1953 Best Picture:
From Here to Eternity
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Competition: Julius
Caesar, The Robe, Roman Holiday, Shane
Other Winners:
Best Actor: William
Holden, Stalag 17
Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn,
Roman Holiday
Best Supporting Actor:
Frank
Sinatra, From Here to Eternity
Best Supporting Actress:
Donna
Reed, From Here to Eternity
Best Director: Fred
Zinnermann, From Here to Eternity
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Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra,
Philip Ober, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden Storyline:
The
Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor is just around the corner, and in an
army base in Hawaii, a former boxer, now a private in the army, is given a
hard time by his troop when he refuses to fight. Meanwhile, new love
blossoms, and forbidden affairs continue, as army life goes on. Did it deserve to
win: It certainly
did! ... And not just for the famous beach scene. The
producers and writers were successful in taking a controversial book and
turning into a winning film, without too much compromise on its integrity. Fans
of biblical epics may be partial to The Robe, but that film lacked the
freshness of Eternity. Both Roman Holiday and Shane were very good
films, but they lacked the sweeping grandeur that Oscar voters seem to
love. Critique:
After
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, people today can watch this
film with renewed interest. From Here to Eternity captures something
that is very relevant today. The majority of the film deals with
torrid affairs, personality conflicts, and inner struggles, all of which
seem so unimportant when the Japanese finally attack. As
a film, From Here to Eternity is a stand out film, with fine acting from
all of the players, and a good script, despite the fact that it had been
stripped of the countless vulgarities that gave the original novel its
teeth.
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Best Scene:
"Hello, tough monkey!" Too much drinking and brawling come to a head for poor Maggio, played by
Frank Sinatra. He seems born to play this role as the scrapper who
gets put into the stockade for leaving his post and starting a
fight. The kicker, for him, is that Sergeant Fatso, played by Ernest
Borgnine, is waiting for him when he arrives!
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Behind the Scenes:
From Here to Eternity
would
tie
Gone With the Wind
for receiving the most Oscar wins up to that point,
with a grand total of eight, out of thirteen nominations.
Frank
Sinatra campaigned for the role of Private Maggio, which would later earn
him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Up until that point, his
career had been faltering from his run as a 40's crooner and teen
idol. Mario Puzo's book, and the Oscar winning film, The
Godfather,
had a story of an actor who uses the mob to get his dream role. Rumor
had it that it was based on Sinatra's real life experience. Joan
Crawford was originally cast in the role of Karen, but she turned down the
role because she didn't like the costumes. "Fuck her!" was
the response form producer, Harry Cohn, who then cast the virginal Deborah
Kerr in the lead. Both
Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster received Best Actor nominations for
their roles that year. They were up against Marlon Brando (Julius Caesar),
Richard Burton (The Robe) and the ultimate winner, William Holden, for
Stalag 17. Conspicuously absent from the list was Shane star, Alan
Ladd. He had left his studio contract with Paramount that year, and
was effectively blacklisted by them. Part of being shunned included
not having access to the publicity department to run an Oscar
campaign. The
Legion of Decency and Joe Breen approved the final cut of From Here to
Eternity, but not without a few cuts. The original novel contained a
host of objectionable phrases and scenes that had to be altered. All
of the coarse language was removed for the script. The brothel
scene, with a love affair between a private and a prostitute was
changed. The brothel became a second rate U.S.O., and the prostitute
became a B-girl.
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"Failure and its
accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of
creative energy."
Montgomery Clift
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Forbidden
love set against World War II is the backdrop of this Oscar winner.
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Burt
Lancaster is Sergeant Warden. |
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Montgomery
Clift is Private Prrewitt, the boxer who doesn't want to fight.
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Sergeant
Warden strikes up a romance with the Captain's wife, Karen, played by
Deborah Kerr.
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Donna
Reed catches the eye of Clift.
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The
famous beach scene where Lancaster and Kerr get things heated up.
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Private
Prewitt is treated badly because of his refusal to box for the squad's
team. |
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Ernest
Borgnine and Frank Sinatra are looking for a fight, but Lancaster breaks
it up. |
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Sinatra,
gets into trouble. As punishment he is sent to the stockades, which
are managed by his nemesis, Borgnine.
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Oscar
winner, Donna Reed, as Alma, just wants to be a 'proper' girl.
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Deborah Kerr as Karen,
refuses to tell her husband who she is seeing on the side.
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Lancaster
and Clift share a pint, and talk about their women.
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A beaten Sinatra,
escapes from the stockade, only to die in the arms of Clift. |
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A twist of fate has the two women
meeting for the first time as they visit the memorial to Pearl Harbor
after the war. |
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