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From Here to Eternity
From Here To Eternity
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Reviewed by Shelley Cameron
for Reel Movie Critic
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HHHH
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Cast
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Frank Sinatra
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Montgomery Clift
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Burt Lancaster
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Donna Reed
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Deborah Kerr
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Ernest Borgnine
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Directed by Fred Zinnemann. War/ Drama/ Romance. Not Rated.
118 minutes. Black and White.
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Smoldering passions ignite wartime Pearl Harbor
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For getting totally lost in the make believe world of a movie, they don't come more watchable than this 1953 classic. It's the big one about soldiers and their women caught up in the uncertainties of war, the restrictions of army life, and their own passions. Set during the months preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and adapted from James Jones' novel, it boasts uniformly outstanding performances. Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, and Ernest Borgnine, all at the top of their game, burst with youth and beauty. Add a young, lean, Frank Sinatra as feisty Pvt. Maggio, the part that rescued his career in the midst of a decline, and the result is movie magic. Jones' sprawling 864-page novel, deemed unfilmable in its intricacy, translates beautifully to the screen under the direction of the gifted Fred Zinnemann ("High Noon," "A Man For All Seasons"). Its power to seduce and entertain is undiminished by the passing of fifty years. In flawless new prints, it glows on the big screen.
Revolving around three relationships charged with complex emotion, the action moves among the interrelated stories without a wasted frame of film. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Pruitt (Clift) is a transferee with psychic scars from an incident in his past and a way with a bugle. He lands in the company of callous Captain Holmes, whose ambition to boost his army rank has left casualties in its wake, most particularly his wife Karen (Kerr), who fills her empty marriage with other liaisons. Burt Lancaster is a sergeant with the army in his blood who falls hard for his CO's wife. Sinatra and Clift, two maverick soldiers, find relief at the New Congress Club where hostess Lorene, (Reed) provides aid and comfort to enlisted men. Fatso (Borgnine) is a repugnant master of the stockade who has it in for Maggio. The territory explored is forbidden love, the burning need for someone to cling to in unstable times, and the brutality of army heavies who outrank those they push around. The loyalties sparked, and sometimes thwarted, by need and ambition are key elements in this very satisfying story.
A fine supporting cast and sparkling black and white cinematography blend to form some of the most memorable movie moments ever. None are more unforgettable than the beach scene with Lancaster and Kerr, the waves crashing over their bodies, and far more powerful in its sexual tension than countless more explicit ones. The archival newsreel footage of the actual attack adds fierce authenticity to Jones' story and perfect timing makes the most of every shot. There are those who think this film overrated. I am not one of them.
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