HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN

US, 1962, 145 minutes, Colour.
Richard Beymer, Diane Baker, Corinne Calvet, Fred Clark, Dan Dailey, Jessica Tandy, James Dunn, Susan Strasberg, Arthur Kennedy, Juano Hernandez, Ricardo Montalban, Eli Wallach, Michael Pollard and Paul Newman.
Directed by Martin Ritt.

Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man is an adaptation of some of Hemingway's short stories about Nick Adams. In presentation they resemble many of Hemingway's stories and the climax is very similar to the World War I stories in A Farewell to Arms. Richard Beymer was being groomed for stardom at the time at Twentieth Century Fox. He appeared in such films as The Diary of Anne Frank and West Side Story. However he did not become a great star. Fox also had many guest stars in this film, some to very good effect, for instance Paul Newman.

The film was directed by Martin Ritt who had made a name for himself in television and had directed a number of fine films such as Edge of the City, The Sound and the Fury. He was to make a number of effective films in the 60s, for instance Hud, Hombre, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. The film is long and sprawling, very episodic. It is of interest for Hemingway fans but it is comparatively mild film-making compared with other versions of Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, Islands in the Stream.

1. Audience interest in Hemingway, his biography, status in American literature and in the image of the American male, his stories? How was this film a tribute to Hemingway? Did it succeed?

2. The use of colour and wide screen, musical background, the use of locations from the American Midwest, to New York, to Italy? Did it recapture the flavour of Hemingway’s outlook on life and literature? The atmosphere of Hemingway's own life and of his stories?

3. The importance of the structure: the growth of a young man, his origins in the Mid- West, moving out, trials and testing, the overseas experience? The episodic nature of the structure? Its cumulative effect?

4. The significance of the title, the emphasis on adventures and the nature of these adventures, their effect on a young man and his growth? The emphasis on the young man and the need for development and growth? An appropriate title?

5. The portrait of the young American man? How did Nick Adams represent the young American man of his tine? The importance of his Midwest origins, family background and difficulties, his naivety, his ambitions, his emotional relationships, his drives that sent him away from how, trying to learn the lessons of life, the hardship of getting a job, the experience of World War I and its relationship to America? How well was he able to begin his life by the end of the story?

6. Comment on the detail of portraiture in his family. The nature of his mother, her personality, her dominance, her Nick, her hopes for him and the way these were expressed? The nature of the bond between the two? How much love? How much hatred? The importance of Nick's father in his life? A weak kind of man? His relationship with his wife? The importance of his visit to Nick in New York before he went overseas? The fact that he committed suicide? The mother's memory of this? The influence of both parents in his life?

7. The friendship between George and Nick? As an example of ordinary relationships and friends in growing up? The values of the Midwest that George stood for and remained with? His admiration for Nick but his inability to imitate him? How was Nick influenced by his friends? The importance of Bugs and his influence? What kind of person? Negro influence in a young American at this time?


8. What brought about the decision to leave home. what was he seeking? The way that he left home? The importance of the train and its sense of motion, moving away from home? His place on that train?

9. The contribution of the episode of the battler? The way it was filmed, generally the continuous running, the running commentary of the battler about his career and fighting? What kind of character was he? His expectations of life, his insight into life, the advice to Nick, the influence he had on him?

10. The contrast with the personality of Billy Campbell, his show? The reputation of burlesque at the time? The personality of Campbell and his influence on Nick, what did Nick learn from his experience in this show business world on the road? The hardships, poverty, precarious nature of success? Why did he leave?

11. The young man from the Midwest confronting New York City and its impact on him? The atmosphere and the environment, his feeling abandoned? The challenge to him in New York?

12. The background of the newspaper world, Nick's ambitions and his literary ability, his reaction to the refusal? A hard and cut-throat world?

13. The decision to go to war, the importance of his father's visit and their discussion before he went? What was Nick hoping for in the adventure of World War I?

14. The film's portrayal of action in Italy, the nature of the war and its brutality, heroism, injuries, relationships between the men? What was Nick learning by this experience of war in which America was as yet not involved? His experience of a different culture, different language? An American in Europe, an innocent abroad?

15. His relationships with the various soldiers and their influence on him, his relationship with the Major and saving his life? The relationship with his friend and the humanising influence in Italy?

16. His injuries and the question of his health? The encounter with Rosanna and the awakening of a genuine experience of love, the way that this was portrayed in the film, romantically? Authentically? The importance of the comparison with Caroline and her relationship with Nick back in his home town? The contrasting personalities of Rosanna and Caroline? The comparison with the Contessa and the world of high society, influence, patronage? The simplicity of his love for Rosanna? How did he change? The impact of her death on him?

17. How did Nick see America with new eyes after his war experience? What insight did he have into his homeland?

18. The prospects of the future for him as he stepped ashore? As he returned home? His reassessment of home, his mother, Caroline and relationships? How much is this influenced by knowledge of Hemingway's later life, final suicide? How well did the film represent Hemingway's toughness, integrity, vision of America and of the American male?