‘From Here to Eternity’ (1953) — Best Picture marathon

We’re marathoning every single Best Picture winner starting with Fred Zinneman’s 1953 war film From Here to Eternity

Quick review: From Here to Eternity is the kind of old-school Hollywood melodrama that you can’t help but fall for. And while it only occasionally hits greatness, the performances by Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, and Donna Reed are as iconic as they come.

★★★★

There’s something so old Hollywood about From Here to Eternity that it’s not hard to imagine why it won eight Oscars from thirteen nominations — coming close to tying All About Eve’s nominations record. And while the movie’s melodramatic storyline and gratuitous hero shots, including the iconic beach scene with a steamy Burt Lancaster, director Frank Zinneman was often lauded for his “social realism” in his time.

After discovering his parents had tragically died in the Holocaust, his focus shifted to movies set during World War II starting with his breakout The Seventh Cross starring S…