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5 Best Ernest Hemingway Adaptations

While Hemingway wasn’t generally a fan of the adaptations of his works, these five films are must-watches.

ByTim Brinkhof, Nov 12, 2025

Ernest Hemingway wasn’t a huge fan of cinema. According to his son Patrick, “pictures on the silver screen were nothing but pure illusion (…) and not to be taken seriously.” 

His relationship with the screen, which over the course of his lifetime developed from a technological curiosity into a cultural force, was undoubtedly shaped by his identity as a writer—as an artist who expressed himself not in images but in words, and by the time of his death saw his age-old trade swept aside by a new, different medium.

While the author himself would probably have begged to differ, the following five films are considered some of the best Hemingway adaptations out there. 

• A Farewell to Arms (1932) 
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
• The Killers (1964)
• The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
• Captain Khorsid (1987)

A Farewell to Arms (1932) 

Originally published in 1929 and based on his experience serving as an American ambulance driver during the First World War, A Farewell to Armsfollows a wounded lieutenant who falls in love with the nurse who nurses him back to health, culminating in the couple’s ill-fated attempt to leave the war behind.

This adaptation, directed by Frank Borzage and starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes in the two leading roles, was nominated for four Academy Awards and ended winning two: one for Best Cinematography, and another for Best Sound. Made before the existence of codes, the film was—for a time—banned on account of its portrayal of sexuality and violence.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Like A Farewell to Arms, this novel was released only a few years before its big screen adaptation, in 1940. Also steeped in personal experience, it follows an American volunteer fighting against fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War. This soldier, too, falls in love, forcing him to choose between duty and happiness.

Directed by Sam Wood, this adaptation was nominated for Best Picture. Gary Cooper returns to play the leading role, this time starring alongside Ingrid Bergman—seen for the first time in Technicolor. Aside from faithfully adapting the story, it sticks close to its themes of pacifism and the futility of war.

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