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From Here to Eternity (1953): Film vs Book
Film · 1953 · Directed by Fred Zinnemann · Starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr
About the film
Soldiers on a Hawaiian base in the months before the Second World War deal with love, discipline and pride.
How close is it to the book?
Close to the bookThe film follows the book's main story and tones down its frankness, as the era required.
Read or watch first?
The novel is blunter and bigger, and an unusually honest picture of army life.
What the book gives you
From Here to Eternity by James Jones
A powerful, absorbing portrait of men and loyalty in a peacetime army.
Who will like it: Readers who like big, gritty, human novels about soldiers before war.