From Here to Eternity is a 1953
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by
Fred ZinnemannFred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
and based on the
novel of the same nameFrom Here to Eternity is the debut novel by James Jones, winner of the National Book Award for fiction in 1952. It was ranked 62 on Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels. It is loosely based on Jones' experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry and the unit in which...
by
James JonesJames Jones was an American author known for his explorations of World War II and its aftermath.-Life and work:...
. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by
Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
,
Montgomery CliftEdward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
,
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and
Ernest BorgnineErnest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
stationed on
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
in the months leading up to the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
.
Deborah KerrDeborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
and
Donna ReedDonna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
portrayed the women in their lives.
The film won eight
Academy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
out of 13 nominations, including
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director (Fred Zinnemann),
Best Writing, Adapted ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
,
Best Supporting ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Frank Sinatra) and
Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Donna Reed).
Plot
In 1941, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (
Montgomery CliftEdward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
) is transferred from the Bugle Corps at
Fort ShafterFort Shafter is in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i, extending up the interfluve between Kalihi and Moanalua valleys, as well as onto the coastal plain at Māpunapuna. Fort Shafter is the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific Command, the MACOM of U.S. Army forces in...
(giving up his corporal stripes) to a rifle outfit, Company "G," at Schofield Barracks on the island of
OahuOahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
. When Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (
Philip OberPhilip Ober was an American actor.Ober often appeared in roles as a straight man in farcical circumstances. One of his most memorable stage role was in Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance opposite Gladys George. From 1954 to 1967 he frequently appeared in television series...
) learns of his reputation as a talented boxer, he recommends that Prewitt join the regimental boxing club that he heads, and promises that Prewitt will be promoted to corporal or even sergeant, if he helps win the boxing trophy on December 15. For reasons unknown to the regiment Prewitt adamantly refuses. Holmes retaliates by making army life as miserable as possible for Prewitt hoping he will agree to box. Unable to break Prewitt, Holmes orders
First SergeantFirst sergeant is the name of a military rank used in many countries, typically a senior non-commissioned officer.-Singapore:First Sergeant is a Specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First Sergeants are the most senior of the junior Specialists, ranking above Second Sergeants, and below Staff...
Milton Warden (
Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
) to prepare court martial papers. Warden, however, knowing of Holmes' treatment and realizing Prewitt is a career soldier, suggests that he try to entice Prewitt to change his mind by doubling up on company punishment. The other
non-commissioned officerA non-commissioned officer , called a sub-officer in some countries, is a military officer who has not been given a commission...
s assist in the conspiracy. Prewitt is supported only by his friend, Private Angelo Maggio (
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
).
Meanwhile, behind his commander's back, Warden begins an affair with Holmes' neglected wife Karen (
Deborah KerrDeborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
). Sergeant Maylon Stark (
George ReevesGeorge Reeves was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman....
) has told Warden of Karen's many affairs at
Fort BlissFort Bliss is a United States Army post in the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. With an area of about , it is the Army's second-largest installation behind the adjacent White Sands Missile Range. It is FORSCOM's largest installation, and has the Army's largest Maneuver Area behind the...
, including his own. As their relationship develops, Warden asks Karen about her numerous affairs to test her sincerity with him. Karen relates that Holmes had been unfaithful to her most of their marriage. She lost a baby when Holmes came back from one affair drunk, and unable to assist her to the hospital. She then affirms her genuine love for Warden.
Prewitt and Maggio spend their liberty time at the New Congress Club, a gentleman's club where Prewitt meets, and falls for, Lorene (
Donna ReedDonna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
). Prewitt confides to Lorene the reason he refuses to box for the company is that he blinded a close friend while sparring. Maggio encounters Sergeant Judson (
Ernest BorgnineErnest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
) at the club. When Maggio complains that Judson's piano playing is interfering with his dancing, the two nearly come to blows. Maggio is told that Judson is the Sergeant of the Guard at the stockade.
