Ernest Hemingway's popular novella which probably helped him win the Nobel Prize in literature was purchased by Warner Brothers studio. Classy film director Fred Zinnemann was hired to turn it into a prestige film. A very miscast Spencer Tracy played the "old man." Then everything went wrong. Hemingway was hired to catch a marlin and that never happened. The sea wasn't very hospitable to filming in Havana and decision was made to film in a tank on a sound stage. A frustrated Zinnemann quit the production.
John Sturges was hired to complete the film, and it's probably a miracle that he actually finished it. How's the end product? Well considered all the problems and compromises made, not that bad.
The color photography is at times stunning, the score by Dimitri Tiomkin is good. Spencer Tracy's narration isn't bad. The film got decent reviews but the public didn't show up. So much for art pictures I guess.
Peter Viertel wrote the screenplay. The film runs 85 minutes.
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