From Here To Eternity . . . . . 1953

Let me at the beginning say that I enjoy movies with a military setting, probably from all those years of Hogan's Heroes and Sgt Bilko. This movie's very different from either of the aforementioned shows, however. Set in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in 1941, it is the story of a young soldier, Pvt Robert E Lee Prewitt (played superbly by Montgomery Clift) and the dark realities of life, and lots of other cliches. There's no easy way to describe either this movie or the eight-pound James Jones novel it's based on. Either you use cliches that don't cover it at all, or it takes pages and pages. I don't intend to spend hours comparing the movie to the book; I don't go in much for literary analysis. So here goes.

Prew is a new transfer to G company; as he arrives, he meets Pvt Angelo Maggio (the role that Frank Sinatra fought for and won, to all our benefits; he is perfect). We learn that Prew had quit the Bugle Corps. He goes in to meet the blocky Sgt Warden (Burt Lancaster, in a semi-likable role) and the first-class nozzle Capt Dana Holmes, who tries to get Prew to box, promising him a promotion. Watch Montgomery Clift's masklike performance, straight out of the book, refusing to give Holmes or Warden the satisfaction of seeing any emotional response. Holmes leaves to go to town, leaving Warden in charge, and it is Warden, we are told, who runs the outfit. Prew: "A man don't go his own way, he's nothing."

Enter Karen Holmes, the Captain's wife, who, according to Supply officer Leva, had been known to sleep around at the ironically named Ft Bliss, where her husband had formerly been stationed. The tension between Karen and Warden is so thick you can almost feel it. Cut to the Holmes' bedroom, where Karen is obsessively brushing her hair when her husband arrives. One can only wonder whether there was ever any love in this marriage.

Back to the Post. Holmes' boxers try to pressure Prew into boxing, while Warden looks on. Talk doesn't do it, nor subtle threats, so the next day they start in by drilling and redrilling him, and laying every extra task on him they can think of. When Maggio sticks up for him, he too is forced to run laps in the hot sun. Warden, meanwhile, has designs on Karen. He visits her one rainy day, knowing her husband will be gone a while. The ensuing clash of wills makes of Karen Holmes an entirely human character, trapped in a loveless marriage, though I doubt that Sgt Warden is quite the right man for her. The movie only hints at what the book depicts far more graphically, however.

Payday at Schofield. Prew and Maggio get dressed up for a night of carousing, while Warden has a date with Karen. The scene in town was most definitely censored from the scene in the novel--the New Congress was an all-out whorehouse in the novel, whereas in the book it's a lot more respectable. But the result's the same. The dueling music, watching Maggio and his girl dance, are lighthearted moments amid all the tension.

So Prew sees Lorene, nicknamed "the Princess" (Donna Reed in a role that in no way can be termed housewifely), and it could be love at first sight, or at least lust; who's to say? Maggio has an argument with Sgt of the Guard Fatso Judson, who's in charge at the stockade. Everyone in this movie is very touchy about something, and they spend their time bumping into each other's sore spots. When Prew gets back from breaking up the fight, Lorene's chatting with some other soldier, which hurts Prew, because she'd said she'd wait for him. Cut to the beach, where Karen and Warden share the famous love on the beach scene. And back to Prew, who's understandably upset at Lorene's assertion that "all the boys are alike." This, I feel, is one of the most important points of the movie. With the simple line "We may seem all alike, but we ain't all alike," Montgomery Clift sums up the whole movie. They're not all alike. You can try to force men to conform by drilling them and putting them in uniform, but there's a world of difference between, for instance, Warden and Holmes, and even between Maggio and Prew; all the rest of the extras around the barracks only seem the same to us because we don't know them.

Comment-- It seems awful bright on the beach for a night scene. Warden oversteps the boundaries of politeness in his dealings with Karen; from her reactions, I gather she's had a lot of this from men before, and she deserves better. I think I would have slapped him or walked out. Even after she tells him the history of her marriage-- I just think she could do a lot better, that's all. Back to Prew and Lorene. He tells her his reason for refusing to box--one time, sparring with his friend Dixie Wells, Prew had knocked Dixie down, and accidentally blinded him. Montgomery Clift in this scene is like a frightened little boy, recounting a nightmare he has had to his mother, in the hopes that she can make it all better.