Later, at a tavern called "Choy's," located near the base, Judson sees Maggio holding a photograph of his family. Judson makes an inappropriate comment to Prewitt about Maggio's sister causing Maggio to smash a bar stool on Judson's head. Judson pulls a switchblade on Maggio, but Warden, sitting in a corner, intervenes to save Maggio by telling Judson that killing Maggio would "create two weeks of paperwork" for him. When Judson advances on Warden with the knife, Warden breaks a beer bottle in two and uses the jagged edge as a weapon. Judson retreats, throws down his knife and goes to the bar for a drink. However, he warns Maggio that sooner or later Maggio would end up in the stockade and he would be there waiting for him.
Karen tells Warden that if he became an officer, she could divorce Holmes and they could return to the States and marry. Warden is not keen on the idea because of his dislike of officers, but agrees to consider the matter. Prewitt manages a weekend pass, courtesy of Warden, and goes to meet Lorene who is too busy at the club to talk. However, she meets him later at a bar for a drink. He tells Lorene he loves the Army, and shows Lorene his prized possession, a bugle mouthpiece. He tells her, "I played taps last Armistice Day at
Arlington National CemeteryArlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
. The President was there." Maggio then walks in drunk and in uniform, explaining that he was assigned to for guard duty that night, but deserted his post. Lorene encourages Prewitt to take Maggio back to the base. While Prewitt is calling for a cab, Military Police arrive and arrest Maggio, and he is sentenced to six months in the stockade.
Matters come to a head for Prewitt when Sergeant Galovitch picks a fight with Prewitt while on yard detail, and the two come to blows. At first, Galovitch repeatedly pummels Prewitt, who initially refuses to fight back, and then resorts to using only body blows. But as Galovitch and others watching continue taunting him, he begins boxing, hitting Galovitch in the face and nearly managing to knock him out before Holmes finally steps in and stops the fight. When Galovitch falsely accuses Prewitt of insubordination, Holmes is about to punish Prewitt again until the man in charge of the detail says that it was Galovitch, not Prewitt, who was spoiling for the fight. Instead of punishing Galovitch, Holmes abruptly lets him off the hook and disperses the crowd. The entire incident is witnessed by the base commander, who orders an investigation by the
Inspector GeneralAn Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
. When Holmes' true intentions are revealed, the general orders a
court-martialA court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
. When Holmes begs for an alternative, the commanding officer's aide suggests that Holmes resign his commission "for the good of the service" and leave the Army, which the general accepts with dispatch. Holmes' replacement, Captain Ross, orders that Sergeant Galovitch be demoted to private and put in charge of the latrine.
Maggio manages to escape from the stockade and find Prewitt. He tells of the abuse he endured by Judson, then dies in Prewitt's arms. The next morning, Prewitt plays taps as tears stream down his cheeks. Seeking revenge, Prewitt tracks down Judson in town and invites him into a back alley to talk, then attacks him. The two fight with switchblades, Prewitt using the very same switchblade Judson had pulled on Maggio earlier. Prewitt kills Judson, but not before sustaining a serious stomach wound. Prewitt goes into hiding at Lorene's apartment. Despite Prewitt's AWOL status, his platoon sergeant carries him "present" for three days at Warden's direction. Lorene, whose real name is Alma, tends to Prewitt's wounds.
When the
JapaneseThe Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
attack
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Prewitt, still weak from his unhealed wound, finds out about the attack, and attempts to return to camp under cover of darkness, but is shot dead by a sentry. Warden identifies the body, laments Prewitt's stubbornness and states the irony that because of the attack, the December 15, 1941 boxing tournament is cancelled.
Holmes' resignation results in Karen having to return to the States with him. When she finds out that Warden failed to apply for officer status, she realizes they will never be together.
At the end, Lorene/Alma and Karen meet on a ship leaving for the mainland. Karen then tosses two
leisLei is a Hawaiian word for a garland or wreath. More loosely defined, a lei is any series of objects strung together with the intent to be worn. The most popular concept of a lei in Hawaiian culture is a wreath of flowers draped around the neck presented upon arriving or leaving as a symbol of...
into the water. She tells Alma, "If the leis go to shore, a person will return to Hawaii. If the leis float out to sea, a person will never return." Alma says she will never return, telling Karen that her fiancé was an Army Air Corps pilot killed in a B-17 during the attack, "he was awarded the
Silver StarThe Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
, they sent it to his mother. She wrote me. She wanted me to have it. They are very fine people, Southern people. He was named after a general. Robert E. Lee Prewitt." Karen recognizes Prewitt's name from conversations with Warden. Lorene/Alma holds Prewitt's treasured bugle mouth piece.
