Monday, May 21, 2012

The Oscar Project #26: From Here to Eternity (1953)



Sometimes I know a lot about a movie before I watch it, and sometimes I just think I know a lot about a movie before I watch it. From Here to Eternity falls into the latter category. Most people who haven’t seen it, I would imagine, know about only the scene that I did: Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr lying in the waves.

This scene alone makes it seem like the movie will be a romance, and it’s true that there are romantic elements involved. That being said, though, the film as a whole is certainly not a romance.

Well, what is it then? I’d argue that it’s just a straight drama, like so many of the Oscar winners that came before it. It skirts the line between many different possibilities. There are the romantic parts, but you could also make an argument that it’s a war movie. Most of the main characters are soldiers, and it takes place (mostly) six months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And yes, all of the action occurs in Hawaii.

Nor is the movie necessarily “about” Lancaster and Kerr. It’s just as much the story of Montgomery Clift and Donna Reed[1], a soldier and a dancer who are brought together (and driven apart) by the hand of fate. Oh, and Frank Sinatra is in it too; he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

There are a lot of things going on here, but here’s a brief summary. Clift has recently transferred to a new unit; he was a boxing champion in his previous unit, but he decided to quit the sport forever after accidentally blinding an opponent. His reputation has preceded him, though, and he is constantly badgered into joining the new unit’s team. He steadfastly refuses, and he is repaid for his convictions by constant, unrelenting punishment from Captain Holmes, his incompetent and possibly sociopathic superior officer.

You know what? If you really want to know the whole story, just click here. I’m running out of space, and there are more important things to talk about. Namely, I’ve been constantly surprised, for whatever reason, at how unsentimental the portrayals of the military have been so far. I always pictured sort of a fawning, unquestioning support for the armed forces during this time period, but it hasn’t been the case at all.

This is more like what the movie is about.
There was nothing sentimental about war in All Quiet on the Western Front or even Cavalcade, the latter of which all but put a death sentence on the head of anyone who went off to fight. The Best Years of Our Lives was often a grim reminder of both the horrors of war (Homer’s missing hands) and the harsh realities of life after the war (everything else that happened in that movie).

Similarly, From Here to Eternity portrays the military experience very realistically (I assume). There are plenty of nice, friendly people who are there for all the right reasons, but there are also several who seem to have joined just for a taste of power or the opportunity to be cruel for no reason. Ernest Borgnine’s character in particular was a real sadist, a stockade guard who knew just the proper method to beat his prisoners without anybody learning about it.[2]

Perhaps after World War II it was easier than ever before to fully understand the tragedy of war, and these movies are an outgrowth of that. Many of the actors who appear in this film were actually fighting in the war (and the Korean War ended a mere nine days before From Here to Eternity premiered). I doubt many of them would have been receptive to a portrayal that completely whitewashed the truth.

Long story short: this is much more of a military movie than a love story. If you come into the film expecting a romance, you’ll find yourself disappointed. That moment on the beach between Lancaster and Kerr lasts only a few seconds, a fleeting memory of a love gone wrong. Then December 7 comes around, and everybody’s priorities change. All’s fair in love and war, they say. But it’s hard to have both at the same time.

[1] You might know her as Jimmy Stewart’s wife in It’s a Wonderful Life, though she was billed as Donna Adams for that role.
[2] I always picture Borgnine as a kindly old man, so I was surprised to learn that he feared he would be typecast as a ghastly villain after appearing in this film.

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