From Here to Eternity (1953) User Reviews (213)

"Re-enlistment blues"

[Steffi_P · 8/10 · 17 May 2009]

It's often said that the simplest stories are the best. This isn't true. The simple stories are easy to get right, but a complex ensemble piece with multiple protagonists and numerous subplots can be just as effective, although it's a lot harder to pull off successfully. From Here to Eternity stands in the tradition of The Best Years of Our Lives, Seven Samurai and The Godfather, of pictures with interwoven plots that have become classics thanks to strong screen writing, intelligent direction and powerful acting performances.

Part of the reason From Here to Eternity works is because it is very quick in establishing its characters and plot lines. It opens with a series of interlinking scenes, introducing us to Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Philip Ober, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, giving us clues about Clift's past and hinting at the future relationship between Lancaster and Kerr, all in the space of five minutes. Director Fred Zinnemann, with a confidence that is lacking in his earliest features, shoots these scenes with subtle technique to give them maximum storytelling effect. For example, he gives Clift's character a superb introduction, walking at a right angle to the marching column until he is brought right into close-up. Once the dialogue begins he uses sudden changes of angle to highlight certain lines, for example the close-up of Lancaster telling Kerr "I'd be happy to help", at which point the audience know exactly what is going to happen between those two characters. Donna Reed is of course introduced a little later, but to compensate she is given a very distinctive first shot, framed on her own immediately after some busy crowd shots.

But Zinnemann's direction isn't all pure functionalism. He makes sparing use of attention-grabbing stylisation when the moment demands it, such as the dolly-out through the rain-soaked window during Lancaster and Kerr's first kiss. And this stylisation even helps keep the narrative together, for example cutting from the roaring sea at the end of the famous beach scene to the smoke rising from Clift's cigarette. Throughout the various parallel plots there is a tone of melancholy and regret, and Zinnemann keeps this commonality with his consistency of style.

Of course, you get the same problem or at least the same feature in From Here to Eternity as you do in They Died with Their Boots on or Titanic, in that the audience, knowing their history, know what is going to happen at the end. The strength of the non-combat story lines is such that we forget when and where we are, and as such it is important that we are eased into the finale of the Pearl Harbour attack so it does not seem such a surreal break in tone. This is done with characteristic subtlety, with two objects placed noticeably yet not obtrusively into the frame to jog our memories. The first is a calendar showing December 6th on the wall beside Burt Lancaster, and the other a signpost reading "Pearl Harbour" after his final meeting with Kerr.

One of the biggest challenges for the makers of an ensemble piece is that you need a larger than normal pool of leading players, and yet you must ensure none of them will overshadow the others. This is another thing they got right in From Here to Eternity. Clift, Kerr and Lancaster are all competent performers without big egos, and they all give steady performances, even if they are far from career-bests. As to Sinatra, what's amazing is not the quality of his performance (it was always evident he could act) but that he was even allowed to play a dramatic, non-musical role. It just goes to show the increased flexibility of cinema in the 1950s, as well as the rising status of the musical genre. To give it some perspective, can you imagine Fred Astaire or Bing Crosby having done the same thing in the 30s? From Here to Eternity won 1953's Best Picture Oscar, and like all successful pictures was followed by a host of imitators. 1955's Battle Cry for example is another many-stranded story about soldiers at the start of World War Two, and even features a rather tepid knock-off of the famous beach scene. However, while Battle Cry has some nice moments, structurally it is an absolute mess, an example of how easy it is to do a botch job on a complex storyline. That's why From Here to Eternity is such a rarity, being an ensemble piece that really works.

A World Away...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 5 October 2020]

... from what we feed on these days and perhaps only of relevance as an artefact of the time it was released and the period it reflects, the way we behave and interact in the real world has changed unrecognisably since. It does, however, deliver us some top drawer performances from some genuinely talented performers, most of them to go on to much bigger and better things. All in all, a solid 1950s era film set in the prior decade before the outbreak of war, it uses multiple and interlinked sub plots to show us the sorrow and sadness experienced by numerous characters as a result of the choices they've made, the people they met and how they interacted.

Involving Military Soap Opera Elevated by Sturdy Performances from an Offbeat Cast

[EUyeshima · 9/10 · 17 August 2009]

In hindsight, this 1953 classic doesn't seem as much a military drama as it does a highly charged soap opera, which shouldn't come as a surprise given that master filmmaker Fred Zinnemann ("the Nun's Story") was at the helm. The veteran director upended the western genre just a year earlier with the Gary Cooper classic "High Noon", and he places the same incendiary focus of character over action here, that is, until the inevitable climax which uses the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a catharsis for the characters' dilemmas now dwarfed by the coming world war.

Based on James Jones' epic novel, screenwriter Daniel Taradash manages to reduce the complexity of the book's themes without trivializing them, and then-offbeat casting enhances the movie immeasurably. Set on a U.S. Army base in Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack, the focus is on two men, both dedicated to the military with no aspirations to become the officers they have grown to detest. One is Private Robert E. Prewitt, a talented boxer (and bugler) who refuses to fight on his regiment's team since blinding a sparring partner. The other is First Sergeant Milton Warden, a take-charge, professional soldier who earns the trust of his men even as he kowtows to his weak-willed commanding officer.