Cast
- Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
as First Sergeant Milton Warden
- Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
as Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt
- Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
as Karen Holmes
- Donna Reed
Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
as Alma 'Lorene' Burke
- Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
as Private Angelo Maggio
- Philip Ober
Philip Ober was an American actor.Ober often appeared in roles as a straight man in farcical circumstances. One of his most memorable stage role was in Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance opposite Gladys George. From 1954 to 1967 he frequently appeared in television series...
as Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes
- Mickey Shaughnessy
Joseph Michael "Mickey" Shaughnessy was an Irish American character actor who specialized in playing lovable, but not-too-bright lugs...
as Corporal Leva
- Harry Bellaver
Harry Bellaver was an American stage, film and television actor who appeared in many roles from the 1930s through the 1980s.-Life and career:...
as Private First Class Mazzioli
- Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
as Staff Sergeant James R. "Fatso" Judson
- Jack Warden
Jack Warden was an American character actor.-Early life:Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry...
as Corporal Buckley
- John Dennis as Sergeant Ike Galovitch
- Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
as Sal Anderson
- Tim Ryan
Tim Ryan was an American performer who is probably best known today as a film actor. Ryan and his wife, Irene who later played Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies, were a show business team that performed on Broadway, film and radio...
as Sergeant Pete Karelsen
- Arthur Keegan as Treadwell
- Barbara Morrison as Mrs. Kipfer
- George Reeves
George Reeves was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman....
as Sergeant Maylon Stark
- Claude Akins
Claude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
as Sergeant 'Baldy' Dhom
- Alvin Sargent
Alvin Sargent is an American screenwriter. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays and has been involved in the writing of all movies to date in the Spider-Man film series.-Life and career:...
as Nair
- Joseph Sargent
Joseph Sargent is an American film director. He has directed many television movies, but his best known feature film works are probably White Lightning, MacArthur, Nightmares and Jaws: The Revenge, with his most popular film being The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. He has won four Emmy Awards...
as soldier
- Robert J. Wilke
Robert J. Wilke was a prolific American film actor noted primarily for his villainous roles, mainly in westerns.Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco...
as Sergeant Henderson
- Carleton Young
Carleton Scott Young was an American character actor born in New York City, New York and known for his deep voice.-Private life:...
as Colonel Ayres
- Tyler McVey
Tyler McVey was an American character actor.-Early life and career:McVey was born in Bay City on Saginaw Bay in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. His first screen role, uncredited, came at the age of 39 in 1951, when he portrayed Brady in the The Day the Earth Stood Still...
as Major Stern (uncredited)
The novel's author, James Jones, had a small, uncredited part.
Production
Hollywood legend has it that Frank Sinatra got the role in the movie because of his alleged
MafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
connections, and that this was the basis for a similar subplot in
The GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
. This has been dismissed on several occasions, however, by the cast and crew of the film. Director Fred Zinneman commented that "...the legend about a horse's head having been cut off is pure invention, a poetic license on the part of
Mario PuzoMario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, including The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola...
who wrote
The GodfatherThe Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
." More plausible is the notion that Sinatra's then-wife
Ava GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
persuaded studio head
Harry CohnHarry Cohn was the American president and production director of Columbia Pictures.-Career:Cohn was born to a working-class German-Jewish family in New York City. In later years, he appears to have disparaged his heritage...
's wife to use her influence with him; this version is related by
Kitty KelleyKitty Kelley is an American journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of celebrities and politicians. Her subjects have included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and Oprah Winfrey...
in her Sinatra biography. Sinatra himself had been bombarding Cohn with letters and telegrams asking to play the ill-fated Maggio, even signing some of the letters "Maggio". Sinatra benefited when
Eli WallachEli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
, who was originally cast as Maggio, dropped out to appear on
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
instead. Sinatra gained the role, ultimately taking a pay cut in the process (earning $8,000, a huge drop from his $130,000 salary for
Anchors AweighAnchors Aweigh is a 1945 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney in which two sailors go on a four-day shore leave in Hollywood, accompanied by music and song, meet an aspiring young singer and try to help her get an audition at MGM...
