From the Archives: ‘From Here to Eternity’ blasts viewers with atomic bomb
The Times’ longtime critic Edwin Schallert had a strong negative reaction to “From Here to Eternity” on Oct. 1, 1953. Despite that review, the film -- based on James Jones’ novel, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra -- went on to be a huge box-office hit and won eight Academy Awards.
“From Here to Eternity” comes to the screen as a supreme mob-inciter. It will wave furiously and long to cause an enormous stir — never too patriotically.
This film is sensationalism gone rampant with sex, cruelty, and all the ruddy elements which make for what is known as rough, rugged, brutal appeal. It has to do with soldiering, but it dallies preeminently with sex, and is only in minor degree concerned with war.
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“From Here to Eternity,” Bing Theater, LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 857-6010. 1 p.m. Tuesday.
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