Starring: Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, Ernest Borgnine
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: October 1, 2013
Run Time: 118 minutes
Film: 5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
Who doesn’t love “From Here to Eternity”? It is one of the greatest classics of our time. “From Here to Eternity” starred Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed. The 1953 film is celebrating it’s 60th Anniversary this year and Sony is bringing the film to Blu-ray for the first time. It was meticulously restored from a 4K scan, which is extremely impressive. If are a fan of this film, then I would recommend checking out this film since it has never looked better. If you have never seen it, this would be a great way to experience it for the first time.
Official Premise: Passion and tragedy collide on a military base as a fateful day in December of 1941 draws near. Private Prewitt (Clift) is newly arrived at the base, and has already fallen foul of his superiors due to his refusal to box on the company team. Given the worst duties as a result, Prewitt is befriended by Angelo Maggio (Sinatra), a young soldier who is himself persecuted by the Italian-hating Sergeant Fatso (Ernest Borgnine). Meanwhile, Sergeant Warden (Lancaster), Prewitt’s superior, treads on dangerous ground when he allows himself to get caught up in affair with an officer’s wife (Kerr).
The 1080p transfer like I said above is quite amazing for a film celebrating its 60th birthday. The black and white presentation is gorgeous and it shows how much work was put into this release. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very impressive for the presentation and really delivers a great round package. The special features included are decent as well. “Eternal History: Graphics-in-Picture Track” is the complete story of the film’s journey with interviews, photos and other rare materials. There is an audio commentary with Tim Zinnemann and actor Alvin Sargent, a collaborator with Fred Zinnemann. LAstly there are two vintage featurettes including “The Making of From Here to Eternity”, which is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film and “Fred Zinnemann: As I See It”, which focuses on the film’s director.
From Here to Eternity was my Dad’s favorite movie since he was a WWII Pearl Harbor Survivor. It brought him back to a time of a magical, exotic Hawaii, and then also to a horrific time as well. The stars in this movie, especially Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster & Debra Kerr were some of his favorites.
He always spoke about being in US Army with pride and every conversation always ended about Hawaii somehow. We were proud to be in his family too.
I miss him and all those Hawaii memories… Maybe someday I’ll get to visit Pearl Harbor… for now I think I have to buy the DVD…