From Here to Eternity (1953)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 46
Fresh: 41 | Rotten: 5
It has perhaps aged poorly, but this languidly paced WWII romance remains an iconic, well-acted film, featuring particularly strong performances from Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2
It has perhaps aged poorly, but this languidly paced WWII romance remains an iconic, well-acted film, featuring particularly strong performances from Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 13,983
Movie Info
The scene is Schofield Army Barracks in Honolulu, in the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, where James Jones' acclaimed war novel From Here to Eternity brought the aspirations and frustrations of several people sharply into focus. Sergeant Milt Warden (Burt Lancaster) enters into an affair with Karen (Deborah Kerr), the wife of his commanding officer. Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a loner who lives by his own code of ethics and communicates better with
Aug 5, 1953 Wide
Oct 23, 2001
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast
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Burt Lancaster
Sgt. Milton Warden -
Montgomery Clift
Robert E. Lee Prewit... -
Deborah Kerr
Karen Holmes -
Donna Reed
Alma Lorene -
Frank Sinatra
Angelo Maggio -
Ernest Borgnine
Sgt. "Fatso" Judson -
Philip Ober
Capt. Dana Holmes -
Mickey Shaughnessy
Sgt.Leva -
Harry Bellaver
Mazzioli -
Jack Warden
Cpl. Buckley -
John Dennis
Sgt. Ike Galovitch -
Merle Travis
Sal Anderson -
Tim Ryan
Sgt. Pete Karelsen -
Arthur Keegan
Treadwell -
Barbara Morrison
Mrs. Kipfer -
Jean Willes
Annette -
Claude Akins
Sgt. Baldy Thom -
Robert Karnes
Sgt. Turp Thornhill -
Robert J. Wilke
Sgt. Henderson -
Douglas Henderson
Cpl. Champ Wilson -
George Reeves
Sgt. Maylon Stark -
Don Dubbins
Friday Clark -
John L. Cason
Corporal Paluso -
Kristine Miller
Georgette -
John Bryant
Capt. Ross -
Willis B. Bouchey
Lieutenant Colonel -
Mary Carver
Nancy -
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Weaver Levy
Bartender -
Freeman Lusk
Col. Wood -
Tyler McVey
Maj. Stern -
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Fay Roope
Gen. Slater -
Delia Salvi
Billie -
Joan Shawlee
Sandra -
Angela Stevens
Jean -
Carleton Young
Col. Ayres -
Alvin Sargent
Nair [uncredited] -
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-
-
-
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James Brick Sullivan
Military Guard -
William Lundmark
Bill -
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All Critics (46) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (5) | DVD (16)
Scriptwriter Daniel Taradash rescued, if not quite a gem, then at least a high-grade industrial diamond from this rough original.
Top CriticIt is an important film from any angle, presenting socko entertainment for big business.
Sominex is cheaper and probably safer.
Zinnemann's flat direction does produce its dull moments.
So clear-eyed and three-dimensional that it makes the recent Pearl Harbor look like a bunch of kids playing dress up.
Rapturously received from the moment it was released in 1953, From Here to Eternity remains, half a century later, a singular cinematic experience, one of the landmarks of American film.
Fred Zinnemann's strength as a director was less on the technical side and more in line with coaxing stellar performances out of his actors, and with this film, he drew a royal flush.
Despite sliding into melodrama a bit too often, From Here to Eternity remains a decent film due to the strong performances of its Oscar-nominated cast.
Watching it again after not seeing it for many years, I was also struck by how much of a debt novelist-screenwriter Donn Pearce ('Cool Hand Luke') owes to Jones.
It's the best-ever account of life in the peacetime army.
The result is a gripping movie that often makes you wish its director, Zinnemann, knew as much about American life as he does about the art of telling a story with a camera.
The cast includes Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift and Ernest Borgnine, all of whom are fine, in what is essentially a melodrama.
A high-calibre Hollywood prestige drama, sharp and sobering, with top-drawer work from Lancaster, Clift and Sinatra.
I have to say that Clift's plot is far less compelling than Lancaster's and something of the zip goes when Frank Sinatra disappears from the action, sent to the stockade. But what a punch this movie still packs.
Director Fred Zinnemann's powerful adaptation of James Jones's bestseller won eight Oscars, upset the military and resurrected the acting career of Frank Sinatra.
The tough story on corruption in the military was given authenticity by being partially shot at Pearl Harbor.
Deserving to be seen and remembered for so much more than that kiss, this is old school drama of the highest order.
A seamless combination of high drama, romance and action.
Terrific performances from Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster highlight this limitedly involving romance.
"If a man don't go his own way, he's nothin," says Montgomery Clift in the superbly realized melodrama, set at the oubtbreak of WWII, a motto that also sums up director Fred Zinnemann's belief system.
There's no real "action" to speak of, aside from a few fistfights and the third act bombing attack, but From Here to Eternity sure isn't boring.
There's some very good acting from a great cast but the drama is very over the top.
Audience Reviews for From Here to Eternity
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Foreign Titles
- Verdammt in alle Ewigkeit (DE)
- Tant qu'il y aura des hommes (FR)
It's a fair enough film, although I think it's mostly carried by the performances rather than the story lines, and also the performances probably stand out as better overall than the film as a whole. I wasn't sure I'd like it, what with all you ever seem to hear about it being in reference to the legendary scene where Lancaster and Kerr embrace on a beach as waves crash around them. There's some macho guy type stuff, and that's good, but I could have used more of that, and just an uncompromised adaptation in general.
The cast is notable, with appearances from Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank SInatra (in a great, Oscar winning role), and the wonderful Ernest Borgnine as an antagonist of sorts. They all do a great job, and Sinatra I feel did really deserve his Oscar.
All in all, a decent enough film. Zinnemann knew how to tell a great story, and it is shot well, but I don't think it's as good as it's made out to be. Still though, I was entertained, and it is better than the similar stuff that Michael Bay did in his infamous account of Pearl Harbor, so take that as some sort of recommendation.