Life in the barracks is fraught with adversarial personalities, chief among them Private Angelo Maggio, Prewitt's loudmouthed best friend, and Staff Sergeant "Fatso" Judson, the sadistic stockade warden. Both Prewitt and Warden meet women who seek to change their lives. Prewitt finds cynical nightclub "hostess" Lorene at a brothel masquerading as a social club, while Warden embarks on a passionate affair with his commanding officer's wayward wife Karen. Burt Lancaster is well cast as Warden, and he brings surprising nuance to his character's clandestine encounters with Karen. However, it's Montgomery Clift - despite looking too slight to be genuinely believable as a boxer - who transcends his loner role by playing off his innately sensitive nature to portray a man who will never sacrifice his honor despite how dire the consequences. Well within his comfort zone, Frank Sinatra's turn as Maggio is small but impactful.

Still two years away from "Marty", Ernest Borgnine makes Judson's malevolence palpable in just a few scenes. Deborah Kerr submerges her Scottish accent and previous lady-like demeanor to reveal the embittered, sexually assertive side of Karen without sacrificing any of the character's vulnerability. The legendary, much-parodied beach scene with Lancaster still sizzles after all these years. Similarly, Donna Reed foregoes her good-girl image (epitomized by her memorable turn as Mary Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life") to play the sultry, delusional Lorene. The 2003 DVD comes with a small set of extras - a three-minute making-of retrospective short, a nine-minute collection of on-set footage and interviews from a documentary entitled "Fred Zinnemann: As I See It", and the original theatrical trailer. The best extra is the commentary track from Tim Zinnemann (the director's son) and screenwriter Alvin Sargent ("Spider-Man 2"), who had a small role in the movie.

Monty steals this film

[kiddlydiveydoo · 19 February 2001]

I really enjoyed this film. Frank Sinatra walked away with the Oscar, but I thought Montgomery Clift's performance was the standout. I know they weren't competing against one another, but if any actor were to win an Oscar I would have preferred Clift. Lancaster and Kerr gave the other great performances. I liked the interaction between Clift's and Lancaster's characters, particularly in the scene when Lancaster is telling Clift he could avoid fatigue duties 'if he were smart'. Clift replies 'Yeah, but I ain't smart', and Lancaster says 'I know, I know but if you were...'

I thought the best parts of this film came from the great acting of Kerr, Lancaster and Clift. It may suffer from being called a classic, making people's expectations high, but I thought it was very enjoyable.

A Realistic View of the Army

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 2 September 2005]

One of the big blockbuster best sellers of the post World War II years is James Jones's From Here to Eternity, a tale of the peacetime army in Hawaii before Pearl Harbor. The book was definitely going to be made into a film and it was only a question of casting to make it a success.

Director Fred Zinneman had a good intuitive sense about casting here, even against type. The two principal female parts were done against type. Deborah Kerr who made a career of playing respectable women played a captain's wife who's drinking and playing around. Not that husband Philip Ober is letting grass grow under his feet either, but Kerr's latest sexual exploit involves her with the First Sergeant of her husband's company, Burt Lancaster.

Donna Reed, who up to that point was best known for being Mary Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life, plays a prostitute here. A girl from the wrong side of the tracks, jilted by a rich boyfriend stateside, she's in Hawaii to make money and then go home and buy some respectability. She's not looking for romance with any soldiers, but you can't plan these things.

Especially Montgomery Clift if he comes in your life. It's been argued that this is Clift's greatest role and a case can sure be made for it. His character of Robert E. Lee Pruitt is like so many who still join the army today, from small town America who have no future there and find a home in the Armed Services. What makes Clift unique is that strong sense of individualism he can't control in an organization that does not encourage individuality.

Clift and Lancaster are a great study in contrasts and that's what drives From Here to Eternity. Lancaster as Sergeant Milt Warden is the ultimate professional soldier, held in the highest regard by his men. Lancaster is someone who knows how to work the system, you see it in the way he manipulates his captain. Of course he's got to be a manipulator there since he's having an affair with Deborah Kerr. He tries to protect Clift from himself and ultimately fails.

Clift has transferred into an infantry company and he was at one time a boxer. But he blinded someone in a fight and quit boxing. Philip Ober who prides himself on having several champions in various weight classes worked to get Clift in his company. Clift upsets his plans by refusing to box so he has the various sergeants give him "the treatment."

Clift's best friend in the company is a tough street wise soldier from the big city named Angelo Maggio, played by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra read the book and knew this part was for him. He did everything he had to do to get that part, including working for scale. At the time Sinatra was considered a has been as singer and actor. Sinatra was right on the money in terms of picking a role. His faith in himself and Columbia Pictures and Fred Zinneman's faith in him netted him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, one of eight awards won by From Here to Eternity.

By the way Sinatra credited both Lancaster and Clift in helping him through this film as a dramatic actor. Lancaster and Sinatra didn't inhabit the same Hollywood orbit, but they remained friends for life. The same could not be said for Clift. Allegedly, some five or six years after From Here to Eternity and after Monty Clift's automobile accident while shooting Raintree County, Clift at some party at Sinatra's made a drunken pass at one of Sinatra's retainers. That got him kicked out of Sinatra's circle permanently.

In fact From Here to Eternity was also the Best Picture of 1953, with Zinneman getting his second Best Director Oscar in a row after the one he took home in 1952 for High Noon. Donna Reed won for Best Supporting Acress. Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift were both nominated for Best Actor, but split the vote allowing William Holden to win for Stalag 17. Another great acting job itself. And Kerr was up for Best Actress, but lost to Audrey Hepburn for Roman Holiday.

