From Here to Eternity
The big hit of 1953 was From Here to Eternity based on James Jones entry in the great American war novel contest. Hollywood had to clean up the novel by toning down the language and changing the whores into dance hall hostesses, but fifty years later the film holds up very well. Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift look like knife blades, sharp and thin with maybe twenty-eight inch waists. Frank Sinatra appears to weigh 110 lbs. Ernest Borgnine who plays the brutal villain ‘Fatso’ is not fat. Before fast food Americans looked fit and lean. Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed wear clip on earrings. Waikiki has only two hotels. Kuhio Beach is just a beach.The army fatigues are made of dark denim, the soldiers still use W.W.I style helmets and wear puttees. The cars don’t have seat belts. The cigarettes are without filters. Those folks are dragging on Lucky Strikes and Pall Malls.
From Here to Eternity was filmed mostly on location on Oahu, unfortunately in black and white. Hawaii should always be filmed in color. The US Army cooperated with the producers by making Schofield Barracks available. Schofield is still an important military post and retains most of the pre-WWII buildings seen in the film. It is quite an attractive post with multistory barracks and groomed parade grounds. As a stage for the story, Schofield Barracks lends complete credibility to the movie with the Waianae range and Mount Kaala in the background. The jacaranda trees prominent in the film are still easily visible from the highway. When I first visited Hawaii in 1965 there was a bar at Fort DeRussy with a grass roof just like the one Burt and Deborah have to sneak out of to avoid having their illicit affair revealed. Hotel and River Streets are still kind of raunchy. The most famous scene in From Here to Eternity is the beach scene filmed at a tiny beach near The Blowhole on Oahu’s eastern tip.
Most of the discussion on this great film revolves around the characters. They are all good, sympathetic and interesting. Great actors in great parts. But what makes From Here to Eternity worth watching is the set—Waikiki and Schofield Barracks in the fifties; old cars, great clothes, lean men and those beautiful ladies with clip on earrings.
Comments