To those willing to endure A Farewell To Arms: Don’t be a hero!
The film was a signature failure that sums up David O. Selznick’s is entire career: a showman with big panache and no heart.
The central conceit, that theater is the house of true art and film the way station of the illiterate, might’ve come off as self-important on stage.
Witness John Barrymore’s brash thee-at-ah director remove puddy from his nose for the sake of his art.