Trouble in Paradise--And It Only Gets Worse

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2018)

This is a film which still endures the test of time as it dramatically depicts the lives of a small circle of military personnel on the island of Oahu in Hawaii just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which suddenly plunged the United States into World War II. At the beginning, Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) stands at Schofield Barracks before a wall calendar prominently displaying "December 6, 1941". As viewers we are immediately struck by the circumstances of people caught up with their everyday problems at the very moment when the Japanese are finalizing their surprising and devastating attack, the most serious strike on U.S. territory by a foreign government since the American revolution, right where these people are stationed.
As much as I love Audrey Hepburn, I do not understand how she was able to beat Deborah Kerr's portrayal here for an Oscar in "Roman Holiday", a film that failed to inspire me in any way whatsoever. That's show business. In its depth and strength, Kerr's performance here was as close to perfection as they get. Mix that with outstanding work by Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Donna Reed, as well as top notch direction and screenwriting, and you have the makings of a great film. Director Fred Zinnemann once remarked how the lead actors, particularly Clift, who was known as a perfectionist, established a very high standard for the entire cast. Frank Sinatra believed that this was not his greatest performance and confessed of his dependence upon Clift's valuable guidance in this picture.
As good as the acting is, much of the overall credit goes to director Zinnemann for another superb product to add to all of the others, including "High Noon", "Man For All Seasons", "The Search", "Act of Violence", "Oklahoma", "Nun's Story", and "Julia", just to name a few.
I very much appreciate the film's location of pre-statehood Hawaii and observe how much of the movie seemed to be produced at that magical time in the evening before the sunset. "It's the most beautiful place that I have ever seen," observes Karen Holmes (Kerr) in the final scene, and I quite agree with her on that point. The darkened light and shadows convey a very special time at the end of Hawaii's day, enhancing its beauty in glorious black and white, which contributes authenticity to the 1941 atmosphere. These elements also suggest, somewhat ominously, the catastrophic event to come. Although James Jones, the original novelist, did not appreciate the final adaptation of his work, credit should go to screenwriter Daniel Taradash, who successfully condensed a very long book into two action packed hours while satisfying the censors and retaining much of the story's potency at the same time.