From Here to Eternity is a film loaded with good actors in small roles who got their first notice in this film. Ernest Borgnine, Robert J. Wilkie, Claude Akins, Jack Warden, Mickey Shaughnessy, all play various soldiers and each one is memorable. Especially Borgnine as the vicious sadistic sergeant of the stockade.

TV's Superman was in From Here to Eternity also. George Reeves who was looking to escape the typecasting from Superman has a part as another sergeant who warns Lancaster about Deborah Kerr. He gave a fine performance, but most of it wound up on the cutting room floor. That would have unforeseen tragic consequences.

This is not any kind of glamorous army. These people are all too real and not very noble. The original novel was toned down quite a bit for the screen. But when the attack on Pearl Harbor comes, the men rise to the occasion, do their jobs in a more than competent manner and led by Burt Lancaster in that company. It's these men who won that war in the Pacific and the one in Europe as well and From Here to Eternity despite the less than noble portrayals of them as individuals is a great tribute to them as a team.

My Number one all time

[Jay09101951 · 10/10 · 28 December 2007]

There has always been a debate regarding what film could regarded as the best of all time and it will always go on. But to me, this film does it all. It brings to the screen all of the essence of what life is about: happiness, sadness, betrayal ,pain, and most of all what real love is all about. There are so many things that make this film my favorite all time and my choice for number one but it's 3 scenes that clinch it: First, the one with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the car when he says: "I have never been as miserable as I am since I met you" and her reply "neither have I" and then he follows with "I wouldn't trade a minute of it" and again she says " Neither would I". That is what real, deep love between 2 people makes them feel. How many films brought love to screen like that? no other movie I have ever seen. The second is when Montgomery Clift tells Donna Reed: "No one ever lies about being lonely". That is so, so real. And third, the scene when Frank Sinatra says his last words and then dies. I know very little about how Oscar's are voted on, but I feel Sinatra won his right in that scene. How many other films can you say that? This film never gets dull. It's 2 + hours of pure human emotion that has never before or never since been put on the screen.

A Serious Sudser, But a Sudser Nonetheless

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 6 July 2006]

No amount of black and white art-house tastefulness can hide the fact that "From Here to Eternity" is one big splashy soap opera of a movie. I've not read the James Jones book on which it is based, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that the romantic subplots that dominate the film are only a part of a much larger and intricate narrative in the book. "A Place in the Sun" did much the same thing to "An American Tragedy."

I've grown to like Burt Lancaster as I've seen him in more and more movies, and I think he got better as he got older, but he's at his hammy worst in roles like this. Though he's a big, rugged looking man, I can't take him seriously in these macho, stud roles. He overacts and never once convinces. Montgomery Clift does much better with his role as the sensitive and moony Pruitt; these were exactly the kinds of roles Clift was born to play. Frank Sinatra, again, could be a fine actor, but his role here is boiled down to a couple of aw-shucks moments before he kicks off in a sentimental death scene. Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed are largely wasted; they're definitely women adrift in a male-dominated film.

I don't know about Fred Zinneman. I used to think he was a good director who made socially relevant films at a time when Hollywood would have been content churning out widescreen Technicolor junk, and he did do that. But his films during the 1950s all feel very pompous, like he was aware that he was making ART while everyone else was making MOVIES. I have the same feeling to an extent about George Stevens, though I think overall his films are more fascinating than Zinneman's.

"From Here to Eternity" is certainly no where near the worst that the 1950s had to offer, but it has been overpraised. The fact that Pearl Harbor was still a very distinct memory for so many people probably had much to do with its popular and critical reception at the time, and for its lasting appeal. Watching it now, one kind of wonders what the big deal is.

Grade: B

Montgomery Clift shines From Here to Eternity

[nawknek · 10/10 · 19 July 2005]

"From Here to Eternity" contains the best performance delivered by an actor of any gender on celluloid. Montgomery Clift is assertive, funny, tough, sensitive and charismatic in the pivotal role of Robert E. Lee Prewitt, the rebellious loner with the streak of nobility. It is easy to see why James Dean idolized him after seeing his portrayal in the film. It is also a shame modern actors don't mention his name more often when listing their influences. As often noted, he preceded Brando by two years (he first appeared in Red River, released in 1948; Brando bowed in The Men in 1950)and created the arch-type of the 1950's rebel. But due to his intelligence, Clift also informed his characters with a sense of purpose. He didn't simply rebel. For instance, in Eternity, he apologises after an angry outbreak at his girlfriend. Instead of appearing weak, he impressed me all the more for doing so. It makes him appear more mature than the typical rebel. In another instance, when he feels his friend Maggio is being unfairly attacked, he "stares down" the attacker proving he looks out for his friend, another attractive quality. When the non-coms dole out extra punishment to him to force him to box, he refuses to file a complaint but likewise refuses to comply to their demands. Such moments distinguish Clift from other, more typically macho Hollywood leading men of the era and contributed greatly to Eternity's long initial run at the box office and its status as a classic piece of Hollywood cinema. It is time someone set the record straight and restored Montgomery Clift's name to its rightful place in the pantheon of Hollywood's great leading men. For proof, look no further than From Here to Eternity.

