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 (archive footage) | 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:

The last Academy Award Best Picture winner to receive nominations in all of the four acting categories.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the bar fight scene between Fatso and Maggio, Sgt. Warden breaks a bottle to use as a weapon to threaten "Fatso" and to stop the fight. Eventually he throws the bottle, apparently outside through an off stage, unseen door (he throws the broken bottle across the room). Later, the smashed bottle is visible on the table in a close-up.

Quotes:

Karen Holmes: You certainly chose a lovely spot for our meeting. I've had three chances to be picked up in the last five minutes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Charmed: From Fear to Eternity (#1.13)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)

Truly Excellent; Not Exactly the War Movie You Might Expect

How others have rated this movie any less than 10-"stars" eludes me. Combine uniformly terrific acting from all involved, an excellent script, keen editing and directing with beautiful visuals, and you do have the 10-star movie that won so many awards. Every acting job is measured and believable, whether Lancaster's just-let-me-do-my-job introverted bullheadedness to Kerr's not-quite-the-Captain's-slut-wife to Sinatra's multi-dimensional kid-from-home-with-an-irrational-chip-on-his-shoulder to Clift's I'm-smarter'n'subtler-than-James-Dean-defiance to Reed's putting-on-airs-(up)country-girl-at-heart...it's all there. The war scenes are besides the point in this movie. You know there's a war just a'brewing. The real battlefield action happens between the characters in a way so much more important and real than a bunch of bombs dropping to blow up the latest Bruckheimer set. I'll admit the ending strains the movie's own internal logic, but that doesn't take away from its power. There's a war on and not every battlefield is equally as obvious.