A humanising recollection of the past and excellent performances underpin an unmissable masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2015)

'From Here to Eternity' is a film set at Pearl Harbor in the weeks or months preceding the Japanese attack of 1941. The title is awarded a great performance by Montgomery Clift as the 'Cool Hand Luke'-esque Robert E. Lee Prewitt, and Clift manages to project a level of complexity that I haven't seen since I watched Laurence Olivier in 'Rebecca'. The character of Prewitt, after transferring to the Schofield base, is urged by his superior, well-played by Philip Ober, to replicate his allegedly remarkable boxing talents and champion his new company. Prewitt is reluctant, and consequently a large portion of 'From Here to Eternity' charts the character's awkward integration into the new company. In the film, Clift is joined by Burt Lancaster; his performance is equally solid, but not quite mesmerising. I feel that this reflects the design of the characters, though, as opposed to Lancaster's acting. Another enjoyable performance to look out for is Ernest Borgnine's, who lends his easily menacing talents to this title, and his role as Sgt '(don't ever call me) Fatso' Judson is very enjoyable. Most of all, I didn't expect to find a Frank Sinatra performance so impressive. The only other films I've seen (so far) starring the swing legend are 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'The Devil at Four O'Clock', and I think he was outperformed in both of those films, by Dean Martin and Spencer Tracy respectively. However, one could consider him in the same league as the likes of Bogart and the aforesaid Tracy in this title as the live-hard-die-young Angelo Maggio. Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed similarly enhance 'From Here to Eternity' with their performances, but they rarely get a chance to shine given the "life in the barracks" focus of this title. (However, there is one brilliant, even iconic, scene featuring Kerr, alluded to by the cover poster of the film.)The cast is far from the only winning quality of the film; another of the title's incredible traits is its framing of its fictional story in the larger context of the all-too- real war. At one point, the film employs some real footage from the Second World War, and it is absorbed within 'From Here to Eternity' excellently, feeling both symbolic and convincing. One of the messages I take from this film is that history is often, to its detriment, acknowledged only in response to great events, and this is amplified in times of war. 'From Here to Eternity' doesn't chart the Schofield troops' unfathomable plight against the invading forces, and the Pearl Harbor that people know and remember (i.e. the bombings), whilst integral to the story, doesn't dominate the film. It brings the characters to life, and shows that the people in history aren't represented by lists of achievements, statistics and the like; they were often very ordinary, doing very human things. I rarely give ten stars to a film, but I felt compelled to do so in this case. I was absolutely amazed by 'From Here to Eternity', and I currently rank it as one of my top five films.