Excellent but underrated film

The first must-see film of the year.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

. . . 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?"

I've always loved this book. I saw this movie the last time when I was in a college Literature class. My memory was that it was a Cinemascope film on a conventional screen. When Tyrone Power got into bed, the bed was about three feet long, as was his body. Anyway, I now remember that this is pretty much a dull film. It is talky and not very well edited. While the bullfight scenes were interesting, they were narrated by Power so we would know what was going on. The one thing that was personal is Ava Gardner. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Especially when she was in her party girl mode, she is utterly striking. I also enjoyed Errol Flynn, the Hemingway of the story. His character has some life. Power as Jake Barnes is a limp fish in this one. He is so laid back that he wet-blankets every scene. Of course, a war injury has left him impotent and he will never have Lady Brett. This sad fact is there in the beginning and everyone knows, so he has pretty much given up. There are a couple times when he thaws out, but it is hard to feel a lot of sympathy for him. In the book, he is portrayed in such sad terms. I'd forgotten that Robert Evans played the bullfighter, Romero. I am haunted by his cockeyed look as he peers into the crowd. It is the strangest look. One thing that does come out of this is that I have decided not to become a bullfighter anytime soon. This film hasn't been available for a long time, so when it was released, I got it right away. It was just out of curiosity and I have to admit I was disappointed.

'The Sun Also Rises' is a movie in which a lot happens and nothing happens. Maybe it would be better to say, nothing means anything. Which may be the point Ernest Hemingway was trying to make in the novel the film is based on. We follow a group of people, some who have known each other and some who have just met, as they make their way on a sort of moveable feast (sorry, couldn't resist) across France and Spain. They make witty conversation, argue, eat, drink a lot, go to the bullfights, fall in and out of love, and occasionally come to blows. Lady Brett Ashley (Ava Gardner) is more or less in love with Jake (Tyrone Power) but over the course of the movie manages to flirt, have affairs, or become engaged to just about every other prominent male character. They include Robert (Mel Ferrer), Mike (Errol Flynn), Bill (Eddie Albert), and Pedro (Robert Evans). I suppose depending on one's mood, one could read any number of meanings into the plot: the hopelessness of love, the eccentricities of human nature, the futility of life itself, or maybe that the best thing one can do in trying to deal with any of these is to get drunk in as many different places as possible. The novel, as I recall, had a good deal more style than the film and was worth reading simply for the enjoyment of Hemingway's tough, spare prose and dialogue. It didn't add up to much but it was a good read. The movie is tedious and pointless for the most part, and badly cast. The characters seem too old, and hence foolish, for traipsing around Paris and San Sebastian to no purpose. The bloated screenplay makes it seem as though their ramblings and besotted adventures MUST have some meaning, but when it's all over, it's apparent they don't. There is an interesting bit of casting in Errol Flynn portraying playboy Mike Campbell, the drunkest of all, who has a memorable line when he explains that he went bankrupt "two ways- gradually and all of a sudden." As has been pointed out, Flynn seems to be almost playing himself, and his scenes are the best. But they are not enough to sustain 'The Sun Also Rises,' a film that takes over two hours to arrive nowhere.

GWlightwizard gave a beautiful review and I agree completely with him. This film and the book are very close. As for the criticisms that the actors are too old for their roles - consider this - the characters they portray are actually in their 30s (not their 20s as some have stated). For instance, Ava Gardner was 35, her character in the book was 34. It's very good casting by putting in actors that are a bit older. The characters do seem a bit weary and older and are merely showing the effects of their lifestyle. Theirs is a post-WWI, world-weary, hard drinking life full of disillusionments and briefly fleeting joys. Read the book in conjunction with seeing this movie. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the parallels. It's also historically quite accurate for the period, plus a bit auto-biographical. Ernest Hemingway was and is one of the best. It shows in this movie and is great.