Though this film is a classic and wonderful, there isn't much to say about it. Given the times, it is far too sanitized to be truly brilliant but the plot and acting shine nevertheless.
Robert E. Lee Prewett (Montgomery Clift, great) transfers to a combat unit of the army after being passed up for a promotion in the bugle corp, a position in which he was more than qualified for. But this unit is commanded by the lazy and foolish Dana Holmes (Philip Obers) who pins too much hope on the boxing matches. Though Prewett is a fine boxer, he flat out refuses to step back into the ring given that in his last match, he accidentally blinded his opponent. Holmes doesn't understand this while the Sergeant, Milton Warden (a great Burt Lancaster) does. Warden is a man with a far better work ethic and moral compass, despite having an affair with the lovely and sweet Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr), whose husband treats her like crap.
Prew loves the army and honors its tradition even though he is forced to perform many menial tasks and hardly ever gets weekend privileges but still manages to fall in love with Lureen, real name Alma (Donna Reed) in town who is an escort, though her official position is never mentioned.
Things get sticky toward the end when Prew's friend, the alcoholic Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) somehow manages to escape the stock-holds and dies and then Prew gets revenge on James Judson (Ernest Borgnine) who guarded the stock-holds by stabbing him and nearly dying the process.
And then comes the excellent final scenes, as the attack on Pearl Harbor happens. By this time, Holmes was forced out of the army for being cruel to the AWOL Prew. This thrills Karen but Milt still won't marry her as he can't leave the army and doesn't want to be an officer so Milt stays and Karen and Alma sail away on a boat forever leaving Hawaii.
While the plot is good, I absolutely feel that there are too many plot holes (the sudden court martial of Holmes) and scenes that were forced to be oddly portrayed due to the Hayes Code (namely, the stabbing scene between Judson and Prew). But the performances shine and Sinatra and Reed fully deserved their Oscars they received. If it weren't for the lovely character portrayals, this film would not have held up as well as it did. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-If my husband fell down drunk and I lost my baby because of that, I would give a lot worse than how Karen treats him.
-We don't know why Alma lies about Prew's actions in the final scene, probably to make herself feel better for loving him and to give him the honor he never received in his lifetime.
-How does Angelo manage to escape the stock-holds?
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