From Here To Eternity 1953

The first time I saw From Here to Eternity I remember thinking it was a good movie. This time when I watched it I was a little underwhelmed. It is not a bad movie just didn’t do much for me this time. Could be just the frame of mind I was in when I watched it. I hadn’t been sleeping well and just wasn’t feeling all that good. Anyway, it is considered a great movie. It did make the American Film Institutes Greatest Movies of All Time at number 57 and AFI’s Greatest Love Stories of All Time at number 20.

From Here to Eternity is about an Army base during pre-WWII Hawaii . It stars Burt Lancaster as Sergeant Warden and Montgomery Clift as Private Prewitt. Prewitt is an ex boxer who is transferred into the company by the captain for his boxing skills. The captain wants him to box so he can have a winning team. Prewitt gave up boxing after an incident and refuses to join the team. The captain then allows for him to be hazed by the other members of the boxing team. Warden is a strict but fair Sergeant who keeps the company running while the Captain is off womanizing and tries to protect Prewitt as much as possible from the hazing. They both struggle with being in the Army and following all the proper procedures and protocols and living their own private lives. They both fall in love and begin ill fated relationships. Warden begins to have an affair with the Captains wife played by Deborah Kerr while Prewitt starts a relationship with a prostitute played by Donna Reed. Also in the movie is Frank Sinatra as a fun loving and heavy drinking soldier. He is Prewitt’s only friend on the base and brings a lot of the humor to the movie. While the movie is not completely a war movie it does end with the attack on Pearl Harbor .

The movie is based on a controversial book by James Jones of the same name. The movie pretty much sanitizes whatever controversy was in the book. Out of fear that the movie would make the US Army look bad they took a lot out they thought would be embarrassing, including changing the brothel and prostitutes from the book into a “private club” with “hostesses”. There is one scene that is considered provocative for its time and is probably the most memorable scene from the movie. The scene is where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kiss in the sand with the waves crashing over them. They made Deborah Kerr wear a skirt with her bathing suit because otherwise it would have seemed too risqué. The beach where they filmed that scene in Hawaii is still a tourist attraction and most tours around Oahu stop at what they call the “From Here to Eternity” beach, and when you go there it is amazing how small that beach really is. I think the movie would have been much better if they didn’t take out some of the controversial stuff from the book. And, while the acting is good (nominated for 6 acting awards and won 2) I think it is the whole love story that I had trouble with. This seems to be a recurring issue with me and movies from the 50’s. I don’t know if I am too jaded or the movies were written too blandly to not offend anyone but I find it hard to believe the love story and I had the same problem with An American in Paris and The Greatest Show on Earth.

There is an Interesting story in the casting of Frank Sinatra in the movie. He was considered a has-been by 1953 and his acting career was not going very well. The producers did not think he would be a good fit for the movie and did not want to cast him in it. Rumor has it that Sinatra’s connections to the mafia got him the role, and the mafia made the producers an “offer they couldn’t refuse”. That theory was later used in the famous scene from The Godfather. Sinatra not only ended up getting the role but winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In other casting news, Joan Crawford was originally going to be cast in the Deborah Kerr role but when she found out she wouldn’t be wearing and designer dresses she turned down the role. Also in a small role is George Reeve’s from the TV show Superman who role was supposedly trimmed because people laughed when they saw him in a serious role.

Another interesting fact from the 1953 Academy Awards is that Walt Disney won 4 awards. The most for a single person at any Oscar ceremony. He won for Best Animated Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Short Film, Best Documentary Feature film.

The "From Here to Eternity Beach" on Oahu