From Here to Eternity | 
| Director: Fred Zinnemann
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy New: $3.71
You Save: $11.23 (75%)
New (57) Used (18) Collectible (2) from $3.60
Rating:  91 reviews
Sales Rank: 2800
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD05319D
Model: 9531
ISBN: 0800178831
UPC: 043396053199
EAN: 9780800178833
ASIN: B00005JKF6
Theatrical Release Date: 1953
Release Date: October 23, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
Here's a model for adapting a novel into a movie. The bestseller by James Jones, a frank and hard-hitting look at military life, could not possibly be made into a film in 1953 without considerably altering its length and bold subject matter. Yet screenwriter Daniel Taradash and director Fred Zinnemann (both of whom won Oscars for their work) pared it down and cleaned it up, without losing the essential texture of Jones's tapestry. The setting is an army base in Hawaii in 1941. Montgomery Clift, in a superb performance, plays a bugler who refuses to fight for the company boxing team; he has reasons for giving up the sport. His refusal results in harsh treatment from the company commander, whose bored wife (Deborah Kerr) is having an affair with the tough-but-fair sergeant (Burt Lancaster). You remember--the scene with the two of them embracing on the beach, as the surf crashes in. The supporting players are as good as the leads: Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed won Oscars (and Sinatra revitalized his entire career), and Ernest Borgnine entered the gallery of all-time movie villains, as the stockade sergeant who makes Sinatra miserable. Zinnemann's work is efficient but also evocative, capturing the time and place beautifully, the tropical breezes as well as the lazy prewar indulgence. This one is deservedly a classic. --Robert Horton
Product Description
An all-star cast brought what was considered an unfilmable novel to the screen with skill and grace with this story of the loves, hopes and dreams of those in a close-knit Army barracks in Hawaii shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Montgomery Clift portrays a former boxer who refuses to fight after blinding a friend in the ring and is sent to the remote outpost as punishment for his insubordination. Love and tragedy abound in this unflattering look at military life and American thought before the war. Based on the novel by James Jones.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 86 more reviews...
Pearl Harbor Background for Human Destinies May 4, 2009
Antonio Robert (Slovakia, Europe)
Sweeping Oscars in 1953, this war drama becomes truly war at the very end, when the two main characters - brave soldiers played by Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift - are along with their female darlings caught in the fire of 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. One of the first US movies to deal with this blow dealt by Japan, "From Here to Eternity" nevertheless pushed forward the boundaries for various topics in film, having come not ahead of its time, but right at the nick of it. Frankness in intimate relationships, violence and army abuse are tackled with realism unheard-of before. The film has somehow got dated with time, but it still is carried on broad shoulders of Burt Lancaster, whose steaming beach encounter with Deborah Kerr (wife of his superior) remains among the most memorable love scenes ever put on the screen. Another main character, Robert E.Lee Prewitt (then bright young star Clift), is the centerpiece of the story. The talented boxer and bugle-man, who nevertheless has his own code of conduct, becomes an outcast of the army machinery despite his very desirable soldier qualities. The role of his friend Maggio brought a Best Supporting Oscar to Frank Sinatra, who allegedly got the role thanks to his underworld connections. Donna Reed (It's A Wonderful Life) won one for actresses as Prewitt's flame Alma, a luxurious prostitute whose only dream is to return home with the money and live a "decent" life. The film also got six more Academy Awards (total eight of 13 noms), including Best Picture and Best Director for Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, A Man for All Seasons).
 From Here to a Classic August 22, 2008
Diva Di (Chicago, IL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
From Here to Eternity is more than the classic scene of Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster rolling around on a beach, covered in ocean waves. It's a story about America during World War II. It's about human beings trying to live normal lives during an abnormal time. Taking place just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, this is more than a war movie. It's a human story of love, honor, humor, and hope. Anyone who enjoys real-life drama will appreciate this well-written and well-acted story.From Here to Eternity (Superbit Collection)
 Doesn't hold up well with time August 13, 2008
Roger Long (Port Clinton, OH USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Seeing this movie again after 50 years I felt a certain disappointment. There were just too many difficulties to overcome when this was made, all owing to the strict censorship of the time.
(1) The realistic, if very profane, language spoken by soldiers could not be used in the 1950s. The language of the novel was a big departure in popular American fiction, and the movies had not caught up with readers.
(2) The extra-marital affairs were treated somewhat mysteriously. Sex scenes are either eliminated or indicated by crashing waves. If the movie goer didn't know the "code," some scenes were lost.
