Full version

Generally, I prefer the film versions restored to their original length--but in this case I feel the 130 minute version is better. The longer version doesn't seem to have the focus, spending too much time on subplots, diverting our attention from what matters most to the viewer. As a for instance, [SPOILERS] the scene where El Sordo bites it is drawn out much too long in the restored version--the shorter version allowing us to feel the tragedy of the outcome in ¼ the time. In the expanded take, we hear El Sordo’s men bitterly complain about Pilar’s group failing to come to their rescue, and El Sordo explaining to them that why such action would have been foolish. But we already know all of this when Pilar holds back her men, saying that El Sordo “Will understand.” And then there is the long drawn out discussion between the commander of the forces surrounding El Sordo and his men, and his long ascent of the mountain, which to my way of thinking only added minutes to the film without adding much substance (the point that people can be immensely stupid, and that ruthlessness is not an “attribute” of any particular side is made elsewhere).

Clearly, it’s a matter of taste. I felt the shortened version made its points more economically, and had no lulls or boring stretches, but I couldn’t make the same claim for the full-length film. As I said, I normally prefer the “director’s cut,” (A Star Is Born, Once Upon a Time In the West, and The Magnificent Ambersons are prime examples of films dramatically lessened by studio pressure to shorten or change the mood of a piece), but sometimes a director needs external pressure to divest the picture of burdensome scenes the director is too “in love with” to see that, though they may be good scenes in and of themselves, they weigh the picture down. Amadeus is such an example, IMHO. I unfortunately bought the director’s cut, and found the added scenes to be so much padding. And Peter Jackson could have sorely used some external pressure to cut down his King Kong. Twenty minutes of judicious snips might have turned it into a masterpiece. And this is how I see For Whom the Bell Tolls—but we may just have to agree to disagree.

Cheerio!

Fighting for Truth, Justice, and making it the American way.

I taped it on vhs from tcm !!!

Indeed, it seems that there were three versions: a premiere version running 170 minutes(or 180 minutes; see below,) a roadshow version running 166 minutes(including overture and intermission) and the 1957 re-release version running 130 minutes. In this respect FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS resembles the three versions of John Wayne's THE ALAMO (1960) with a long premiere version and then two shorter versions.

A program for the premiere version lists George Coulouris in the role of Andre Massart (based on Andre Marty, French Commissar of the International Brigades) and Konstantin Shayne as Karkov, a Soviet journalist. It would seem that Dudley Nichols' screenplay was more forthcoming about the politics of the Spanish Civil War then is apparent in the surviving longer version of the movie.

In "The Hollywood Professionals" Vol. II by Tony Thomas, he writes in the chapter on Sam Wood, "Three hours in its first issue, Wood later cut the picture by half an hour and when re-issued a few years after his death it was considerably truncated." In the filmography at the end of the chapter he gives the complete cast including Coulouris and Shayne but gives a running time of 168 minutes, 2 minutes shy of the 170 minute running time given at IMDb. Perhaps the actual premiere running time was 170 minutes and the scenes with Coulouris and Shayne only lasted 4 minutes.

I had watched this film on TV several times over the years before I got the DVD. The latter version was about 170 minutes long and I believe that was what the OP called the "Full Version". Also, I had read the book long before I saw the film. I prefer the longer version as it includes several of my favorite scenes from the book that did not appear in the shorter versions shown on TV.

One scene, shown as a flashback, was the story Pilar told Jordan about how Pablo led the attack on the Nationalist town and how the crowd later clubbed the mayor and other alleged Fascist sympathizers to death. The scene was useful in showing that atrocities had been committed by both sides. Also, the scene was important in showing the different sides of Pablo’s character. As Pilar said, he was a brave man and good leader in the past but later lost his nerves. Without this background, he appeared to be just a coward always causing trouble to Jordan and the others in his team.

Another scene mentioned earlier by another poster was the attack on El Sordo’s camp, with El Sordo and his men faking their suicides in order to trick and kill the Nationalist captain, before they were killed by the planes. This scene, like the other one, was also from the book. It was one of the few scenes that showed some humanity of the characters on the Nationalist side. It is interesting that the names of the actors playing Captain Mora, Lt. Berrendo and the Sniper were displayed prominently in the opening credits. Without that scene, they would have been out of the film altogether – except perhaps as background actors having no speaking parts.

One might say that these and other cut scenes are not crucial to the main action, but one should remember that the main story could not have been simpler – the blowing of the bridge. The additional scenes at least helped to provide some background to the political setting of the period and offer additional insights into characters on both sides.

If there were scenes that were overlong, I would say they were those “romance” scenes of Maria and Jordan. I know this is just a matter of opinion. Perhaps back in those days people were more “eloquent” in speech and were able to compose long paragraphs to express their love for others, but today those love dialogue appears stilted and unnatural. To be fair, those scenes are equally long in the book.

Overall, I prefer the longer version since it gives additional scope for characterization and provides more background for the events that took place in the film.

For those who don't mind to import their media once in a while: in Germany a blu-ray was released with both the regular cut as well as the long version (165 minutes 30 seconds). https://www.amazon.de/Stunde-schl%C3%A4gt-Masterpieces-Cinema-Blu-ray/dp/B00VFGZVA2/