Gelded By The Production Code

[JackCerf · 6/10 · 16 February 2014]

This is the best book ever written about life as an enlisted man in the Regular Army, but you'd never know it from the sanitized version put on screen. James Jones's novel was both romantically cynical about the Army and deeply misogynistic. In the early 1950s it couldn't be filmed as written, for both moral and political reasons. In the book, of course, Mrs. Kipfer runs a whorehouse, not a social club, and Lorene is a whore with an eye for the main chance, not a hostess. In the book, Holmes gets away with his abuse of Prewitt, winning promotion by sucking up to his superior's superior. In the book, Maggio succeeds in getting a Section 8 psychiatric discharge. In the book, the underpaid privates are willing to flirt with wealthy homosexuals, and there is a mass "queer investigation." In the book, Prewitt is impressed by Jack Molloy, the working class radical he meets in the stockade. In the book, Warden rejects both a proffered commission and Karen Holmes because he would rather stay an enlisted man and amuse himself with whores than be trapped in respectable middle class domesticity. In the book, Prewitt's desire for Lorene and Warden's for Karen make them weak, stupid and vulnerable -- Warden saves himself but Prewitt does not. In the book, Lorene goes back to the mainland with the money she's saved, to get a respectable job and pass herself off as the fiancée of Lieutenant Prewitt, of the Virginia Prewitts, killed at Pearl Harbor. None of these things make it into the movie. The book ends with Warden enthusiastically getting to know a new shipment of girls at Mrs. Kipfer's. The movie ends with a tacked on coda in which Holmes is duly punished for Prewitt's suffering. The 1979 miniseries came a bit closer to what Jones was trying to accomplish. Maybe one day HBO will give us a six or eight hour From Here To Eternity as it was meant to be.

Masterpiece, a lesson in characterisation and story telling.

[hitchcockthelegend · 10/10 · 4 March 2008]

James Jone's novel was deemed impossible to put onto the screen {how many times have we heard that one before?}, but nobody told director Fred Zinnerman and the cast of dreams. Troubles with the making of the film were many, the film was thwarted by a censorship requirement that the army not be portrayed as careless and over brutal, and some of the sexual themes from the novel had to be toned down. Zinneman also had to fight a continuous battle with Columbia's head ego tripper Harry Cohn. He interfered with every script that was shown to him, and casting was also a tough thing to achieve with Cohn trying to call the shots. As it turned out we got one of the best composition of actors in one film to have ever graced the screen.

From Here To Eternity is a film about the lives and loves of a number of characters at Schofield Barracks-Pearl Harbor, just prior to the infamous attack by the Japanese that changed WW2. Illicit affairs, friendship, nobility, bravery and cruelty come crashing together in one gigantic lavish production that defines the word classic. Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden, Deborah Kerr, and Donna Reed all give performances that any other actor would be proud to have given. On another day they all could have won awards such was the strength of performance they all gave. Reed & Sinatra won best supporting Oscars, while Fred Zinneman rightly won for best director to cement the film winning outright for best picture. Yet the film's crowning glory didn't win an award, for to me, Montogomery Clift gives one of the best performances in motion picture history, it's layered to perfection and it's one of those character portrayals that has me involved to the point of exhaustion. One scene in which he plays a bugle lament as tears roll down his face is just stunning, and I know how he feels because I cry along with him to, such is my involvement with his turn as Robert E. Lee Prewitt.

Laced with memorable scenes {the kiss, the bugle lament, Lancaster blasting away at the Japanese planes with machine gun in hand}, and performances to match, From Here To Eternity is essential cinema to be viewed every year and homaged and praised whenever possible. 10/10 in every single respect.

I didn't like this as much as Oscar told me I should!

[PudgyPandaMan · 7/10 · 27 July 2008]

This movie tied "Gone with the Wind" (1939) for the most Oscars won by a single film up to that point in time -- eight. So, prior to seeing this, I had every idea it was going to be the masterpiece that an 8-time Oscar winning movie should be.

But then after the conclusion, I was left saying "Huh"? First, the ending made no sense to me at all - the conversation between the 2 women on the boat leaving the island. I have since learned from the message boards that there was a lot cut out from the book and they explained the book ending. Someone shouldn't have to have read the book to understand a movie's ending - it should be a self-contained complete story.

Secondly, I went into movie believing it would be a gripping tale of the events of Pearl Harbor, only to see that the attack is relegated to the end of the movie, and then as only a side note. So really, this isn't as much a war movie as a melodramatic soap opera surrounding the people who just happen to be inconvenienced by the attack at the end. The attack itself lasts mere minutes and seems to trivialize the tragedy of it. I think our servicemen and women who actually experienced this deserved greater respect than that.

I wasn't that impressed with Sinatra's performance either. His character died halfway into the movie - I just didn't see an Oscar caliber portrayal.

But given all my reservations, there are some fine performances by the cast. Kerr, Lancatser and Clift's portrayals stand out the most to me. There is some beautiful cinematography, especially the infamous kissing scene on the beach. And to think it was originally scripted to have been a vertical (standing up) kiss!

So, overall, this is still a movie worth seeing. Just go into with realistic expectations - that this really isn't so much a war movie as it is a soapy melodrama about people who just happen to be in the military.

