From here to eternity

The famous scene in the black and white film classic that holds up very well. Burt Lancaster in good form, a lover in an illicit affair, the conniving sargeant that keep the company moving smoothly in the absence of the captain conducting his own illicit love affairs, and the leader who commands action when the base comes under attack on Sunday 7 December 1941. Frank Sinatra does a very good job as the doomed Maggio, and Deborah Kerr does an equally good job as the captain's cheated-on and cheating wife who falls for Lancaster's . But Montgomery Clift and Donna Reed are the commanding presences in this film. Monty nails his character, Robert E. Lee Prewitt, morose, determined, stubborn, defiant, proud, and never flags. Donna Reed, in utter contrast to her future role as wholesome suburban mom, plays a prostitute (one needs to read between the lines, as it were, for the word is never uttered in this 1953 film) who falls for Prew. Film making at its best.