What happens
During the First World War, an American volunteer serving with an Italian ambulance unit, Frederick, meets Catherine, an English nurse at a hospital behind the lines. Their friendship grows into romance as the guns sound nearby and the war continues. Frederick is wounded and recovers under Catherine's care, while the two grow closer and begin to plan their future. The Lady Esther Screen Guild Players present this radio adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms, broadcast on April 10, 1944, and starring Gary Cooper and Joan Fontaine. This segment follows the couple's early relationship through Frederick's recovery.
Northern Italy during the First World War, at the front, an Italian ambulance unit, and a hospital behind the lines in 1917
Characters: Frederick, Catherine Barkley, Ferguson, Major Rinaldi, Father, Passini, Aymo
Listen for: The sounds of distant artillery and how the guns shape the mood of the couple's meetings
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.