From Here to Eternity ~ Best Picture 1953

Some of the biggest and brightest stars of the 1950’s such as Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra (who won the Best Supporting actor for his role) and even George Reeves of TV’s Superman fame, bring this novel of James Joyce to the screen.  Toned down, from the book the famous scene with Lancaster and Kerr on the beach is one of the most famous love scenes ever captured in Cinema.

It deals with the troubles of soldiers stationed on Hawaii in the days just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Legend has it that Frank Sinatra got the role in the movie because of his alleged Mafia connections, and that this was the basis for a similar subplot in The Godfather, although, this has been dismissed on several occasions by the cast and crew of the film. Director Fred Zinneman commented that “The legend about a horse’s head having been cut off is pure invention, a poetic license on the part of Mario Puzo who wrote The Godfather.”^[1] More plausible is the notion that Sinatra’s then-wife Ava Gardner persuaded studio head Harry Cohn’s wife to use her influence with him; this version is related by Kitty Kelley in her Sinatra biography. Sinatra himself had been bombarding Cohn with letters and telegrams asking to play the ill-fated Maggio, even signing some of the letters “Maggio”. Sinatra benefited when Eli Wallach, who was originally cast as Maggio, dropped out to appear on Broadway instead. However, he was paid only $8,000, a huge drop from his $130,000 salary for Anchors Aweigh.

Sinatra’s screen-test was used in the final cut of the film; the scene included Sinatra improvising with a handful of olives, pretending they were a pair of dice.

The on-screen chemistry between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr spilled off-screen; the stars became romantically involved during filming.^[2]

A rumor has been circulating for years that George Reeves, who played Sgt. Maylon Stark, had his role drastically edited after preview audiences recognized him as TV’s Superman. This is depicted in the docudrama Hollywoodland. However, Zinnemann maintains all his scenes were kept intact from the first draft, nor was there ever a preview screening. William Holden, who won the Best Actor Oscar for Stalag 17, felt that Lancaster should have won for his portrayal of Sgt. Milt Warden.