Paramount secured a critical and box office success with For Whom the Bell Tolls by following Hemingway’s recommendations for the leading roles, Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. Yet Dudley Nichols’ screenplay deliberately turned away from the political core of Hemingway’s novel, focusing instead on the doomed romance between disenchanted American revolutionary Robert Jordan (Cooper) and the beautiful Partisan Maria (Bergman). The almost three hour road show version of For Whom the Bell Tolls remains truest to the film’s soaring epic dimensions and is the only way to appreciate its lush Technicolor landscapes, beautiful orchestral score and vivid performances.