FROM HERE TO ETERNITY Movie Review

1953 Fred Zinnemann

The restrictions on popular films being what they were in the 1950s, writer Daniel Taradash and director Fred Zinnemann were forced to make massive changes in James Jones's profane, bawdy, excessive best-seller before they could bring it to the silver screen. Key character motivations were changed, the language was sanitized, the violence was discreetly veiled. But the filmmakers kept the core story of two Gls caught up in star-crossed romances on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, and it has become one of the most popular films ever made about the military. It won eight Academy Awards (at the time, more than any film since Gone with the Wind) and remains a perennial favorite on video.

Near perfect casting has much to do with the film's success. The stories about Frank Sinatra's lobbying for his Oscar-winning role are the stuff of Hollywood legend. At times, the producers also seriously considered Aldo Ray for the role of Prewitt, Eli Wallach for Maggio and Joan Crawford for Karen. But putting the right people in front of the camera cannot account for all of the film's continued popularity. From the Hawaiian locations to the uniforms (have starched, tailored khakis ever looked so good?) to the snappy dialogue (see sidebar) every element works and the balance is right.

If the film has a flaw, it comes in the repeated reminders that the setting is late 1941, and so the various individual conflicts will soon be deluged by cataclysmic global events. Viewers know these characters are standing on the brink of history—and that Jones had been there, too—they don't need to be reminded of it quite so often.

Before the bombs fall, though, Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) joins Sgt. Milt Warden's (Burt Lancaster) outfit. Capt. Holmes (Philip Ober) wants the new man to box on the regimental team, but Prewitt refuses. He'd rather bugle. The boxers, all NCOs, then give him “the treatment,” endless rounds of punishment for invented infractions. With the help of his friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra), Prewitt perseveres. At the same time, Warden puts some moves on Holmes's unhappy wife Karen (Deborah Kerr) and Prewitt meets Lorene (Donna Reed), who's a professional “conversationalist” at the Congress Club.

The relationships may be doomed, but their treatment set new standards for cinematic sexual frankness. Though it may seem tame and obvious now, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's torrid horizontal beach kiss broke down barriers concerning the depiction of sensuality. In the years that followed, it would be topped by the eating scene in Tom Jones (1963), the kiss in The Thomas Crown Affair(1968), and the wind chimes in Body Heat(1981), but it is still an immediately recognizable cinematic moment.

All of the romantic entanglements are worked out in the shadow of the men's duties as soldiers and their relationship to the Army. That's really what both the novel and the film are about—the responsibilities of the individual and the organization. At first, Warden and Prewitt seem to represent respectively, the good soldier and the free spirit, but that's far too simple. It's Warden who lets his emotions overrule his sense of discipline and responsibility. Prewitt reacts to “the treatment” by obeying every order and toughing it out.

Zinnemann and Taradash don't explore the depths of character that Jones created—film doesn't work that way—but they certainly turned his work into one of Hollywood's most enjoyable entertainments.

Cast: Burt Lancaster (Sgt. Milton Warden), Montgomery Clift (Robert E. Lee “Prew” Prewitt), Frank Sinatra (Angelo Maggio), Deborah Kerr (Karen Holmes), Donna Reed (Alma Lorene), Ernest Borgnine (Sgt. “Fatso” Judson), Philip Ober (Capt. Dana Holmes), Jack Warden (Cpl. Buckley), Mickey Shaughnessy (Sgt. Leva), George Reeves (Sgt. Maylon Stark), Claude Akins (Dhom), Harry Bellaver (Mazzioli), John Dennis (Sgt. Ike Galovitch), Tim Ryan (Sgt. Pete Karelsen), John Bryant (Capt. Ross), John Cason (Cpl. Paluso), Douglas Henderson (Cpl. Champ Wilson), Robert Karnes (Sgt. Turp Thornhill), Robert J. Wilke (Sgt. Henderson), Carleton Young (Col. Ayres), Merle Travis (Sal Anderson), Arthur Keegan (Treadwell), Barbara Morrison (Mrs. Kipfer), Tyler McVey (Maj. Stern); Written by: Daniel Taradash; Cinematography by: Burnett Guffey; Music by: George Duning. Producer: Buddy Adler, Columbia Pictures. Awards: Academy Awards ‘53: Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Director (Zinnemann), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor (Sinatra), Best Supporting Actress (Reed); American Film Institute (AFI) ‘98: Top 100; Directors Guild of America Awards ‘53: Best Director (Zinnemann); Golden Globe Awards ‘54: Best Supporting Actor (Sinatra); New York Film Critics Awards ‘53: Best Actor (Lancaster), Best Director (Zinnemann), Best Film; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘53: Best Actor (Clift), Best Actor (Lancaster), Best Actress (Kerr), Best Costume Design (B & W), Best Original Dramatic Score; Golden Globe Awards ‘54: Best Director (Zinnemann). Budget: 1.65M. Running Time: 118 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, 8mm.