From Here to Eternity

1953.

#52 / Unlisted

Winner of 8 Academy Awards.

Hawaii, December 1941. Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is treated harshly because he refuses to join the regimental boxing team. Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) has an affair with Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr), the captain's wife. Meanwhile, Prewitt's best bud Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) is getting drunk and chasing girls every chance he gets, earning the ire of Sergeant James "Fatso" Judson (Ernest Borgnine). Then the Japanese attack.

Eddie: I have a few important confessions to make.

1. I missed a crucial title card at the beginning of this movie. I had no idea that it took place in Hawaii, 1941. For the first hour, I thought it was the most meandering, pointless war movie I had ever seen. Then, as I was growing bored, I read the back of the DVD box. "This movie's about Pearl Harbor?" I asked Sarah. That changed everything. I was far more forgiving of the film's wandering pace once I knew that it had a big bang waiting for me in the third act.
2. I hate Frank Sinatra. I don't like his music, and I've never had any desire to watch his movies. But his performance in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is jaw-dropping. He is natural and likeable. He fills the screen, and I found myself missing him when he wasn't around.
3. I expected a little more oomph from the famous kissing-on-the-sand shot. It comes about twenty-eight minutes into the movie, and by the time you realize it, the characters are done kissing. Major let down.

That being said, I actually enjoyed the movie a great deal. I had never seen Montgomery Clift before, and I thought his sad, puppy eyes were a perfect snapshot of the undercurrent of despair that pervaded the movie.

Sarah: Eddie only hates Frank Sinatra because of some silly feud that Sinatra had with Elvis. I'm glad this movie changed Eddie's tune. I like the film, but it is a bit melodramatic for my tastes. Everyone is so entrenched in their own drama and foolishness that I couldn't wait for the war to start, just so the characters would have something better to do. Of course, once the Japanese attack, the rest of the story seems insignificant. Perhaps this was the point?

I like old films and Eddie is right about the film's strengths, but I'm not sure why it is on the list. It's a little too sentimental.

Why You Should See It: The scene in the rain between Sergeant Warden and Karen is filled with tension. He's trying to seduce her, and she's trying to size him up. It's played with a subtlety common in 1950s films. You can tell that they're trying to circumvent the censors, and it worked.