The Best Years of Our Lives

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The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is an American drama film about three servicemen trying to piece their lives back together after coming back home from World War II.

Samuel Goldwyn was motivated to produce the film after his wife Frances read an August 7, 1944 article in Time magazine which told about the homecoming story of war veterans and their difficulty. Goldwyn hired MacKinlay Kantor to write the story, which was first published as a book, Glory for Me. Robert Sherwood then wrote the screenplay.^[1] It was directed by William Wyler, with cinematography by Gregg Toland.

The ensemble cast includes Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Hoagy Carmichael. It also features Harold Russell, an actor who had lost both his hands in a training accident.

The film received seven Academy Awards.

[edit] Plot

After World War II, demobilized servicemen Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), and Al Stephenson (Frederic March) meet while hitching a ride home in a bomber to Boone City, a typical Midwestern city. Fred was an Army Air Force captain and bombardier in Europe. Homer had been in the navy and lost his hands because of burns when his ship was hit. Al served as an infantry sergeant in the Pacific.

Al had been a loan officer for the Corn Belt Savings and Loan bank in Boone City. Though a mature older man with a loving family, wife Milly (Myrna Loy), adult daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright) and son Rob, he has trouble readjusting to civilian life, just like his two chance acquaintances. The bank, anticipating an increase in loans to returning war veterans, promotes Al to Vice President in charge of the small loan department because of his war experience. After he approves a chancy loan to a veteran, Al's boss Mr. Milton (Ray Collins) tells him not to gamble on loans without collateral. At his welcome-home dinner, Al gives a stirring, slightly drunken speech, acknowledging that people will think that the bank is gambling with the shareholders' money if he has his way -- "And they'll be right; we'll be gambling on the future of this country!" Mr. Milton applauds his sentiments, but Al remarks later, "He'll back me up wholeheartedly until the next time I help some little guy, then I'll have to fight it out again."

Before the war, Fred had been a soda jerk at a drugstore, coming from a shanty near the train yards. He doesn't want to return to his old job, but has no choice, given the stiff competition of all the returning veterans and his lack of other work experience. Fred met Marie (Virginia Mayo) while in training and married her shortly afterwards, before shipping out less than a month later. She took a job as a night club waitress while Fred was overseas, and clearly does not relish being married to a soda jerk.

Peggy meets and falls in love with Fred, and holds Marie in contempt after discovering how shallow and selfish she is. Peggy tells her parents she intends to break up Fred and Marie's marriage. Al pressures Fred to break off all contact with his daughter, which effectively ends the friendship between the two men.

Homer was a football quarterback before the war. Before leaving to fight, he had become engaged to Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell). When he returns, he doesn't want to burden her with a handicapped man, so he pushes her away. His uncle Butch (Hoagy Carmichael) owns a bar where the principal characters meet from time to time. Butch counsels Homer, but is careful not to tell his nephew what to do.

After Fred discovers his wife with another man, she demands a divorce. Upset, he loses his job when he punches a customer who expresses sympathy for the Axis. Fred decides to leave town; as he walks around the airport, killing time, he wanders out to a vast aircraft "boneyard" and climbs into a B-17 Flying Fortress, reliving intense old memories. He is brought out of his reverie by the boss of a work crew salvaging the aluminum from the planes. Fred asks for a job and is put to work.

When Wilma sees Homer, despite his attempts to keep her away, he bluntly demonstrates how hard life with him would be. She is unfazed and makes it clear that she still loves him and is determined to marry him. Homer gives in.

A now-divorced Fred meets Peggy at Homer and Wilma's wedding. After the ceremony, Fred approaches Peggy and holds her, matter-of-factly telling her that their life together will be a hard struggle. She looks at him with undiminished love.

[edit] Production

The movie was filmed at Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia); Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California; Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles; and the Samuel Goldwyn/Warner Hollywood Studios.^[2]

The Best Years of Our Lives is notable for director of photography Gregg Toland's use of deep focus photography, in which objects both close to and distant from the camera are in sharp focus.^[3]

[edit] Cast

• Fredric March as Al Stephenson
• Dana Andrews as Fred Derry. Andrews was in his mid-30s, a decade older than his character.
• Harold Russell as Homer Parish. Originally, Russell was not shown in advertisements for the film.
• Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson
• Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson
• Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry
• Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron
• Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch

[edit] Critical reception

Bosley Crowther film critic for The New York Times hailed the film as a masterpiece, and wrote, "It is seldom that there comes a motion picture which can be wholly and enthusiastically endorsed not only as superlative entertainment but as food for quiet and humanizing thought... In working out their solutions Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Wyler have achieved some of the most beautiful and inspiring demonstrations of human fortitude that we have had in films."^[4] He also said the ensemble casting gave the "'best' performance in this best film this year from Hollywood."

A more recent critic, Dave Kehr, is more reluctant to praise the film, but he makes the case why the film is important today. He wrote, "The film is very proud of itself, exuding a stifling piety at times, but it works as well as this sort of thing can, thanks to accomplished performances by Fredric March, Myrna Loy, and Dana Andrews, who keep the human element afloat. Gregg Toland's deep-focus photography, though, remains the primary source of interest for today's audiences."^[3] David Thomson offers tempered praise: "I would concede that Best Years is decent and humane... acutely observed, despite being so meticulous a package. It would have taken uncommon genius and daring at that time to sneak a view of an untidy or unresolved America past Goldwyn or the public."^[5]

Not everyone was as complimentary. Iconoclastic critic Manny Farber called it "a horse-drawn truckload of liberal schmaltz."^[6]

Currently, the film has a 96% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on twenty-six reviews.^[7]

[edit] Awards

1947 Academy Awards
The film received seven Academy Awards. Despite his touching Oscar-nominated performance, Harold Russell was not a professional actor and the Board of Governors considered him a long shot to win, so he was given an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance". However, he was named Best Supporting Actor to a tumultuous reception, making him the only actor to receive two Academy Awards for the same performance.

• Won: Best Picture - Samuel Goldwyn Productions (Samuel Goldwyn, producer)
• Won: Best Leading Actor - Fredric March
• Won: Best Supporting Actor - Harold Russell
• Won: Best Director - William Wyler
• Won: Best Editing - Daniel Mandell
• Won: Best Original Music Score - Hugo Friedhofer
• Won: Best Adapted Screenplay - Robert E. Sherwood
• Won: Academy Honorary Award - Harold Russell
• Nomination: Best Sound Mixing - Gordon Sawyer

1947 Golden Globe Awards

• Won: Best Dramatic Motion Picture
• Won: Special Award for Best Non-Professional Acting - Harold Russell

1948 BAFTA Awards

• Won: BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source

Other wins

• National Board of Review: NBR Award Best Director, William Wyler; 1946.
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award Best Director, William Wyler; Best Film; 1946.
• Bodil Awards: Bodil; Best American Film, William Wyler; 1948.
• Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award; Best Foreign Film, USA; 1948.

The American Film Institute ranked the film #37 at the 100 Years... 100 Movies list and #11 at the 100 Years... 100 Cheers list.

In 1989, the National Film Registry selected it for preservation in the United States Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• The Best Years of Our Lives at the TCM Movie Database.
• The Best Years of Our Lives at the Internet Movie Database.
• The Best Years of Our Lives detailed synopsis/analysis at Film Site by Tim Dirks.
• The Best Years of Our Lives film article at Reel Classics. Includes MP3s.
• The Best Years of Our Lives at the Golden Years web site.

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