Jul 4th  
From Here To Eternity***   
(US 1953)       
Columbia. 118m. bw

Personal tensions among soldiers and civilian at a Hawii US Army barracks in December 1941.
A daring Hollywood enterprise to adapt a no-holds-barred novel set in the (then) untouchable realm of the US Army, strongly cast - in some cases against type - with the expected dramatic finale of the attack on Pearl Harbour (although even there, the US Army has to be seen to be 'winning'). The famous beach scene is pretty strong viewing, even by today's standards.

Written by: Daniel Taradash, from the novel by James Jones.
Producer: Buddy Adler.
Director: Fred Zinnemann.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra (his first major dramatic role), Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Philip Ober, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Warden, Claude Akins, George Reeves, Robert Wilke.
Photography: Burnett Guffey.
Music: George Duning, Maurice Stoloff.

+ "Sinatra was in Africa, where Ava Gardner was filming Mogambo, when [Harry] Cohn, always careful with money, called him that a test could be made if he would pay his own way back to Hollywood. In a flash, Sinatra has returned and the test turned out well - it was Sinatra in uniform. Cohn paid him a bare $8,000 for the part - but this was a turning point for Sinatra; he received an Oscar, and from then on his career took off like a rocket. At no time were horses' heads involved in the casting decision. The author of The Godfather was using poetic license." - Fred Zinnemann