Trivia / A Farewell to Arms

• Ability over Appearance: Though in the novel the character of Catherine Barkley is described as very tall, Helen Hayes was a mere five feet tall.
• Disowned Adaptation: Ernest Hemingway hated the film, as he felt it was overly romantic. That didn't stop him, however, from becoming lifelong friends with Gary Cooper, whom he met several years later. In fact, it was Hemingway who would insist that Cooper be cast in the lead of For Whom the Bell Tolls eleven years later. However, the two made a point of never discussing this film.
• Fake Brit: Helen Hayes as an English nurse.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Fredric March was originally set to play the lead, but when he discovered that director John Cromwell was being replaced by Frank Borzage, he refused to do the picture. The part was then given to Gary Cooper.
  • Claudette Colbert was considered for Catherine Barkley.
• Write What You Know: Hemingway was a volunteer ambulance driver at the World War One Italian front and incorporated his experience into the book. Notably the early scene where a mechanic is killed right next to the main character resembles a real life incident in which a shell killed an Italian soldier right next to Hemingway, who was involuntarily saved by the soldier's body sheltering him from the explosion.

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