The Best Years of Our Lives

The perfect Veterans' Day film focusing on that 'greatest generation' of valiant WWII soldiers struggling to return to 'normal' Life after literally making the World safe for democracy.
This film was directed by the legendary William Wyler (who also did the hallowed 1959 version "Ben-Hur") and the "Best Years of Our Lives" was immensely popular at the Box-office in America's immediate post-WWII period and went on to win numerous Academy Awards (in 1947) for Best Picture, Actor, supporting Actor, Director, Screenplay, Music-Score and Editing

The main strength of this film comes by way of its authenticity and willingness to present the more realistic and sometimes disheartening realities faced by Veterans (and former heroes) that have basically sacrificed everything for their Country - but unfortunately don't always receive a hero's welcome when they return home, and do their level-best to just try to 'get-on' with their lives and deal with the basics like holding down a decent job and simply re-acclimating into everyday society

The cast is excellent and includes much of Hollywood's A-Team at the time: Frederic March (who won Oscar for best-actor), Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Virginia Mayo and a novice (but amazingly-talented) actor in his first-role Harold Russell who in real-Life had lost both hands in an explosion during WWII and throughout the film uses his prosthetic-limbs to accomplish just about everything 'normal' hands can do - Russell also deservedly won best supporting-actor for this role.

Of course "Best Years of Our Lives" was released in 1946 and, therefore still approached the story from a partially 'old-school' vantage point (for example it doesn't directly-explicitly address the more modern highlighted issues of life-threatening PTSD or suicides, etc. although there are moments when some of the returning veterans do re-live/re-experience traumatic WWII flashbacks-nightmares)

But you still have to give this film much credit for going as far as it did (for the era) and I think it was the first Hollywood film to show vets with life-altering injuries-disabilities (resulting in losses of confidence that must be regained thru perseverance) and the idea that society did not necessarily welcome all vets back with open-arms and did not always provide opportunities for good jobs-good careers upon return - this is certainly true of Dana Andrews character 'Captain Fred Derry' an 'ace' bomber-pilot who attained the rank of Officer, but upon return can only qualify for the same type of minimum-wage job (i.e. server at a 'Soda-fountain') that he had as a teenager before entering WWII. And Harold Russell as 'Homer Parrish' who struggles to adjust to his prosthetic-hands and delivers the most moving performance trying to remain externally upbeat, but inwardly wrestling with issues of self-confidence that inadvertently cause him to coldly cast-aside his faithful pre-War girlfriend 'Wilma' played by Cathy O'Donnell (at least until Homer can fully come to terms with his new situation/reality and recognize his genuine 'good-fortunes' in Life)

This is a truly great film that makes you think about the hardships that nearly all veterans (who witnessed intensive-combat first hand) must directly deal with upon return (whether confronting physical or emotional traumas).

"Best Years of Our Lives" also makes you realize that even though the ultimate-objectives and moral-imperatives of WWII were crystal-clear and beyond question (I.e. resisting-defeating fascism and directly saving-defending pluralistic-democracy's very existence) returning WWII veterans still did not always receive the full-measure of welcome and dignity from society that they fully deserved = imagine how much more difficult it must be for the veterans returning today?

Academy award nominations: Sound Mixing.

Wins: Picture, Director-William Wyler, Leading Actor-Fredric March, Supporting Actor-Harold Russell, Screenplay, Film Editing and Original Score-Hugo Friedhofer.

March Boy awards nominations: Picture, Director-William Wyler, Leading Actor-Harold Russell, Supporting Actress-Virginia Mayo, Black and White Cinematography, Black and White Set Design and Original Score.

Everyone talks about How Green Was My Valley being the movie that beat out Citizen Kane for Best Picture and Director so I thought I'd write a similar about a similar topic. I bought The Best Years of Our Lives mainly because I was curious about what on earth could possibly have beaten out It's a Wonderful Life for Best Picture, Director (William Wyler) and especially Leading Actor. (James Stewart) That being said I was pleasantly surprised to see a good, solidly acted, fairly well-written and extremely well photographed (same photographer as Citizen Kane so that should tell you something) film. The subject matter of three veterans struggling to readjust themselves to everyday life at home may seem dull and tepid to a modern audience accustomed to bombs, explosions and CGI monsters every twenty minutes and I respect that opinion because everyone is different but I largely enjoyed just watching these characters do their thing for two and a half hours.

However there are a couple things that detracted me from giving it five stars.

