Customer Reviews

Till the End of Time [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Released in 1946, the same year as "The Best Years Of Our Lives" this film tackles the issues that veterans and their families face. This film takes a long cold stare at the sense of loss on the Home Front and in the souls of men and women of the time. The theme is of an overwhelming feeling that is Shock; of lost love, lost lives and lost opportunities. This is a film about Recovery and merely coping with what War does to us all. A real character study of Americans as they rebuild their damaged lives.

While not as famous as "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Till the End of Time" was a very realistic depiction of what the returning men of the "Greatest Generation" faced when they returned home, in this case, a stark, almost austere post-war Los Angeles.

The traumas, the nightmares, the uncertainty of boys who quickly had to become men - in one famous scene Guy Madison confronts Dorothy McGuire after an argument with his parents, who don't seem to understand the man whom they last knew as a teen going off to war. His buddies too, have difficulty coping with civilian life. Big Bill Williams, a pre-war athlete, is embittered and reclusive over the lost of a leg, and Robert Mitchum in one of his earliest roles, takes to drink and gambling as a way out of his woes. Finally provoked by neo-Nazis who lived out the war in comfort, the three men finally find themselves (at the time of this film, Director Dmytryk was still a member of the Communist Party, and the party line was to be vigilant towards homegrown fascism - without of course shedding light on one of the worst fascists in history, Joe Stalin).

It is the fine realistic acting of Madison, and Dorothy McGuire who faces her own demons as a war widow wooed by Madison, that is the centerpiece of this movie. Underneath the cool exteriors, there is plenty of passion between Madison, trying to find himself and fall in love, and McGuire, who after losing her husband is understandably hesitant about starting anew. One wonders why Guy Madison never became the major star that Bob Mitchum was - as he certainly had the looks and the potential to be one. And Dorothy McGuire was always an underrated beauty. Both of them deserved better in the starmaking machine.

I will not belabor the reader with needless esoteric references to the subtle "hidden" meanings of this excellent and under appreciated film. It is not as wide sweeping and well known as "Best Years", yet it holds a timeless appeal.
I cherish the sweetness of the interaction between Dorothy Maguire and Guy Madison. The "Greatest Generation" are well represented, and I bow to their talents.
There is no need to read current foolisheness and "PC" stuff into this film. It stands on its own merits. My four uncles who all served in WWII applaud this one.
God Bless

This film is a classic. It was one of my most memorable films as a
youngster. This should be on DVD.

This movie is so forgotten that I'm the first person to review it! A nostalgic appreciation will definately contribute to your possible enjoyment of this film. This story of three returning World War 2 G.I.'s, and their readjustment into society, is much less celebrated than the similar themed "The Best Years Of Our Lives", even though this film was released before that Oscar winner. It's what you might call a "B" version of the celebrated "Lives." This was a very early vehicle for Robert Mitchum, and he effectively displays the tough-guy delivery and fledgling screen persona for which he later became well known. Dorothy McGuire is fine also as the troubled war widow/ love interest of Guy Madison. This film was my first look at Mr. Madison, whom I vaguely recall from his later "Wild Bill Hickock" television series. Though he was not at all what you'd call a great actor, in fact, he was self-consciously wooden in delivery, I must admit I was impressed by his screen sexuality, which oddly transcends the films time period of the 1940's. He was almost impossibly beautiful, not remotely feminine, yet totally unlike other male actors of that time, and sported a "look" that would fit in any Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue of today. This film has very palpable sexual undertones (at least I felt 'em!) There are times when the camera languishingly lingers (can something languishingly linger??) on Madisons bare torso, as he lies in repose on the bed, as if he were Jane Russell, with an unheard of for that time intensity, which really makes me wonder if this is what the director intended. I doubt that possibility, given the oppressiveness of the times and the storyline. However, there are several such scenes, with exchanged glances, so heavy in unintentional homo-erotic suggestiveness that they are now campily hysterical. So, I would recommend this film primarily as more of a curiosity piece, with its "war movie" appeal coming in a contradictary second. This is probably not the best reason to suggest watching a film, but the fact that Guy Madison, who is not exactly a household name, was quite possibly one of the handsomest men ever in film would be my major reason for suggesting this tale, where the story line comes in a distant second to all that beefcake in uniform. Ships AHOY!