The definitive Pearl Harbor film

[jlp · 10/10 · 26 October 2001]

Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor" is so inferior in every aspect of filmmaking to "From Here to Eternity" that the two films shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence together. "From Here to Eternity" boasts an absolutely legendary cast that delivers one of the finest composite performances of all time. Just try comparing Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift to Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett - not even close to a fair fight. Throw in Frank Sinatra in an Oscar winning supporting role and you've got a classic that truly stands the test of time. The tight script portrays real, fleshed-out relationships that are equal parts passionate and tragic. And both Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed are luminous. For some reason this film gets ignored or forgotten when the greatest films of all time are mentioned; all you need to do is watch it again after "Pearl Harbor" and you'll realize what a mistake that is. "From Here to Eternity" easily stands with the greatest films in history.

Sadly Disappointed (this may contain spoilers)

[wassema · 6/10 · 5 August 2004]

I had my Tivo tape this as I expected good things from the film. The classic beach scene with Keer and Lancaster is fantastic. But......

I felt sadly let down by the character development in the film. Maggio is seldom more than irritating jolly - except for the bar stool - loved that move. Prewitt is more interesting and he is the leading character. He comes across as noble and principled. which is in stark contrast to all of the other male cast except 1st Sgt Warden. But I felt a bit let down by him at the end when hes hiding and awol. Basically I couldn't see him not having the courage to go back to the unit after dealing with Fatso.

Burt Lancaster's character was the most interesting and believable - and I felt Lancaster did a good job with him. As you would expect. And he certainly has the frame for the beach scene - what a physique that man had. And by the end of the film we see both sides to the character - his tough macho outer, and a more emotional genuine inner.

But all in the all I felt the plot was running in tandem all the time between the 3 main men in the film. It never seemed to tell a greater story. Other films like Casablanca do a much better job of character development within a strong central plot. FHTE seemed to flit a great deal from place to place within the story.

Sorry :-( I really wanted to like it more but it got a 6.

Logic and plot is not found here, acting is great though

[JurijFedorov · 5/10 · 28 August 2022]

Not a good movie. Quite a mess going nowhere.

It's a WW2 film post the war. So it's a curious thing. Instead of going full ham on propaganda and the glory of battle and the military it's the exact opposite. You don't even see the Pearl Harbor attack before 2 hours into the movie. It takes way too long to get there and it becomes a pretty dull affair. Overall it's top range acting, proper sets, and often a storyline moving forward. There is just no plot here. Bad things happen. A boxer doesn't want to box anymore. The commander bullies him to make him box for the regiment, but it doesn't work. His friend gets killed trying to escape the army prison after doing a bunch of totally stupid things to get there. The boxer takes revenge by killing the prison guard who beat his friend up. Then of course we know the boxer will die. It's a movie from the Hollywood code era so there is nothing else to be done here. He will either die or be imprisoned for life - boring. We also spend like half an hour on the boxer's romance which clearly didn't go anywhere. The lady is attractive, but she has no personality and even tells him she won't stay with him.

The commander also has a male secretary who dates his wife. They fall in love, but the commander gets fired for bullying the boxer and gets sent to the mainland. The wife, who hates her husband and he her in return, wants to divorce him. But as he goes to the mainland from Hawaii she tells her lover that she has to go with him. Why? Every scene with them together they bicker and they don't sleep together. They hate each other. Yet she just follows along instead of remaining with the man she loves. I didn't understand this storyline. The movie takes an hour telling it. But what is here? Is she being a faithful fake wife? Was that a thing in the 1940's? But then why is she constantly talking about the upcoming divorce? Just random noise really. They spent 2 hours setting up 2 relationships then ruin them in a few minutes with just random events making no sense. The boxer died because he was trying to run into the military base. Why? We never get a clear answer. Several guards shoot at him and tell him to stop and he keeps running clearly knowing what will happen. So they shoot him. I don't get anything about these stories. At least make it logical.

Only the acting is great really. Everything else falls completely flat. The stories set up are at least interesting initially. But they go nowhere. The Pearl Harbor attack should have happened at the hour mark. 1 hour prior. Then build on top of that instead. And let the romance get somewhere or at least use some logic to break the couples apart.

Pearl and the shells

[Lejink · 9/10 · 28 July 2012]

Classic 50's Hollywood feature documenting the lives and times of the US Army personnel in Hawaii leading up to the Japanese air attack on the Pearl Harbour naval base which precipitated the US entry into the second world war. Shot in black and white by Fred Zinnemann to emphasise the war-time setting, the drama is peopled with convincingly realistic characters with a credible, episodic narrative edging ever closer to the pivotal date of December 7th.

Multiple plot lines are skilfully interwoven until their climactic convergence at the end aided by top acting from a superb cast. The dramatic thread to the film is Montgomery Clift's Prewett character and his relationships with the characters played by Burt Lancaster, the firm but fair sergeant himself drawn into a sexually charged relationship with his superior officer captain's disaffected wife, played against type by Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed as the "hostess" he falls in love with and especially Frank Sinatra's rascally but likeable and always supportive Maggio.

Sinatra famously begged for the chance to show his acting skill in a straight role to reignite his career and duly given the chance, he grabs it with both hands. Lancaster and Kerr fire up the screen in their doomed relationship, especially in the famous scene by the crashing waves, Reed plays her part with admirable restraint but Clift's acting exceeds them all, whether in his reluctant fight scenes, blowing a bugle like Satchmo or playing a drunk after he's exacted revenge on Maggio's tormentor, played memorably by the recently deceased Ernst Borgnine.