) to star in the film.
Sinatra's screen-test was used in the final cut of the film; the scene included Sinatra improvising with a handful of olives, pretending they were a pair of dice.
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
and
Gladys GeorgeGladys George was an American actress.-Early life:She was born as Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904 in Patten, Maine to English parents.-Career:...
were offered roles, but George lost her role when the director decided he wanted to cast the female roles against type while Crawford's demands to be filmed by her own cameraman led to the studio taking a chance on Deborah Kerr, also playing against type.
The material of the rather explicit novel had to be considerably toned down to appease the censors of the time. For example, in the famous beach scene, it is less obvious that Kerr's and Lancaster's characters are having sex than it is in the novel and in the later, more frank 1979
miniseriesFrom Here to Eternity was a six-hour 1979 television mini-series, followed by a thirteen episode 1980 television series.The mini-series was a remake of the 1953 film From Here to Eternity and based on the 1951 novel of the same name...
based on the book. Also left out of the film are Maggio being a male hustler and the portrait of the gay nightlife in
WaikikiWaikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
.
The on-screen chemistry between Lancaster and Kerr may have spilled off-screen; it was alleged that the stars became romantically involved during filming.
A rumor has been circulating for years that
George ReevesGeorge Reeves was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman....
, who played Sgt. Maylon Stark, had his role drastically edited after preview audiences recognized him as television's
SupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. This is depicted in the film
HollywoodlandHollywoodland is a 2006 American biographical docudrama film directed by Allen Coulter in his feature directorial debut. The film documents a fictional account of the investigation surrounding the death of actor George Reeves , the star of the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman. Adrien...
. However, Zinnemann maintains all his scenes were kept intact from the first draft, nor was there ever a preview screening.
The U.S. Army withheld its cooperation from the production (most of the movie was filmed where it was set, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii) until the producers agreed to several modifications, most noticeably the fate of Captain Holmes. Numerous barracks locations are still intact and still occupied by active duty troops. In both the movie and the book the bar and restaurant called Choy's, where the fight scene takes place in the movie and where the novel opens is named Kemo'o Farms Bar and Grill. Choy's was chosen by James Jones in honor of Kemo'o Farms' head chef. Kemo'o Farms Bar and Grill is still in operation and remains deeply associated with the adjacent Schofield Barracks, and the cast and crew, especially Sinatra, are reputed to have patronized the bar to the point of excess.
Two songs are noteworthy: "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "From Here to Eternity", by
Robert WellsRob Wells is a multi-platinum, award-winning producer/songwriter based in Toronto & Los Angeles.Wells has worked with Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Adam Lambert, Nick Lachey, Miranda Cosgrove, Mika, Backstreet Boys, Paloma Faith, Cyndi Lauper, Olivia Newton John, Daisy Dares You, Boyzone, Matt Dusk,...
and
Fred KargerFred S. Karger is an American political consultant, gay rights activist and watchdog, former actor, and candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2012 US Presidential election...
.
Reception
Opening to rave reviews,
From Here to Eternity proved to be an instant hit with critics and the public alike, the Southern California Motion Picture Council extolling: "A motion picture so great in its starkly realistic and appealing drama that mere words cannot justly describe it."
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
agreed: "The James Jones bestseller, 'From Here to Eternity,' has become an outstanding motion picture in this smash screen adaptation. It is an important film from any angle, presenting socko entertainment for big business. The cast names are exceptionally good, the exploitation and word-of-mouth values are topnotch, and the prospects in all playdates are very bright whether special key bookings or general run."
Of the actors,
Variety went on to say, "Burt Lancaster, whose presence adds measurably to the marquee weight of the strong cast names, wallops the character of Top Sergeant Milton Warden, the professional soldier who wet-nurses a weak, pompous commanding officer and the GIs under him. It is a performance to which he gives depth of character as well as the muscles which had gained marquee importance for his name. Montgomery Clift, with a reputation for sensitive, three-dimensional performances, adds another to his growing list as the independent GI who refuses to join the company boxing team, taking instead the "treatment" dished out at the C.O.'s instructions. Frank Sinatra scores a decided hit as Angelo Maggio, a violent, likeable Italo-American GI. While some may be amazed at this expression of the Sinatra talent versatility, it will come as no surprise to those who remember the few times he has had a chance to be something other than a crooner in films.
