Review of From Here to Eternity (1953) by Nick R — 16 May 2009

Notwithstanding the famously iconic scene of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolling and smooching in the Hawaiian surf, Fred Zinnemann's version of James Jones's best seller about life on an U.S. Army base in 1941 immediately prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a somewhat modified affair. Althought the language, the sex, and the violence may have been toned down, the focus on adultery, prostituton, corruption, nd sadistic bullying ensured that From Here to Eternity was welcomed as an unusually adult Hollywood movie worthy of eight Oscars. With the passing of time, the film's sensationalist elements have come to feel less daring, and it's the vivid performances of its starry cast that now stick in the memory. Lancasteris the principled but pragmatic Sergeant Warden. Montgomery Clift is Prewitt, the bugler new to the barracks (whose conscientious refusal to box for his platoon's team provokes prejudicial treatment by the officers), and Frank Sinatra is his friend Maggio, picked on by obnoxious stockade sergeant Fatso (a memorable Ernest Borgnine). Inevitably, perhaps, in this deeply "masculine" study of rugged courage and individual honor in conflict with the conformist expectations of the community at large, the actresses fare less well. English rose Kerr is just slightly self-conscious as a sultry American adulteress, and Donna Reed plays a dancehall whore passed off as a hostess.

Zinnemann probably wasn't quite right to direct such fare. A rather meticulous craftsman who progressed from modest but reasonably efficient fillers to rather self-consciously "significant" films, he was here at what would prove a turning point in his career. The Oscars meant he could go on to more conspicuous "quality" films, but his movie might have benefited from a less cautiously "realistic" touch. After all, it's really a melodrama, and a touch of lurid expressionism would not have gone amiss. That said, the film is good on the dynamics of bullying, on officers conveniently turning a blind eye to misdemeanors, and on prejudices that infect any closed group. Plus he did get those sturdy performances out of his actors. And after that roll in the surf barracks life would never seem the same again.