The action climax as the Japanese attack is thrillingly portrayed especially the high camera shots, although I would question the too obvious and thus jarring insertion of real footage of the actual attack.

Controversial in its day for its unblinkingly honest depiction of the US army, it can be seen now as one of the best films of the 50's, a master class in dramatic narrative and character acting.

Maybe Donna Reed's Best Movie

[PWNYCNY · 10/10 · 31 July 2005]

"From Here To Eternity" takes place right before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Thus, it's really not a war movie. Actually its more of a soap opera with Burt Lancaster putting the make on Deborah Kerr and Frank Sinatra having a fight with Ernest Borgnine and Montgomery Clift having a tryst with Donna Reed, which brings me to the element of the movie that I really liked: Donna Reed's character. In the movie Donna Reed plays a prostitute who wants to earn enough money to go home, but by the end of the movie circumstances have transformed her from cynical prostitute to fiancé and bereaved victim who has lost her man, and for whom things would never be the same. To me, this is what a good movie is all about - powerful and compelling character development within the context of a story that is credible and makes sense.

Good melodrama but overrated

[bob the moo · 24 November 2002]

1941. Private `Prew' Prewitt has been transferred to Hawaii. His new captain is keen to get promoted and sees Prew's former boxing prowess as his way to get noticed. However Prew has given up boxing and refuses to join the team – leading the Captain to punish him in many different ways. Meanwhile Sergeant Warden is beginning an affair with the Captains maltreated wife. Prew himself finds a girl but his friend Maggio has conflict with Sergeant Judson. Meanwhile the threat of attack looms.

This is most famous for Warden and Holmes' adulterous passion as the waves lash over them. Probably people who haven't seen the film will still know that scene. However this film is much more than that. The plot has several main strands – mostly involving romance – running through it. It works well but it is really a soapy melodrama at the end of it all. This doesn't mean it's not enjoyable and intense but it is really that basic. The Pearl Harbour attack is tacked onto the end and didn't really grab me.

The central relationships are OK but the film is strongest in some very good male performances. Clift is great as the put upon private, while Lancaster deserves recognition for more than just snogging Kerr on a beach. Kerr and Reed are OK – Kerr is better but none of the female roles are as good as the male leads. Warden, Sinatra and Borgnine are all great support and steal the show when they are on screen (Sinatra especially).

Overall I was surprised to see this film being hailed so high in many polls. I found it to be involving, interesting and well acted but at it's core it is a melodrama that has a few bangs at the end. Worth a watch.

Eternity In One Quick Installment

[slokes · 7/10 · 21 July 2009]

That James Jones' novel had the word "Eternity" in its title seems no accident. It runs over 800 pages, features multiple story arcs, and more or less continued through two subsequent books, one of which became a celebrated film in its own right: "The Thin Red Line".

That film lasts nearly three hours. This one clocks in at under two. I give scripter Daniel Taradash and director Fred Zinnemann credit for that. The story is tightly focused, but with room to breathe. The characters stick out, but as people, not caricatures. There's a lot of good performances and some nice lines.

So why don't I like it more? Maybe because I expected a movie that is set around the U.S. military in Oahu in late 1941 to be more about the stuff that interests me, particularly the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that December. By focusing on the romances of two military men, including a dangerous affair with a commanding officer's wife, "Eternity" serves up a lot more "Kings Row" than Battleship Row.

The best thing in the movie for me, by far, is Montgomery Clift's performance as the central character, Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt. Clift creates in Prewitt a solitary, edgy character who just happens to really love being in the Army even as he is pushed by his commander to perform various hard duties in order to make him box. "A man loves a thing don't mean it's got to love him back," he tells his unbelieving girlfriend.

There's distinctive support work, particularly from Burt Lancaster as Prewitt's virile, understanding "topkick" master sergeant, Warden; and Frank Sinatra as Prewitt's wisecracking pal Maggio. All three were nominated for Oscars, and Sinatra won his in part because he didn't have to compete with the other two. (Lancaster and Clift were both nominated for Best Actor; Sinatra for Supporting Actor). Ernest Borgnine lends such menace to his first big role as prison sergeant "Fatso" Judson it's hard to believe he didn't go on to fame strictly as a cinematic heavy.

Are the romances of Prewitt and Warden really so involving, or are they more like dead-end relationships that tie down the film for long stretches into exercises in alcoholic navel-gazing? Prewitt's core conflict with the military is compellingly introduced but never adequately resolved. Both Prewitt and Maggio are set up as victims of circumstance, but seem more in the end like prisoners of their own stupidity.

There are a number of good scenes in "Eternity", and a couple of great ones. In one, Prewitt takes on Judson in a back alley in a scene that is played not for excitement but sordidness; I felt like I needed a bath just watching it. The other is the last scene, where lead actresses Donna Reed and Deborah Kerr meet for the only time. Reed's final speech was a head-scratcher to me for a while, but it sticks with you precisely because it's so off-kilter - like war's aftermath itself.

But "Eternity" also has one scene that is overrated: Kerr and Lancaster getting wet together on a beach. It set pulses racing in 1953 but doesn't do so much now except remind me of "Airplane!" Overall, "Eternity" offers a master class in the art of boiling down something big into something that's cinematically digestible. The result is decent enough but doesn't leave you wanting more.

