ChrisKo507 I just watched this video today in my Introduction to Fiction class and was disappointed with it. I liked Hemingway's short story very much. It's a great story thats told through dialogue and imagery. What I was basically disappointed about with the film adaptation was the how they changed the dialogue and basically spelled out for the audience what the couple's quarrel was about. The film took away the elusiveness of the short story. With all that aside, the acting and directing was alright. I like how the film added the couple walking across the tracks into an orchard, where I think there was an apple tree, and then they walked back to the station (a literary tool used in short stories like "The Swimmer" and "Young Goodman Brown" that use that loss of innocence symbolism with apple trees that originated with the Garden of Eden story). Anyway, the short story is better.

earlynr "Hills Like White Elephants" is the best short of the set. Thick with tension and a tangible, though unspoken, sense of pervading hopelessness. Hadley is Melanie Griffith's most outstanding role. What Melanie communicates with just her eyes is amazing. As for James Woods, well, he plays a sleazy jerk of a guy as impeccably as ever. But, really, for those of you who think Melanie Griffith can't act, this short film will change your mind forever.

Victor Bloom MD The best of three is The Man in the Brooks Brothers shirt, withElizabeth McGovern displaying her deep and complex powers. Thisis the same lady who contributed to "Once Upon a Time inAmerica" becoming a film classic and grand opera. What she doeswith her face is difficult to describe, but is worth watching.

Red7Eric This film is three short films in one, all inspired by short stories featuring one male lead and one female lead. James Woods and Melanie Griffith do a credible job in the Hemingway story, but the story itself is far superior to this script. The Dorothy Parker adaptation with Molly Ringwald and Peter Weller is awful; the two actors appear to be in two completely different stories. It's Elizabeth McGovern's performance in "The Man with the Brooks Brothers Shirt" that makes this tape worth the price of the rental. Beau Bridges is good as the traveling salesman, but McGovern's performance as the stranger he meets on the train is one of the most skillful, powerful performances I've ever seen on film. This is a hugely gifted, vastly underrated actress who ought to be seen a lot more often than she is. Two stars overall, but Elizabeth McGovern gets five.