From Here to Eternity (1953)

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

Daniel Taradash (screenplay)
James Jones (novel)

Release Date:

15 October 1953 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Pouring out of impassioned pages...brawling their way to greatness on the screen!

Plot:

In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Hawaii | Boxing | Love | Stockade

Awards:

Won 8 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Sgt. Milton Warden
Montgomery Clift	...	Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt
Deborah Kerr	...	Karen Holmes
Donna Reed	...	Alma 'Lorene' Burke
Frank Sinatra	...	Pvt. Angelo Maggio
Philip Ober	...	Capt. Dana Holmes
Mickey Shaughnessy	...	Cpl. Leva
Harry Bellaver	...	Pvt. Mazzioli
Ernest Borgnine	...	Sgt. 'Fatso' Judson
Jack Warden	...	Cpl. Buckley
John Dennis	...	Sgt. Ike Galovitch
Merle Travis	...	Sal Anderson
Tim Ryan	...	Sgt. Pete Karelsen
Arthur Keegan	...	Treadwell
Barbara Morrison	...	Mrs. Kipfer - Owner of New Congress Club

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) | 3 Channel Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | South Korea:15 | Germany:12 | West Germany:16 (f) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #16582)

Filming Locations:

Diamond Head, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

If Columbia head Harry Cohn had gotten his way, the film would have starred Aldo Ray as Prewitt, Edmond O'Brien as Warden, Joan Crawford as Karen, Julie Harris as Lorene and Eli Wallach as Maggio.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the soldiers go pick up Prewitt's dead body, his stomach can be seen rising from diaphragm breathing.

Quotes:

Sergeant Maylon Stark: Leva tells me you've been eyeing the Captain's wife like a hound dog at hunting time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Relative Strangers (2006)

Soundtrack:

Taps

Monty Clift's greatest role?

Fred Zinnemann's epic about the lead-up to Pearl Harbor, featuring excellent performances from young Montgomery Clift and Donna Reed, a knockout role for Sinatra, and that roll in the surf for Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.

From Here to Eternity is a potboiler which wears its heart on its sleeve. Would it have been the same with Joan Crawford instead of Kerr? Hard to say. I think the heart of the film is Clift, who gives perhaps his career best as ex-boxer Prewitt, the sensitive bugle player fighting his demons. Lancaster is a close second, a hard-boiled officer with no time for love.

One of the best of the 50s, and well worth watching.