From Here to Eternity (1953)

Written by Daniel Taradash

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

So, I’ll cut right to the chase: despite not hating the film, this review has taken a while. I’m not entirely sure why (I mean, the holidays is probably a good excuse), because the film isn’t bad, it’s just...average.

The iconic shot

From Here to Eternity is perhaps best known for its iconic shot of two of its leads, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, kissing on the shore as a wave cascades around them. I knew this shot would be featured in the film, so I was excited to see the rest of the cinematography, but was disappointed that it wasn’t anything spectacular. Again, not that it’s bad, there’s just nothing all that remarkable about it.

There’s been a few war films so far on this list (and I know I have many more to go), but I do give kudos to the film for being a different type of war film. While Wings and All Quiet on the Western Front both depicted battle, and Mrs. Miniver dealt with the home front, From Here to Eternity features stationed soldiers, far from the action of WW2 (although the film takes place in Hawaii during late November/early December of 1941, so...you know). It was actually something I enjoyed, as it felt like a nice change of pace from the above mentioned style of war film.

Frank Sinatra delivers a pretty great performance

The performances varied in quality. Montgomery Clift has zero personality, and this is the second film of his I’ve seen (the first being Hitchcock’s I Confess) where his performance is a total bore. Conversely, and surprisingly, Frank Sinatra did a remarkable job in his role as Clift’s friend Maggio. His final scenes were touching, and I was pleasantly surprised at how invested in them I was. The rest of the cast fares somewhere in between those two (I found myself liking Donna Reed’s performance more than Deborah Kerr’s).

The general lackluster-ness of the performances might be attributable to the overall plot, which doesn’t ever really go anywhere. In short, it’s a whole lot of hazing and things...all because Clift doesn’t want to be on the military boxing team? As the film went on, it became harder and harder to suspend my disbelief that people would go to the extremes featured here because of military boxing. The subplot with Lancaster and Kerr is marginally more interesting, but with nothing really special going on there either, the film began to drag in every scene.

I know it sounds like I hated the film, but really, I didn’t. I just wasn’t interested in it. It’s a film where I was definitely keeping an eye on the clock, because I just wasn’t invested in it. As such, I feel like I have to give the only grade appropriate for a film as average as this one.

FINAL GRADE: C