Review of From Here to Eternity (1953) by Harry W — 14 Jun 2014

Since I had not been pleased with any films about Pearl Harbour to date and From Here to Eternity won Frank Sinatra the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, it was a win-win for me to be viewing.

From Here to Eternity serves as a war-romance film and comes from the time in history where that was actually still a valid piece of cinema as it is no longer that popular these days with an example being Michael Bay's Pearl Harbour which was enjoyable for how terrible it was, although also for its exceptional action sequences. And so it is easy to kind elements to compare it to both Pearl Harbour and Tora! Tora! Tora!. While Pearl Harbour took forever to get to the action scenes and supplied nothing but melodrama and terrible acting until then and Tora! Tora! Tora! was packed with realistic yet repetitive and dull dialogue, From Here to Eternity is actually more focused on the characters so the fact that the bombing of Pearl Harbour doesn't come in until 100 minutes isn't actually that bothersome at all. From Here to Eternity is actually the best film about Pearl Harbour I have ever seen because it doesn't put too much emphasis on the event and plays it off as one which strikes the characters without expectations and does the same to viewers. By the 100 minute point of the film, From Here to Eternity has made its characters sympathetic and its story compelling which means that when the bombing of Pearl Harbour strikes, the viewers are genuinely worried about the fate of the characters. From Here to Eternity focuses on the small scale of characters but on the large scale of events that cover many of them, which means that it is balanced much of the time. Although this also can be the downfall of From Here to Eternity at times.

From Here to Eternity does suffer from a surplus of characters. There are a lot of interesting characters in From Here to Eternity, but a few too many of them to really keep up with. The story deals with them all both facing issues regarding the military and romantic themes, so it has to constantly deviate back and forth between many characters and all of the experiences that they face. The film doesn't end up tracking them all that easily, and so it can be easy for viewers to end up finding themselves confused by the entire experience. As a whole, From Here to Eternity is a consistently interesting and complex war film, but it can be a little overwhelming at times due to the pure amount of ambition involved.

But still, director Fred Zinnemann manages to keep everything mostly intact. Although it is a little much at times, under his direction the film ends up being a powerful visual experience and a well-acted feature which capitalises on the potential of its script and the talents of the actors.

Visually, From Here to Eternity is full of beautiful scenery and cinematography which captures the big scale of events, the small scale of its effect on the characters and the large scale that the climactic events had on everybody. And everything is edited nicely at a gently pace against the backdrop a good musical score with the only technical flaw being the fact that the sound effects aren't consistent throughout the story. Everything in From Here to Eternity feels thoroughly convincing, so its visual style is top notch.

But above all of that is the fact that the cast in From Here to Eternity give it their all and never look back which means that the final result of the film is thoroughly entertaining.

Burt Lancaster supplies another powerful lead performance. Although he does face a battle of entertainment value with Montgomery Clift and others, he manages to make up for it with another heroic leading performance. His natural charisma makes him a capable foil for From Here to Eternity, and his powerful chemistry with the many surrounding actors make him an entertaining and compelling screen presence. Burt Lancaster is terrific in From Here to Eternity.

Montgomery Clift projects a sense of shattered innocence in his portrayal of Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt because he has a combination of both humanity and fearless dedication to his cause which is both his most determined aspect and his downfall. He has a lot of heroic patriotism in him, and it leads him to an excellent performance which is memorable for being both sympathetic as a romantic character and admirable as a patriotic hero.

Frank Sinatra's Academy Award winning performance is also terrific. While he doesn't receive as much screen time as you may hope, he gives a performance which is one of the most memorable of his career. His role as Private Angelo Maggio places him firmly in the character and he takes full advantage of the part in a performance which is compelling and dramatic while also a very likable character. Frank Sinatra is a screen stealer in From Here to Eternity, and even up against such a large cast he makes a significant impact in the matter of a limited amount of screen time, and so he is one of the best reasons to see From Here to Eternity.

Deborah Kerr also makes a firm supporting effort, and Donna Reed's performance has her projecting a lot of powerful emotions in the span of a mere few scenes.

Ernest Borgnine's supporting performance is also a powerful one because his antagonistic nature is very intimidating, and he makes From Here to Eternity a memorable film even further.

So although From Here to Eternity features a surplus of characters and has a genre which is significantly lesser in popularity today, it is held together by a powerful script which has a lot of deep characters, a versatile cast of Academy Award nominated actors playing them with dead on dedication and the fact that it is genuinely a compelling war film.