Grand romance

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2000)

From Here To Eternity will always be remembered for Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's kiss in the waves. What viewers should also remember is the acting from all the principle characters and secondary characters. There is not a flawed performance from anyone. Montgomery Clift is perfectly stubborn and Frank Sinatra is loud but likeable. Ernest Borgnine brings a quiet menace to the role of Fatso Judson. The scene where Sinatra is brought into the stockade shows the menace and joy in Bornine's eyes and the fear in Sinatra's. Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed are the women who fall in love with soldiers. Kerr has a loveless relationship with her husband and falls for Lancaster's no nonsense Sgt. Warden. Reed loves Clift, but they can never know true love. Clift loves the army, and he's too stubborn and proud to ever bow before anyone. Set against the backdrop of Hawaii before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the film remains a timeless classic of epic, but doomed romance.