As our own Classics Guru David Krauss already so eloquently reviewed this film for the 2013 Blu-ray release, I’ll leave much of this space to his words. For myself, From Here To Eternity represents an incredible convergence of talent. With star-defining performances, the film would justifiably dominate the 1954 Acadamy Awards earning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, with Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress wins for Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed respectively. And that doesn’t even cover the well-earned nominations of Best Actor for both Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster with Deborah Kerr also picking up a Best Actress nomination. With that split ticket, William Holden beat out Lancaster and Clift for Stalag 17 with Audrey Hepburn whisking away Oscar voters with her star-making appearance in Roman Holiday. Regardless of award wins or losses, this is an impeccably crafted film from the first frame to the thrilling Pearl Harbor attack sequence.
Read David Krauss’ 2013 From Here To Eternity Blu-ray Review
Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
From Here To Eternity smooches in the waves of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time with a new three-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set exclusive to Sony’s Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 3. Similar to the past volumes, this film gets its own multi-disc case with slipcover and classic artwork for the insert art. The discs get their own bays with the 4K disc stacked on top of the bonus features disc. The 4K is pressed on a BD-100 disc with the film in 1080p pressed on a Region Free BD-50 disc. The discs load to static image main menus with standard navigation options and the bonus features panel along the right side of the screen.
Admittedly, I didn’t pick up Sony’s 2013 Blu-ray of From Here To Eternity when I had many chances to do so. I borrowed it from the library plenty and wanted to pick it up, but it kept getting pushed down the shopping list, and then when the 4K format came about I figured I’d wait thinking it'd be a shoo-in. I’m glad I waited. This is simply another phenomenal-looking disc as Sony continues to crush it with its catalog titles. Details are exquisite from frame one allowing you a full appreciation of facial features, clothing textures, and the film’s impressive production design work all with a nice and rich cinematic grain structure. The only dodgy parts are the stock footage inserts which really don’t compare to the more recently produced elements, but for that Pearl Harbor attack sequence, these sections still hit you square in the gut.
Dolby Vision HDR (and HDR10) gives the film an impressive boost in black levels, whites, and shadows for a truly lovely grayscale. The old Blu-ray was already impressive in this regard but this is next-level brilliance with much more natural-looking whites. Spectral highlights glitter the screen as well. Blacks are deep and inky without any crush issues and the shadow gradience offers some very impressive three-dimensional image depth. Elements are remarkably clean without any trouble spots or age-related damage to worry about. A genuinely remarkable standout for this set.
And true to Sony’s recent commitment for home video excellence, not only do they bring in some legacy audio tracks (DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono and DTS-HD MA 5.1), but they’ve also gone and given this film a rather remarkable Dolby Atmos track that gives the film a whole new level of immersion and intensity for any given scene. Usually, I tend to favor the original mixes for films, in this case, the 2.0 mono, but this Atmos mix is something to celebrate. From grunts clacking pool cues in the officer’s club to drilling in the courtyard to the climactic surprise attack sequence, this mix is quite something. Channel spacing is pitch-perfect allowing enough activity to occupy the front, side, and rear channels and bleeding into the overheads without sounding forced, cheap, or inorganic. One could swear it was always presented in Atmos. Now to be fair, I wouldn’t staple this against something like Top Gun: Maverick, that wouldn’t be a contest, but for a film of this vintage, Sony is proving with some care and attention that a massive multi-channel track can work wonders for a classic.
Once again, Sony stuffs this release with plenty of new and exciting bonus features to dig through on top of packing in the archival materials one might have missed if they didn’t already own the film. In addition to the nice archival commentary, fans can pick through some new making-of and retrospective materials as well as the 1980 television mini-series pilot which I never even knew existed as well as the full three-episode 1979 mini-series on the bonus disc! There’s plenty of great stuff in here to dig through so grab a shovel and crawl into your foxhole.
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc One
Blu-ray Disc Two
From Here To Eternity is another iconic piece of cinema to make its 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debut. While it may be most known for the indelible image of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr necking in the waves, the film is a masterclass in direction, writing, and editing with tremendous Oscar-worthy performances. Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor desperately tried to ape the formula of this film and only proved you can’t recreate the classics. From Here To Eternity picks up a three-disc release as part of Sony’s Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Vol 3 scoring a magnificent Dolby Vision transfer complete with an impressive Dolby Atmos track in addition to legacy audio mixes along with hours of new and archival bonus features to pick through. Another true highlight of this set, it’s a Must Own especially if it ever gets a solo disc release.
