Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

For the Commentary: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, none

• Eternal History (Graphic-in-picture) track

• The Making of From Here to Eternity (2:23)

5 Lobby card postcards

Bitrate:

 

Description: In this landmark film, passion and tragedy collide on a military base as a fateful day in December 1941 draws near. Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a soldier and former boxer being manipulated by his superior and peers. His friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra) tries to help him but has his own troubles. Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) and Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr) tread on dangerous ground as lovers in an illicit affair. Each of their lives will be changed when their stories culminate in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Winner of eight Oscars(r), including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting awards for Sinatra in a career-defining role and for Donna Reed as a not-so-wholesome club hostess.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

From Here to Eternity looks pretty sweet on Blu-ray from Sony. The image quality shows some grain and layered contrast adds to detail - notable throughout. What I appreciated was how the 1080P visuals held some film-like thickness and they were darker than I would have anticipated. I see no digital manipulation and there is no noise now artefacts. It is dual-layered with a supportive bitrate for the 2 hour film. This Blu-ray has a consistent appearance with only the stock footage, near the end, standing out as 'odd'. I couldn't find a flaw and fans will be impressed with the textures in the original 1.33:1 frame.  This Blu-ray probably looks like the film From Here To Eternity and it advances handily beyond the last SD editions.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We get the option of a surround bump (DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 2091 kbps or you can opt for the 2.0 channel in simple Dolby track. There are a plethora of foreign-language DUBs. I wasn't overly impressed by the surround - it has some, less tight, separations (some crashing waves!) and the deep roar of guns, explosion, or boxing bell were loud and clear. What I was impressed with was George Duning's (Picnic, 3:10 to Yuma) excellent score sounding epic and encompassing! Dialogue was clear and even plus there are multiple subtitle options (for the commentary too!) on the region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Extras :

Interesting for those keen is an optional 'Eternal History (Graphic-in-picture) track' with input akin to a commentary with factoid windows or discussion of various scenes or performers. It's not bad - embellishing on the old commentary that still remains with the director's son Tim Zinnemann and Alvin Sargent (who had a bit-part as 'Nair' in the film).

 

 

Everything else is duplicated from previous SD releases including the brief The Making of From Here to Eternity and 9.5 minutes of excerpts from Fred Zinnemann "As I See It" touching on the director's methods and style. The package contains 5 'Lobby card' postcards.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Masterfully told by a gifted cinematic storyteller - stellar cast and iconic Hollywood performances - and now in the glory of 1080P - not much more you could ask for. From Here To Eternity represents filmmaking from a special era - 'they don't make up like this anymore' would be very appropriate. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sony Blu-ray presentation. I think it does its job well - and we, certainly, recommend! 

Gary Tooze

September 19th, 2013