A student of film and cinematography I am most certainly not. I had never heard of this highly rated film until I was asked to review it, but as someone who likes a fair share of movies from the 50s and 60s, I was happy to give it a go. You don’t have to a movie buff to recognize at least a couple of the names in this impressive cast, which includes Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Borgnine, as well as Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, and Deborah Kerr. The movie was based on an acclaimed novel by James Jones, although the film version — for as “busy” as it is with five or so simultaneous plots — is apparently only just a partial representation of the breadth of the novel.
From Here to Eternity is set in Pearl Harbor in 1941. You can easily predict what historical event is included, although the attack on Pearl Harbor isn’t the centerpiece of the storyline(s). The protagonist, or one of them, is Montgomery Clift, who plays Robert E. Lee Prewitt, who arrives at his new company after requesting a transfer from his previous one for “personal reasons.” He bumps into Angelo Maggio, played by Frank Sinatra on his way to meeting his commanding officer. The two would soon become friends and their relationship is a key part of the story — both in some brief humorous scenes, as well as a greater, tragic theme. Indeed, despite lots of drama, some action, and a steady dose of romance, my takeaway from watching From Here to Eternity for the first time is that it’s a wartime tragedy. Oddly, I have seen a few of these lately, including The Eagle Has Landed, Play Dirty, and The Secret Invasion.
Anyway, Prewitt’s “secret” of being a skilled boxer is quickly outed and his superiors really want him to join their boxing team so that their regiment could win the upcoming tournament. Always a stubborn-one as we find out throughout the movie, Prewitt, for as kind and dedicated of a soldier he appears to be, refuses to fight, stating that he quit fighting. He’s given a lot of grief over this, being physically, and especially mentally abused by his superiors. Meanwhile, Deborah Kerr’s character, the promiscuous wife of an officer, takes an interest in a sergeant played by Mickey Shaughnessy. They choose to pursue a reluctant love that neither can deny. From what I have read, this is presentation of infidelity was unusual for movies at the time. Between this relationship and the strained one between Prewitt and Donna Reed’s character, Alam (aka Lorene), there are enough romance angles in this movie to attract a wider audience, shall we say, than a typical military film.
From Here to Eternity’s multiple subplots can be a little boring at times, though. For me the inclusion of Sinatra’s off-kilter character kept things from bogging down for the most part. Additionally, the complexities of the characters — numerous ones mind you, more than a few — kept things intriguing to the finish as well. It’s the type of movie you’ll be glad you saw, but, I don’t know that I would set aside another two hours for it in the future.
For this Blu-ray release, Sony Pictures did an impressive job. Upon opening the case, you’ll discover that instead of some throwaway advertisement insert, there is instead a nice set of five cards that are attached together at their bottom edges. You can easily separate these apart if you wanted, as those edges are perforated (although I’m not sure why you would do this). The cards measure roughly 4″ x 5″ and depict a single scene, in color, from the movie. They’re sort of like small promo cards, but not exactly mini-movie posters. Moving on, I thought the still-image menu was simple and nice, complete with the theme playing as you navigate. Audio options are as deep as I have ever seen them for a home release; there must be a dozen languages, including unusual ones (like Hebrew and Thai) that have subtitle track support. About half of those also have a mono audio track included. The English audio is presented in DTS-HD Master 5.1, or mono at your choice. This primarily dialogue-driven film sounded excellent. Image quality is also impressive. Expect a 1.78:1 frame with a constant heavy grain atop a black and white image. It sounds bad, but your eyes soon adjust, and when you take into account the age and what the original source material must have been like to work with, it isn’t hard to look past the obvious flaws and appreciate, if not enjoy, what is otherwise a clean image.
In addition to the cards mentioned earlier, there are several extra features:
-Eternal History: Graphics-In-Picture Track – A well done picture-in-picture extra that runs the full length of the movie. According to the packaging, new interviews and rare photos are offered along with a discussion about the film’s censorship struggles and casting.
-Audio Commentary with Director Tim Zinnemann and Alvin Sargent
-Making of (2m23s, SD) – Possibly the shortest “making of” feature that I have seen, clocking in at under 2.5 minutes. This is from 2001 and has a narrator talking overtop of footage of the film and production. It’s almost exclusively about casting, and how the only unanimously agreed upon actor was Burt Lancaster.
-Fred Zinnemann “As I See It” (9m33s, SD) – This sit down interview with Mr. Zinnemann was film in 1997. In it, Fred reminisces about the production of the film.
To the summary…