From Here to Eternity

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Timing: 1:58 (118 min)

7.304/10
601

7.132/10
3449

7.6/10
54000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 25

Actors and characters

Release date

1953-08-28

Country

United States

Production

Columbia Pictures

Genre

War, Romance, Drama

Budget

$1 650 000

Revenue

$30 500 000

Website

Director

Fred Zinnemann

Actors

Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Philip Ober, Mickey Shaughnessy, Harry Bellaver, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Buddy Adler

Operator

Burnett Guffey

Composer

George Duning

Artist

Audition

Maxwell Arnow

Editing

William A. Lyon
All team (30)

• The film is based on the bestselling novel (1951) of the same name by James Jones.
• In 2002, the film was included in the National Film Registry.
• Italian-American Frank Sinatra, after reading James Jones' novel, was very eager to play the role of the Italian-American Maggio. He bombarded the studio and the head of “Columbia Pictures,” Harry Cohn, with telegrams signed “Maggio,” but Cohn was afraid to cast a non-professional actor who “danced and sang with Gene Kelly” in a serious drama. Ava Gardner, who was acquainted with Cohn's wife, Joanna, asked her to intervene and allow her husband to audition. Although Eli Wallach was approved for the role after all the auditions, he later turned it down, trading it for the Broadway production of “Camino Real.” Despite receiving only $8,000 for the role (compared to $130,000 for his role eight years earlier in “Anchors Aweigh”), the Academy Award allowed him to triumphantly return to show business and revive his career, which had been steadily declining.
• Joan Fontaine was considered for the role of Karen Holmes, but she declined due to family circumstances. Later, Joan deeply regretted this decision, as her career soon began to decline. Joan Crawford's services had to be declined after she stated that only the cinematographer she had worked with on her previous film could capture her beauty. Ultimately, Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed were approved for the female roles.
• Montgomery Clift was completely unable to box and refused to take boxing lessons before filming, so a stunt double replaced him in all the fight scenes, which is noticeable upon careful viewing of the film.
• Italian-American Frank Sinatra, after reading James Jones's novel, very much wanted to play the role of the Italian-American Maggio. He flooded the studio and the head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, with telegrams signed "Maggio", but Cohn was afraid to cast a non-professional actor who "danced and sang with Gene Kelly" in a serious drama. Ava Gardner, who was acquainted with Cohn's wife, Joanna, asked her to intervene and allow her husband to audition. Although Eli Wallach was approved for the role after all the auditions, he later turned it down, trading it for the Broadway production of "Camino Real". Despite the fact that Frank Sinatra received only $8,000 for this role (compared to $130,000 for his own role eight years earlier in "Anchors Aweigh"), the Academy Award allowed him to triumphantly return to show business and revive his career, which had been steadily declining.