From Here to Eternity by James Jones

A few months ago we TiVO’d and watched the film exerpted from this book. The movie was pretty good. I decided to read the book which I had somehow missed reading. You can check out my review of From Here to Eternity here.  If you do decide to read the book some of the movie actors provide good visuals. The casting was excellent. Burt Lancaster is Milt Warden. Deborah Kerr makes an wonderful Karen Holmes. Donna Reed is on the mark as the prostitute Lorene. Even Frank Sinatra is a pretty fair Maggio. The only place the producers missed was with the main character. Montgomery Cliff didn’t do it for me as Robert E. Lee Prewitt. As a cut from a very long novel the film does a nice job of capturing the feel of Hawaii and Schofield Barracks. It was filmed on location and provides some neat 1950’s black and white images of the islands. Of course the film is a much diluted version of this rich and complex novel that does what the very best novels do—takes you to a place you’ve never been and will never go and makes you believe you are there.