stories about the making of this film!Now for the acting, because the technical aspects, music, and screenplay are all very good. Had I not read the novel, I would have dismissed everyone's performances as boring and one-dimensional. Errol is irritable, drunk, and quick-tempered; Tyrone is drunk and cranky; Ava is drunk and crass; Mel is weak and simpering; and Eddie Albert is just drunk. However, that's exactly how the characters were written by Ernest Hemingway! Ava does an extremely good job because all she's doing is playing herself. Tyrone is supposed to be cranky, and Errol is supposed to act like Brian Aherne in The Best of Everything. Mel is supposed to follow Ava around like a puppy dog and gain the audience's sympathy. If I can come up with this much praise for an Ava Gardner movie, it must be good. Do yourself a favor and read the novel first, though. You'll get so much more out of the movie if you do.

. . . and a travelogue broke out. THE SUN ALSO RISES starts out pretty dull for about 48 minutes in Paris, and then becomes unendurably boring during its final 82 minutes in Spain. It's akin to watching grass dry, paint grow, or trying to read an entire book devoted to a geezer who catches a big fish, only to have it eaten by other big fish before he can get it to shore. Speaking of old farts, the opening narration of SUN claims that this tawdry tale takes place in 1922. How is it that all these aging bozos with one foot in the grave, such as Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, could have been young Doughboys just four years earlier during WWI?! Did the Kaiser's minions spray them with AGING GAS? Apart from the washed-out "local color" aspect of this flick, its plot boils down to a sadistic nymphomaniac hopelessly hung up on her enabler, a masochistic but impotent veteran (of the U.S. Civil War, apparently). Maybe this hint of perversion was capable of drawing a few snickers back in the day, coming from the pen of Ernest Hemingway--the Caitlyn Jenner of his times. (Anyone who has followed the posthumous releases of "Papa's" weird Psycho-sexual musings and fantasies knows what I'm talking about.) Some may argue that a good movie COULD have been made from Jake Barnes' story. To that, I'd reply, "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

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

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.