FILM/SNEAK PEEK : ACADEMY SCREENING `FROM HERE TO ETERNITY'.

Enjoy a passionate roll in the sand vicariously tonight when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screens 1953's best picture, ``From Here to Eternity.''

The drama, starring Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, followed by ``MASH'' at 9:40 p.m.

Daniel Taradesh, whose screenplay won one of eight Oscars for ``From Here to Eternity,'' will be on hand to introduce that film.

Tickets for one film or both are $5 for the general public and $3 for academy members. The academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. For more information, call [phone].

They ought to be in pictures

The motion picture academy today opens a special photographic exhibit, ``Screenwriters: Fifty Faces Behind the Greatest Movie Moments,'' conceived by Helena Lumme with photographs by Mika Manninen.

Among the writers featured are Robert Benton (``Bonnie and Clyde,'' ``Kramer vs. Kramer''), Nora Ephron (``When Harry Met Sally...''), Bo Goldman (``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' ``Scent of a Woman''), Lawrence Kasdan (``The Big Chill,'' ``Grand Canyon''), and Billy Wilder (``Some Like it Hot, ``Seven Year Itch'').

``Unlike actors, directors and producers, who are pursued by the media to discuss their films, screenwriters are almost never put in front of a camera,'' Lumme said. ``Yet without the words that the screenwriter commits to paper, there's no such thing as a movie.''

The exhibition continues through Dec. 21 at 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

Hopper talks

Dennis Hopper - actor, director, photographer and artist - is set to deliver a lecture Sunday afternoon at California State University, Long Beach, as part of the University Art Museum's '60s-themed exhibit.

Hopper, 61, made his screen debut in ``Rebel Without a Cause'' in 1955 and went on to roles in such movies as ``Cool Hand Luke,'' ``True Grit,'' ``Apocalypse Now,'' ``Blue Velvet,'' ``Speed'' and ``Waterworld.'' He probably is most closely identified with ``Easy Rider,'' in which he was co-star, co-writer and director.

His collection of photography includes portraits of Martin Luther King Jr., Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg and Jasper Johns. He also has had his paintings and sculptures on exhibit at museums in the United States and Europe.

Hopper will be interviewed by museum director Constance W. Glenn beginning at 4 p.m. in the university's Martha E. Knoebel Dance Theater. Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for students. For more information, call [phone].

Son of Dracula

Bela Lugosi Jr. will be on hand Oct. 25 when the Alex Film Society screens his father's most famous film, the 1931 thriller ``Dracula.''

Universal has provided a rare studio print for the 8 p.m. showing as well as the 2 p.m. matinee. Lugosi will attend the evening screening and a reception preceding it for AFS members and invited guests.

The horror classic will be shown with the Disney cartoon ``Trick or Treat'' as well as trailers for a variety of Dracula movies.

Tickets are $8.50 for the evening show, $7 for the matinee and $6 for AFS members, available through the Alex Theatre box office at [phone] or Telecharge at [phone]. The Alex Theatre is at 216 N. Brand Blvd. in Glendale.

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Photo

Photo: Billy Wilder is included in the photographic exhibit, ``Screenwriters: Fifty Faces Behind the Greatest Movie Moments.''