From Here to Eternity
Date: 1953
Region: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Film Video
Artist: James Jones, author; Fred Zinnemann, film director
Confronting Bodies: The 1950s film censors, the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, McCarthyites
Date of Action: 1953
Location: United States
Description of Artwork: James Jones's novel, turned into a film by Fred Zinnemann, "From Here to Eternity," portray's the U.S. Army in Hawaii on the eve of World War II. The film is best known for it's scene where Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster are embracing on a Hawaiian beach.
The Incident: Several scenes were removed from Jones's narrative and Zinnemann's production. One which included a brothel, was turned into a club where soldiers merely drank and danced with women. In another more significant alteration, the 8-year-old son of Kerr's character was removed and replaced by a presentiment of her chastity taken on because of her husband's past infidelities. The filmmakers were reluctant to suggest that Kerr's maternal character would have a love affair.
Results of Incident: The story and subsidiary scenes were altered for the film's production.
Source: The New York Times