Back at the post, Prew is informed that Holmes has given his boxers permission to step up their treatment of Prew, "no holds barred" is the phrase used. So it goes for over a month. A brief respite for Prew--a night in town, after six weeks without one. Prew briefly demonstrates his bugle ability, while the other soldiers look on. Stockade Sgt Judson comes in while Maggio is showing pictures of his family, makes crude remarks about Maggio's sister, and a fight breaks out, only broken up by the intervention of Sgt Warden. Another day. Everyone's going into town, but Maggio is forced to take guard duty, even though he has a pass, because one of the other men is sick.

Prew goes to see Lorene, and they go to the Kalakaua Inn, where Prew and Maggio had been supposed to meet. Maggio arrives, drunk, having walked off on guard duty. Out in the street he picks a fight with some MPs and is arrested. He's then court-martialed and sentenced to six months in the Stockade, where Sgt Judson's been waiting for him. Meanwhile, Lorene gives Prew a key to her little house, and Warden and Karen are out on another date. Karen's plan to make their relationship legal--Warden should become an officer, so she can divorce her husband, and they can move back to the States together. He refuses, claiming a hatred of officers (like Dean Martin's in At War With The Army). Reluctantly he agrees. Prew tells Lorene he wants to marry her, also hoping they can return to the States together. How he'll do it? He tells her he'll box for Holmes. She doesn't want him to. She doesn't want to be the wife of a soldier; she wants to go home and be proper. Prew: "Nobody ever lies about being lonely."

Holmes refuses to grant Karen a divorce, and Prew hears from another soldier that the Stockade Sgt's been beating Maggio, but hasn't broken Maggio's spirit. Maggio refuses to tell the authorities about his treatment, just as Prew refused to tell the authorities about his own treatment--Maggio, the soldier says, has vowed to escape. While they're working, Sgt Galovitch picks a fight with Prew, who, because of his experience with Dixie Wells, refuses to hit Galovitch in the face. Holmes goes out to watch the fight, but he doesn't stop it. Something in Prew snaps--you can only push a man so far-- and he starts in on Galovitch. Eventually Holmes stops the fight, other soldiers stick up for Prew, telling Holmes that Galovitch had started it; but Prew still refuses to box.

That night, the men are drinking and singing. Prew meets Warden in the road, both of them completely drunk. They talk about their problems and have a real bonding moment, when in staggers Angelo Maggio, who'd escaped from the Stockade. He tells Prew that Sgt Judson had been beating him every day, and then he dies in Prew's arms. Later, Prew plays Taps for Maggio. Another night in town, Prew waits on the street for Sgt Judson. Prew asks him around the corner into an alley to "talk," accuses Judson of killing Maggio, and, in the ensuing fight, Prew kills Judson with the same knife Judson had pulled on Maggio in that first fight at the bar. Prew goes AWOL and stays with Lorene. Time passes. The Inspector General investigates Prew's case, and Holmes is forced to resign from the service. Karen and Warden break up, because she is going back to the States with her husband. Then comes the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the strafing of Schofield. Many battle scenes follow as the soldiers defend their ground. Prew, who has heard the reports of the attack on the radio, rushes out to the Company to help. Lorene tries to talk him out of it, but he goes anyway--and is shot by an American soldier as he tries to return to Schofield. We hear one last round of Reenlistment Blues as Prew dies. Warden takes charge of Prew's body and takes the bugle mouthpiece. Cut to a ship leaving Hawaii, where Karen and Lorene are watching the islands as they sail away. Lorene has a story for why she won't be coming back--her fiance was killed on Dec 7, he was a bomber pilot. Her story is just the background for the respectability she is determined to have once the war is over. She has Prew's bugle mouthpiece; presumably Warden gave it to her. The last shot is the two leis floating out to sea, signifying, according to Hawaiian legend, that neither Karen nor Lorene will ever return to Hawaii. << back to Monty or Frank>>