Boxing clever

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2014)

From Here to Eternity is an adaptation of a long novel, 800 pages plus so the film version has been cut down and it certainly zips along for the most part.
This multi Oscar winning film is essentially about two doomed loved affairs in an army base in Hawaii just before the outbreak of Pearl Harbour. One is between Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) and his Captain's wife, (Deborah Kerr); and the other between Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) and Lorene (Donna Reed) a prostitute in a private club.
The affair between Kerr and Lancaster happens very quick in the film and they are soon rolling on that famous scene in the beach very much on their first proper date and soon after having their first big bust up.
The film does have other cross cutting story lines such as Captain Holmes trying to force Prewitt to join the army boxing team, his friend Maggio's (Frank Sinatra) rivalry with Fatso and then the outbreak of the Japanese attack and the soldiers engaging in action.
The film has fine black and white photography and strong performances from the leads especially Lancaster, Clift, Kerr and Philip Ober as Captain Holmes. Strangely I was not too enamoured with Sinatra and he won the best supporting actor Oscar for the role.
The film actually does look rushed and also for a film set in Hawaii we see very few native Hawaiian characters in the movie, it might as well be any army base in the USA.
However its an engaging melodrama even though you will kind of sense that this may not be a happy ever after tale.