Rating: 
Summary: How Hollywood picks our pockets....
Review: There is no reason for re-releasing this Hollywood masterpiece on DVD in the clipped aspect ratio, except as an attempt to make as much money as possible off of those who are even more eager than I am to own this terrific motion picture on DVD.
As much as I have been waiting for this release, I will not spend a nickel an ANY DVD of a classic movie that is missing scenes or sides of the frame.
Neither should you. That is a message these companies WILL understand.
Rating: 
Summary: From Here to Eternity
Review: 1953 Best Picture (eight Academy Awards) about Army soldiers dealing with corrupt leadership in Hawaii just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Burt Lancaster heads the cast as First Sergeant Milt Warden, a top soldier trapped in an infantry company commanded by the incompetent and corrupt Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes, played by Dana Andrews. Holmes is an incapable officer seeking promotion as the regiment's boxing coach hoping to win the next boxing finals. Warden holds the company together and conditions are status quo until Private Robert E. Lee Pruitt, played by Montgomery Clift, arrives from the bugle corps. Holmes attempts to recruit Pruitt as the new middleweight boxer, but Pruitt refuses for personal reasons. Holmes then embarks on a campaign of harassment, ordering the other boxers in the company to service Pruitt with frequent punishment and extra work detail to change his mind. In the meantime, Warden falls for Holmes's wife Karen played by Deborah Kerr, and risks his career in an adulterous relationship that soon develops into a serious love affair. Pruitt falls in love with a prostitute, played by Donna Reed, and struggles to keep the relationship alive despite increasing confinment at the unit. Pruitt's good friend Maggio, lively portrayed by Frank Sinatra, has a couple of run-ins with the stockade's villainous Sergeant Judsen, Ernest Borgnine, and soon finds himself at Judsen's mercy after confinment for deserting guard detail.
Overall a great story with impressive direction that easily pulls viewers' involvement into the characters' lives. It's easy to develop hatred for Holmes's lack of duty and Judsen's evil treatment of Maggio. In the meantime, Pruitt and Maggio are sheer entertainment as two young soldiers who tolerate the company and hit the town for fun as most young soldiers do. Montgomery Clift as Pruitt is the real prize in this feature, standing against Holmes and resisting the mounting pressure to box. Yet despite the conditions, Pruitt still loves the Army and serving as a professional soldier. Warden and Karen's affair is pure scandal, but as more is learned about them, their love affair cries for sympathy as two people who should have met at a better time. Eventually all these problems culminate, right at the time when the Japanese Imperial Navy attacks Pearl Harbor, providing resolution with just desserts and surprises.Other marvelous features is the supporting cast providing terrific characters around the main actors, and the production's location at the historic Schofield Barracks on Oahu. It's easy to see why this was Best Picture in 1953.
Rating:
Summary: Why not widescreen?
Review: Hallo! "From here to eternity" is one of my big favorite movies. I have wait for this DVD very long. This film are filmed in Megascope so it M-U-S-T be realesed in widescreen, so I can not understand if they not show this masterpiece this way. Most of the another widescreen movies are realesed in that format on DVD:s. If "From here to eternity" should be realesed in standard format - I not gonna buy the DVD. Many greetings from Bert-Owe Ivland,Västra Frölunda, Sweden.
Rating: 
Summary: No Such Thing as the Good Old Days
Review: That's one way of looking at "From Here to Eternity"--this is the story of an army base on, uh-oh, Pearl Harbor just before December 1941. But even before the surprise attack finale, there's quite a lot of personal unhappiness in Hawaii. Take Deborah Kerr, for instance. She's trapped in a loveless marriage to the commanding officer, so she's gotten herself a reputation as a nymphomaniac to dull the pain. Now she's taking up with Top Kick Burt Lancaster. His cruddy superior didn't seem to bother him much before, but the course of the movie depicts his growing disgust with that individual, because of how he treats his wife, yes, but also because of how he treats the new bugler, Montgomery Clift. Clift has a reputation of his own as an excellent boxer, but the trouble is, he won't fight on the base's boxing team. Seems he killed someone in the ring accidentally and is bothered by that. The CO degrades him constantly so the only solace he gets is with a sad sack good-time girl, Donna Reed. And Clift's best friend Frank Sinatra really gets on Ernest Borgnine's nerves, so much so that he beats the living daylights out of him. Not a very pretty place, is it, this Pearl Harbor before the attack? Yet it is a very well-done movie, with many memorable scenes between Burt and Deborah, Burt and Ernie, and Frank Sinatra making the comeback of the century, crowned by an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. While I can't actually say I like "From Here to Eternity", I must respect its achievement as a depiction of the nasty world of the pre WW2 army.
Rating:
Summary: Why not just review the movie on its own merits?
Review: I see movie reviews like the one below all the time. How do you take a very complex fictional work of hundreds of pages which requires the reader's imagination to fill in a great deal of what the author wants to convey, and turn it into a neat two hour narrative on film? You don't. Writing and film are two different medium. Stop writing reviews like the one below. Why should any one have to read the book first as if we were all still in highschool fulfilling an assignment? Enjoy this wonderful movie about characters that appear real and have grown up problems (compared to the silliness of this year's Pearl Harbor) and who deal with them as adults. If you are then inspired to read the novel, then by all means enjoy that too!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't watch this movie until you read the book!
Review: This movie does a complete injustice to the book and even maligns it. The book is indescribable and must be read. However, the movie throws it completely out of whack. The characters of the novel should not have been played by big name Hollywood actors of the era. It's not their fault, but they just don't fit the characters right. Also, the movie comes of as a typical old romance movie. All though there are important elements of romance in the book, there are more important messages about humanity. It took me two days to watch the movie because I couldn't watch it without getting entirely frustrated. Read the book first.
Rating:
Summary: Montgomery Clift At His Best
Review: From Here To Eternity is probably best remembered for the famous beach love scene of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, but there's a lot more to this legendary film. It tells the story of the lives and relationships of several characters in the time leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The film is well cast. Lancaster gives a strong performance as the tough sergeant in love with his superior's wife, and Kerr is equally fine as the frustrated wife who has become famous for her dalliances. Frank Sinatra gives a charismatic performance as Maggio, the soldier with a love of drinking who gets himself into trouble. Donna Reed convincingly plays a "toned-down" prostitute who doesn't want to fall in love with a soldier, but does. The best performance is given by Montgomery Clift as the soldier Reed loves, a bugler and former boxer who critically injured a man in a fight and doesn't want to step back in the ring. Clift was an actor capable of digging deep into his characters, and unfortunately, he seems not to be as well known today as others from his time. The dialogue is sharp and mature, the attack scenes are excellent, and there are a number of dramatic, memorable moments in this film. Watch it for the beach scene, for Clift's superlative performance, and for all the qualities one would expect in a top notch film from Hollywood's Golden Era.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest films ever!
Review: This is in the top 10 of my all time favorite films! This is also Deborah Kerr in one of her finest perfomances. Very different! Lancaster was also very good in this film. And Sinatra completes this cast of great acting. Well worth seeing again and agian!
Rating:
Summary: truly a classic
Review: this film is hollywood at its finest--what really makes this film is the development of the chararcters. while sinatra won an oscar, it is lancaster that really shines. also offers a terrific ending that is not glossy.
Rating:
Summary: A movie that touches the soul.
Review: It would be impossible for this movie not to be great, considering it's cast. But the story is the star, and the major player's blend the subtle nuances into pure magic. From the very first time I saw this movie, as a child, the most poignant moment, the one that still brings tears to my eyes, is when Pruitt plays "Taps" after Maggio dies. That rendition stays with you long after the movies over.
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