In Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson’s “Hollywood: The Oral History,” the authors quote an old interview with Zinnemann wherein the director marveled at Cohn’s old-school showmanship. According to Zinnemann, the very notion of making “From Here to Eternity” in the midst of the red-baiting McCarthy era seemed foolish. “People called it Harry Cohn’s Folly,” recalled the filmmaker.

Cohn didn’t care, and he doubled down on his gamble by debuting the movie at New York City’s Capitol Theatre in August. As for marketing, there would be virtually none. As Zinnemann put it:

“Now, this was in 1953, and there was no such thing as air-conditioning. And New York in August was a red-hot box, and nobody in their right mind would have opened a picture that month. In August. And then he said, ‘There’s to be no publicity, no advertising, except one full-page ad in the Times, which I will sign as president of Columbia, recommending everybody see the film.’ And people really thought he was out of his mind.”

On the film’s opening day, Zinnemann was prepared for disaster. Then he received a wholly unexpected phone call from a movie star he’d never met in his life.