A Good Story Well Told

[JamesHitchcock · 9/10 · 14 August 2008]

"From Here to Eternity" is sometimes classified as a war film but the attack on Pearl Harbor only occupies the last few minutes; for most of its length it is (like, say, "Reflections in a Golden Eye" or "An Officer and a Gentleman") a film about life in the Armed Forces during peacetime. It charts the complex relationships between six main characters, Captain Dana Holmes and his beautiful wife Karen, Sergeant Milton Warden, Private Robert Prewitt, his girlfriend Alma, and Prewitt's closest friend, Private Angelo Maggio.

There are a number of interconnected sub-plots. Perhaps the most important concerns Prewitt's relations with his commanding officer, Captain Holmes. Holmes is a boxing fanatic, who believes that his promotion prospects will be improved if he can put together a successful team to compete in the Army boxing championships. He has therefore had Prewitt, whom he knows to be a talented middleweight boxer, drafted into his unit. Prewitt, however, refuses to join the boxing team, having given up the sport after an accident in which a sparring partner was blinded, so Holmes attempts to force him to do so by beginning a campaign of persecution against him.

In another sub-plot Karen, whose marriage to a hard-drinking, unfaithful husband has become no more than a sham, becomes embroiled in an adulterous affair with Sergeant Warden. (The scene on the beach between Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster was considered scandalously daring by the standards of the early fifties). The other plot lines concern Maggio's battles against authority, especially a brutal sergeant named Fatso Judson, and the growing romance between Prewitt and Alma. (Contrary to what some reviewers have stated, Alma is not a prostitute; she may have been one in James Jones's novel, but in the film she became a nightclub hostess to appease the Hays Office).

In many ways the film gives a negative picture of military life, although less so than the original book. A strict system of discipline may be necessary to make the Army an effective fighting force, but it also has the unwanted side-effect of allowing bullies like Holmes and Judson to abuse their authority. Holmes attempts to force Prewitt to join the boxing squad by imposing a series of unjust punishments and onerous duties on him; most of the NCOs are happy to go along with him, and even those like Warden who disagree with Holmes's actions see no alternative but to comply.

This was the Big Picture of 1953; it won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, against a very strong field which also included "Roman Holiday", "Julius Caesar" and "Shane", and Best Director for Fred Zinnemann. Five of the cast were nominated and two of them, Donna Reed (Alma) and Frank Sinatra (Maggio) won. This was the film that made Sinatra a big star as an actor as well as a singer. He plays Maggio as likable and easygoing, in contrast to his more intense friend Prewitt, but also a man with reserves of both moral and physical courage; he is not afraid to stand up to Judson, who is much larger than he is. (Ernest Borgnine is very good as the thuggish Judson).

I must say that I agree with the Academy's decision to award "Best Actress" to Audrey Hepburn ahead of Kerr; Kerr is good here, but Audrey is absolutely brilliant in "Roman Holiday", as she normally was. American audiences might have been surprised to see Kerr, normally one of the cinema's good girls, playing an adulterous wife, although British ones might have remembered her as the mercenary Sally in "Love on the Dole". She does, however, make Karen a fairly sympathetic character; she is not, contrary to what the film critic of "Variety" thought, a nymphomaniac, even though it is made clear that Warden is not her first extra-marital lover. She is driven not by sexual lust but by a need for love that cannot be satisfied by her husband, who cruelly neglects and mistreats her.

I have never seen "Stalag 17", so cannot say if William Holden deserved "Best Actor" ahead of Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster (or, for that matter, Brando in "Julius Caesar"). Both, however, are excellent, especially that intelligent, sensitive actor Clift as Prewitt, a young man with firmly-held principles, who will not allow himself to be dissuaded from doing what he believes to be right. Despite his mistreatment by Holmes, he never considers leaving the Army, an institution which has previously treated him well and has become like a family to him. (The depiction of military life is not entirely negative; the Army may allow unpleasant sadists a chance to vent their spleen, but it also provides young men with a sense of belonging and self-respect).

Lancaster's Warden is another man for whom the Army has become his whole life. Although he outwardly seems a strong character, he is inwardly weak. He is compromised by his affair with Karen (a crime under military law), and lacks the strength to stand up to Holmes. He loves the Army life but despises its officer class; when he gets the chance to become an officer himself he fails to take it, even though he knows that such a promotion offers him the best chance of a life together with Karen.

Some Big Pictures from the past have not aged well, but "From Here to Eternity" is not among them. What makes it such an outstanding film is the strength of its acting and characterisation and the power of a good story well told. It is the sort of film they don't make any more, and the cinema is the poorer for it. One of the best films of the fifties. 9/10.

Overrated, glorified, sleazy romance novel

[Ultradog · 6/10 · 10 February 2004]

I can not believe the good reviews and ratings for this movie. I suppose there are more people in the world that love sleazy romance stories than I thought. The acting by Burt, Monty and Frank was fine, but the story was absolute drivel. I prefer old style movies to new, but this is one case where I rated this WAY below the average. The dialog includes lines such as "You kissed me as no one ever has before". "Really? Out of all the men you've had? How many others have there been, by the way?" "Oh, I'd need an adding machine for that one." YIKES!

Fantastic wartime classic

[HotToastyRag · 9/10 · 13 September 2017]

Even if you've never seen From Here to Eternity, I can guarantee you've seen one very famous scene. You know the black-and-white makeout scene on the beach that's been spoofed and referenced hundreds of times since? The two actors kissing are Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity.