1. Frederic March is okay as the middle aged soldier Al Stephenson but what annoys me is that he often goes into these permanent self-conscious frowns and stony stares. It works well in the serious scenes like when he's confronting Fred in the café for flirting with his daughter Peggy but in other scenes like when he's celebrating his return or making a speech at a dinner party it looks a little strange. He isn't exactly bad but I'm pretty sure the touchy, subject matter of veterans coming home that almost everyone in 1946 America could relate to had more to do with his win than the quality of his acting. When I think about James Stewart's "I know what I'm going to do tomorrow, the next day and the one after that." and "Please God let me live again." speeches, March comes across as a little flat.

2. The way Al and Milly's son Rob just fades out of the movie. We only see him in two scenes and then he just sort of disappears. Why didn't they invite him to go partying it up from nightclub to café to resturaunt when they were celebrating Al's return? They invited the daughter so why not the son? Was it due to some sort of favoritism or was he underage for alchohol consumption--the second is hardly probable considering he looks about eighteen to twenty. He doesn't really make much of an impression on the screen and we never even see him turn up for the wedding at the end. So why did the screenwriters even bother to put him in the script? You got me. I found this a problem of sloppy screenwriting but William Wyler has to shoulder on some of the blame for that.

But back to the pros. The cast (with the possible exception of Fredric March) is just flawless from top to bottom. Harold Russell gives a very vivid, moving performance as Homer Parrish and never hits a false note which totally baffles me since he was a non-professional but acts like he's been acting all his life. His subtle facial expressions (when he smiles and frowns and cries) look very real. Probably the biggest emotional punch is where he takes his girlfriend Wilma upstairs and shows her his harness and hooks for hands and you suddenly realize that this isn't an actor who just covered his hands up for the film--William Wyler hired a real disabled soldier.

Dana Andrews (Fred) has some great moments like the dream sequence, punching out the customer that tries to antagonize Homer and sitting in the broken airplane reminiscing on the past. Myrna Loy and Teresa Wright give lovely, restrained turns as Milly and Peggy and Virginia Mayo is particularly good as the annoying, grating, superficial blond bimbo Marie.

Plus the movie does a very good job teaching a lesson that marriage isn't just about the mushy-mushy feelings--it's about for better or for worse, for rich or for poor and walking the line even when you're tempted. Fred realizes he was a bad husband and begged Peggy's forgiveness but unfortunately his wife Marie was too shallow and self-absorbed to realize her faults.

Probably the best parts were:

1. The scenes with Homer and Wilma. Their romance was so sweet and beautifully handled and the wedding scene was terrific.

2. Peggy telling her parents they don't know what it's like to have a marriage on the rocks because they always get along. Milly looks up at Al with a grin and says "Oh yeah. In all the thirty years we've been married we NEVER quarreled or fought or yelled at each other. Right? How many times have I said I hated you and how many times did you call me an ungrateful woman and said we we're both useless and washed up? And we had to kiss and make up over and over again."

Gregg Toland's cinematography is REALLY good. The best parts are the spacious shots of the town and city and the beginning where the three soldiers are looking out of the round windows in the airplane. Hugo Friedhofer's music is rich, lush and dramatic especially the scene where Fred goes to the broken airplane junkyard and Homer and Wilma's second scene in his bedroom.

I still think It's a Wonderful Life should have won the major Oscars that year (Picture, Director and Leading Actor) but The Best Years of Our Lives is still good in its own way.

Four stars.

Want to see really great movies? Rent or buy "Born on the 4th of July" or "Saving Private Ryan." or the greatest of them all as to the effects war can have especially when they came home after the war, "The Best Years of Our Lives." Cinematic masterpieces all. Warning though: have kleenex handy, these stories, produced and directed so well and magnificently acted, will break your heart.

It is a shame MGM's DVD edition of this classic was so indifferent to the quality of the film and the needs of its audience. There are no extras, not even captioning for the hearing impaired or non-Anglophone audiences, nor is the image or sound quality all that great. One would think that with the minimum amount of care put into this disc that they would have at least priced it accordingly, but it is also rather expensive.

That bring us to the HBO edition, long out of print, but worth seeking out if you can find a copy, It offers subtitles in addition to superior image and sound quality, an isolated music track, cast bios, the trailer, poster, and brief interviews with Teresa Wright and Virginia Mayo.

The film deserves the full Criterion treatment, and we can only hope they will eventually turn their attention to this wise and extremely moving film. Until then, I advise avoiding the MGM disc and recommend the superior product from HBO . . . if you can find it.