Always having loved old movies and movie stars of the past I do not know how I missed ever seeing Guy Madison who I feel is the most beautiful man and actor to have ever graced the silver screen! The camera could not take anything but beautiful pictures of this man's face ~ he had no "Bad Side" to be photographed from!
This was a wondeful movie that dealt with the realities of what life was like for returning soldiers from WWII and what they had to through trying to readjust to civilian life. And I felt that Guy Madison in only his second film and having top billing did a wonderful job being vulnerable, showing his emotions, his love for war widow Dorothy McQuire and his confusion of what to do with his life. He had only appeared in "Since You Went Away" in an bit part as a lonely soldier when thousands of women wrote in asking who he was and wanting to see him again in upcoming movies. He honed his craft taking acting roles on stage in Plays in "Summer Stock" type of Theaters before he took on top billing in Movies. The only thing that did not seem to come naurally to him was his dancing but I would have given him credit for trying!
I agree with almost everything but not everything F.Gentile said in her review of this movie listed below. Besides being unbelievably beautiful Guy Madison's sexuality definetly simmers and as someone watching it I could feel it. There was an obvious sexual chemistry between him and Dorothy McGuire but I saw and felt that HE created it and sent it over to her. The camera "languinshing lingers on Madison's torso as he lies in repose on the bed(as Reviewer J.Gentile points out)and I say it also lingers on his chest in the beach scenes when he is in his bathing suit. Wow!I feel that the camera purposely lingered on him in his love scenes to enhance his unbelievable sexual appeal and chemistry. I agree again with F. Gentile in saying that although he had such a beautiful face he in no way acted feminine.
This beautiful movie also shows a much more innocent time in America even with all of the hardships that people had to go through during WWII. And I must admit that I am envious of that much more innocent time which is not around today. Guy Madison went on to make some Western movies and then had a long stint with his "Wild Bill Hickock" TV Series. After the Movie Producers didn't send him many offers he moved to Europe where he had quite a following in Spagetti Westerns. But I feel cheated that the Movie Producing Mogels in this country stopped extending him offers for Theater Movies ~ Big Mistake! Because of that I am even more thankful that I can gaze again upon his beautiful face in his other movies made here in VHS form and hopefully in DVD form very very soon from Amazon.com!

Timing is everything, they say, and this excellent movie had the unfortunate luck to be released just months before the what was to become classic THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES: both movies share the same theme of three GIs trying to reaclimate themselves into civilian life after the war. In this one Robert Mitchum comes home with a plate in his head and too much pride to go to the hospital to get help; Bill Williams is minus his legs and feels he's useless; and Guy Madison is perfectly okay physically, just restless and unsure what he wants. He falls for widowed Dorothy McGuire, and the main plot concerns them. But the treatment of the men and their problems of fitting in is well handled - intelligent and sympathetic. Only the last 10 minutes threatens to sink the picture and all the good that came before: it's pure Hollywood corn (and includes a barroom brawl), which is a real shame. It was perhaps this bad ending that gave BEST YEARS its boost to greatness.

All-star performances in this feel good Post-WWII classic about Post WWII vets returning and re-adjusting each in their own way. True to the period the ending is cheery and good for all and for family viewing as with most 1940s produced work.

Whereas "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) gave a Norman Rockwell picture of returning WWII veterans trying to reintegrate themselves into civilian life, RKO's "Till the End Of Time" (released four months earlier) was more concerned with confronting that subject head-on than idealizing it. Which ultimately makes it a better film if a less popular one with an escape seeking public who already had their fair share of trauma.

Years later the television series "China Beach" would feature an episode (Fever) that was a worthy homage to this film. In that episode Nurse McMurphy comes home to Kansas where: " she goes to work as ward nurse at the local hospital while trying to make peace with her increasingly neurotic mother who does not approve of her fast, stressful lifestyle and bitterly tries to cling onto the past". I was reminded of that episode while watching Cliff Harper (Guy Madison) trying to deal with his mother. Particularly a scene where her mother throws McMurphy's fatigue uniforms away and a panicked McMurphy frantically rushes to the curb to retrieve them from the garbage can.

The point being that both mothers want the family to resume their lives from the point they were at before the war. And while a part of each veteran wants this same thing, another part of them realizes that it is impossible; so they end up marking time for a period until they can get things sorted out internally. Their readjustment process is one of reconciling the desire to have things as they once were with the desire (need) to hang on to the changes or growth they have undergone. Director Edward Dmytryk symbolically dispels the notion that Cliff can ever pick up his life from where he left off, he does this through an early scene where Cliff discovers that his old civilian clothes are far too small for him. Although played for laughs this scene conveys more than just the physical changes to Cliff during the three years he was been a Marine.

"Till the End of Time" nicely illustrates this dynamic with the two new women in Cliff's life. Fresh-faced Helen Ingersoll (Jean Porter - Hollywood's all-time cutest actress) is a perfect fit for the pre-war Cliff; the type of girl he would be pursuing if things could magically go back to the way they were. But the high mileage Pat Ruscomb (Dorothy McGuire) is a far better fit for what Cliff has become. Cliff's attraction dynamic with these two females says in a nutshell everything the film is trying to illustrate. Thankfully Williams and McGuire have an effortless chemistry that helps them sell both their mutual attraction and their reluctance to move forward and let go of cherished parts of the past.

The plot summary is a bit misleading, saying "three" marines have a hard time readjusting to civilian life and giving Robert Mitchum and Bill Williams (soon to be television's Kit Carson) equal billing with Madison and McGuire; as if there are three equally weighted parallel stories (insert "The Best Years of Our Lives" here). The story centers on Cliff Harper, there are only a few brief scenes that do not feature Madison. So fans of "Surfside Six" will get a full dose of their favorite star.

My favorite scene is the one where Porter and Williams "cut a rug" to the sounds of the jukebox in the old soda joint.

The most nostalgic scene was shot at the old Iceland skating palace. It looks like Porter does her own skating while someone doubles for McGuire. Unfortunately they did not go on location for the beach scene, and the projected beach background requires considerable suspension of disbelief.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

It arrived in quick time. as soon as i received it, i watched it.
I just want to thank you for till the end of time. I love older movies.thanks again.