(3) The Donna Reed character was a prostitute in the book, but in the movie she was like a USO hostess who never ever went upstairs with the boys. This takes away from the angst Prewitt feels about her.
(4) The violence was substantially downplayed, especially in the alley knife fight and in the long fistfight, where the men land haymakers and no one has so much as a bloody nose or a fat lip. Hollywood has never staged a realistic fight.
(5) The captain is forced to resign for his evil doing, but in the book he is praised by his superiors. The Army wouldn't allow the use of their facilities without this "correction."
This is a brief overview of the problems. If this were to be remade today, it would be much grittier and much more realistic. There are some good moments, such as the Pearl Harbor attack, but they are not enough to erase the flaws.
An All-Time Great but Too Bad About the DVD! May 8, 2008
Frederick Baptist (Singapore)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an all-time great film for many reasons and should be in any film buff's dvd library. The screenplay is excellent and in a rarity for the time, there is really no happy ending at all and what I really liked about the film is that it came across as sincere and true to life; it hit home that in life, we don't always get the happy ending that we want at least not in the short term. The acting is also very, very good even for the often underrated Montgomery Clift who never got his due as a great actor not only for this brilliant role but also for his work in "The Misfits" and "A Place In the Sun". I thought Donna Reed was even better here than in "It's a Wonderful Life". Frank Sinatra thoroughly deserved his Oscar too.
One thing that is regrettable though is that this film wasn't made in colour which is a real waste of a wonderful setting. Having lived in Honolulu for a few years I can tell you that black and white doesn't do justice to what must be among the most beautiful settings that you can find in the world for any film let alone this masterpiece. In fact, among the special features is a clip of director Fred Zinnemann's home movies from the set and even that was in colour! The featurette "The Making of From Here To Eternity" was very good as well as the excerpt from "Fred Zinnemann: As I See It" which is where we get to see his home movies.
Too bad the dvd hasn't been restored well and so the picture and sound quality is poor. The good news is that with the advent of Blu-ray, the powers that be have the opportunity to do a much better restoration job on this great classic. Let's hope they clean up the picture frame-by-frame and provide at least Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound options of a superiorly remastered sound.
Great movie but you may want to wait for a better dvd version.
Fine Film about Military Life on the Cusp of WWII January 18, 2008
Jack Baker (LeRoy,IL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow. I saw this last night on TCM for the first time. I really wish I'd taken the time to see this movie earlier. This film is so much more than the classic beach scene they play constantly on greatest movie moments clip shows. Burt Lancaster gives a strong performance as Sgt. Warden, the first sergeant to an incompetent, philandering captain. Warden begins an affair with the captain's wife, Karen, played with aplomb by Deborah Kerr. The romantic beach scene is nice, but the real fireworks come right after, when Warden demands to know how many men she's been with. Deborah Kerr's performance when she answers makes watching the film worthwhile and it's barely begun!
The other main plot follows Montgomery Clift as Pruitt, a private and his buddy, Maggio, played by a charismatic Frank Sinatra, who almost steals the whole film. He's a confident, funny drunkard of a solider, an absolute delight to watch. Pruitt has his own problems, in that Captain Holmes wants him to box, which he cannot do after an incident from his past. Consequently, (with the exception of Maggio), he is made a pariah within the unit. Soon, his work ethic and love for the Army forge a bond between him and Warden. Pruitt also is in love, with Lorene, played by Donna Reed, a social club girl. Meanwhile, Maggio runs afoul of the stockade sergeant, a brilliantly nasty Ernest Borgdine.
The depiction of military life and the bond between the men in this movie was really well done. All three of the main male characters face conflict, but they never buckle, sticking to their convictions, no matter the cost. The relationships between the men and women were never facile, but multi-layered, as complex as any in real life. The actors all give amazing performances in this movie, never falling to soap opera hysterics. The ending came as a complete shock to me. I never expected the film to end as it did, and it was a nice change from most of the current Hollywood schlock that's out there. It's been quite some time since a movie surprised me. Little wonder that it took a film from 1953 to do so.
I have to say, there are so many fine moments in this film, it really surprises me that the kiss in the water is the one most deeply associated with this movie. In my opinion, the scene in which Montgomery Clift plays "Taps" is a much more striking scene, much more symbolic of the film as a whole. I had goosebumps during that whole segment, and at the end, where Lorene/Alma meets Karen on the ship. This is a romantic film, but it is so much more than that. A classic truly deserving of the label.
|
|
|
