For Whom the Bell Tolls (film)

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sam Wood
Screenplay by	Dudley Nichols
Based on	For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Produced by	Sam Wood
Starring	Gary Cooper Ingrid Bergman Akim Tamiroff Katina Paxinou Joseph Calleia
Cinematography	Ray Rennahan
Edited by	John F. Link Sr. Sherman Todd
Music by	Victor Young
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	July 14, 1943 (1943-07-14) (New York City, premiere) [1]
Running time	170 minutes (19 reels)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million[2]
Box office	$17.8 million (worldwide)[3][4]

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 American epic war film produced and directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia. The screenwriter Dudley Nichols based his script on the 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film is about an American International Brigades volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman).

For Whom the Bell Tolls was Ingrid Bergman's first Technicolor film. Hemingway's desire for Cooper and Bergman for the leading roles was much publicized, but Paramount initially cast Vera Zorina with Cooper. After shooting footage with Zorina's hair cut short (truer to the novel's character—a shorn head—than Bergman's "look" in the film), she was replaced with Bergman.^[5]

For Whom the Bell Tolls was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film claimed one win as Katina Paxinou won Best Supporting Actress. Victor Young's soundtrack for the film was the first complete score from an American film to be issued on record.^[6]