The New York Post applauded Frank Sinatra, remarking that "He proves he is an actor by playing the luckless Maggio with a kind of doomed gaiety that is both real and immensely touching."
NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
also stated that "Frank Sinatra, a crooner long since turned actor, knew what he was doing when he plugged for the role of Maggio."
The cast agreed,
Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
commenting in the book
Sinatra: An American Legend that "His fervour (Sinatra), his bitterness had something to do with the character of Maggio, but also with what he had gone through the last number of years. A sense of defeat and the whole world crashing in on him... They all came out in that performance."
With a gross of $30.5 million equating to earnings of $12.2 million,
From Here to Eternity was not only one of the top grossing films of 1953, but one of the ten highest-grossing films of the decade. Adjusted for inflation, its box office gross would be equivalent to in excess of $240 million U.S. in recent times.
Academy Awards
| Award | Result | Winner |
| Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
|
|
Buddy Adler |
| Best Director |
|
Fred ZinnemannFred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
|
| Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
|
|
Montgomery CliftEdward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
Winner was William HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
- Stalag 17Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
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| Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
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Burt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
Winner was William HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
- Stalag 17Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
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| Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
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Deborah KerrDeborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
Winner was Audrey HepburnAudrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
- Roman HolidayRoman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him...
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| Best Writing, Screenplay |
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Daniel Taradash Daniel Taradash was an American screenwriter.Taradash's credits include Golden Boy , From Here to Eternity , Rancho Notorious , Don't Bother to Knock , Désirée , Picnic , Storm Center , which he also directed, Bell, Book and Candle , Morituri , Hawaii...
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| Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
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Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
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| Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
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Donna ReedDonna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
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| Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
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Burnett Guffey Burnett Guffey, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer.He won two Academy Awards: From Here to Eternity and Bonnie and Clyde .-Career:...
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| Best Costume Design (Black-and-White) |
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Jean Louis Jean Louis was a French-born, Hollywood costume designer and an Academy Award winner for Costume Design. Louis worked as head designer for Columbia Pictures from 1944 to 1960...
Winner was Edith HeadEdith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...
- Roman HolidayRoman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him...
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| Best Film Editing |
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William A. Lyon |
| Best Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
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George Duning George Duning was an American musician and film composer. He was born in Richmond, Indiana and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his mentor was Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco....
and Morris StoloffMorris Stoloff was a musical composer.Stoloff worked as a music director at Columbia Pictures from 1936 to 1962...
Winner was Bronislau Kaper - LiliLili is an American film. An MGM release, it stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl, whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets...
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| Best Sound (Recording) |
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John P. Livadary John Paul Livadary was a sound designer.He started work in 1928 at Columbia Pictures and won the Academy Award for Best Sound three times, in a career that spanned 30 years...
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William Holden, who won the Best Actor Oscar for
Stalag 17, felt that Lancaster should have won. Sinatra would later comment that he thought his performance of heroin addict Frankie Machine in
The Man With the Golden ArmThe Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold...
was more deserving of an Oscar than his role as Maggio.
Golden Globe Awards
- Winner Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor - Frank Sinatra
- Winner Best Director - Fred Zinneman
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards
- Winner New York Film Critics' Circle Awards
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards....
Best Film
- Winner Best Actor - Burt Lancaster
- Winner Best Director - Fred Zinneman
Cannes Film Festival
- Winner 1954 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Jean Cocteau *Jean Aurenche *André Bazin *Luis Buñuel*Henri Calef *Guy Desson *Philippe Erlanger *Michel Fourre-Cormeray *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais...
Special Award of Merit
- Nominated Grand Prize of the Festival
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
- Nominated BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
Best Film From Any Source
Directors Guild of America
- Winner Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
Outstanding Directorial Achievement - Fred Zinneman
Writers Guild of America
- Winner Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
Best Written American Drama
National Film Registry
In 2002, the United States
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
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American Film Institute
- 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
The first of the AFI 100 Years… series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies...
#52
- 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions is a list of the top 100 greatest love stories in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 11, 2002, in a CBS television special hosted by American film and TV actress Candice Bergen.-The...
#20
External links