This is a WW2 movie, and one of the best classic war films, even though there are no scenes on the battlefield. Montgomery Clift, a recent transfer to the Hawaiian army base, has a reputation for being a good boxer, but he refuses to continue fighting at his new base. To punish him for his refusal, the captain makes his life miserable to hopefully wear him down. If you want the captain to "get his", read on. The captain's wife, Deborah Kerr, has an affair with a sergeant, Burt Lancaster. In the meantime, Monty and his army pal Frank Sinatra frequent a nightclub on their nights off. While Monty finds love with a prostitute, Frankie manages to anger the very mean and violent Ernest Borgnine.

See, there's plenty of drama without stepping foot on the battlefield! From Here to Eternity is a very famous movie, but it's also a fantastic one. Deborah Kerr bleached her famously red locks and tried on an American accent for the role, a seductive type she wasn't used to playing. Donna Reed, as goody-two-shoes as it gets, plays the hardened hooker Monty falls for. She won an Oscar for her against-type performance, paving the way for other good girls like Shirley Jones, who also won an Oscar when she went against type and played a prostitute in Elmer Gantry. Frank Sinatra also won an Oscar for this movie, but it's far from his best performance. He himself always said he should have won his Oscar for The Man with the Golden Arm. Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster, while in very different situations in the film, both fall in love with women they shouldn't, and try to stand up for their convictions even when it's difficult. It's great to see the different acting styles: Monty with the word "conflicted" tattooed on his forehead, and water boiling beneath his sensitive reserve, and Burt with gritted teeth and lava simmering beneath his strength.

At the 1953 Oscars, the film swept Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Sound, Editing, Cinematography, and Supporting Actor and Actress awards. While Burt and Monty were pitted against each other for Best Actor, William Holden beat them out in the overrated Stalag 17. Deborah Kerr, who never won a competitive Oscar, lost to the ridiculous performance of Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

Gritty adaptation of sprawling best-seller...but it loses something as a film...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 25 August 2006]

I would have to say, after reading James Jones' sprawling novel about the peacetime Army in the days before Pearl Harbor, that this is about as good an abridgment of his work as could have been made at the time.

All of the most brutal prison stockade scenes have been removed (along with the coarse language), personalities have been softened to suit the censorship of the time (Donna Reed is a "hostess" instead of a whore), Warden's latent homosexuality is never mentioned, and yet--with all the deletions--Daniel Taradish has fashioned a very strong film script.

As characters rebelling against authority, MONTGOMERY CLIFT and FRANK SINATRA do admirable jobs. Clift is especially touching in his combination of toughness and the ability to show his tender side; Sinatra is well cast as Maggio and makes the most of a strong supporting role.

As Karen, DEBORAH KERR has been reduced to a supporting character, but she effectively portrays a lonely woman who cannot stay immune to the charms of equally lonely soldiers. Her famous love scene with Lancaster on the beach is the stuff movie magic is made of. It's the sort of role one might expect Joan Crawford to turn up in, so it's surprising to find Kerr in the role, a woman whose ladylike image made it a risky casting choice at the time.

The most effective part of the film is Clift's fatal encounter with "Fatso" (ERNEST BORGNINE). Their bitter exchanges lead to a nifty fight scene. Borgnine is such a believable bully that it's a wonder he was able to stretch beyond bully roles after this film. The antagonism between him and "Prew" (CLIFT), as well as the big action set piece of the attack on Pearl Harbor, are just a couple of reasons why the film captures so much of the flavor of the best-selling novel. The love stories (both of them) are interwoven into the structure of the story with telling effect.

But all in all, I've always felt that this film was overpraised from the very beginning by the critics. Perhaps because I read the hard-hitting James Jones novel first and was awestruck at what an accomplishment it was.

The film only manages to be a pale carbon copy of the original work--but, as I said, it's still absorbing entertainment even with some of the characters diluted to meet censorship requirements.

Monty Clift's greatest role?

[didi-5 · 9/10 · 8 July 2003]

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.

This beat out Shane?

[slofstra · 6/10 · 15 September 2010]

The most interesting thing about this movie is to try and understand why it struck such a chord in 1954. It's not a terrible movie, but suffers from some highly implausible scenes and dialogue. For example, at the end why doesn't Prewitt stop when the soldier yells "stop or I'll shoot"? Throughout the movie he displays remarkable self-control, so this very crucial scene makes no sense. And the really bad lines, like this one by Deborah Kerr, "Of course .. the baby was dead". You didn't know how to use the telephone to call a doctor yourself? On the good side, there are some fine acting performances, and the movie maintains dramatic intensity for most of its duration. But near the end there are a couple of turns which just dissipate the tension without really resolving the conflicts the movie worked so hard to set up. Quite a disappointment, I thought. Again though, it was just after the war, and I wonder how this movie struck viewers in 1954. To win 8 Oscars it must have had a much greater impact than it does today. Despite the great acting performances, to be truly great a movie needs a good story and a great script. In that area, this one falls short.

Not aged well

[BigJimNoFool · 5/10 · 18 April 2020]

Performances are very wooden. None of the characters drew me to really care what happened to them and in a drama that is essential for it to work. The direction is just point and shoot and observe what happens rather than injecting any sort of flair into proceedings.

I hate to trot out that age old cliche but....read the book!