The Best Years of Our Lives

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The Best Years of Our Lives
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	Samuel Goldwyn
Written by	Robert E. Sherwood Story: MacKinlay Kantor
Starring	Fredric March Myrna Loy Dana Andrews Teresa Wright Virginia Mayo Hoagy Carmichael
Music by	Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography	Gregg Toland
Editing by	Daniel Mandell
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	United States: Nov. 21, 1946
Running time	172 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,100,000 USD estimated.
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 film about three servicemen (an Army Air Forces officer, an infantry sergeant, and an ordinary sailor) trying to piece their lives back together after coming back home from World War II.^[1]

It is based on MacKinlay Kantor's novel Glory for Me.

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 really lost both his hands in a training accident.

Originally, Russell was not seen in the advertisements for the film.

Directed by William Wyler and with cinematography by Gregg Toland, the film received seven Academy Awards.

1 Plot
2 Style
3 Background
4 Production
5 Critical reception
6 Cast
7 Awards
8 Footnotes
9 External links

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After World War II, demobilized servicemen Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), and Al Stephenson (Frederic March) are hitching a ride home in a bomber to Boone City, a Midwestern city like Des Moines or Omaha (though actually filmed in and around Los Angeles). Fred was an Army Air Forces 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 Army infantry sergeant in the Pacific.

Before the war, Fred had been a soda jerk at a drug store, coming from a low-income home. He goes from being an important officer to the prospect of returning to the drug store and he naturally wants more. Fred met Marie (Virginia Mayo) while in training and married her shortly afterwards. She took a job as a night club waitress while Fred was overseas and clearly does not relish being married to a soda jerk. Al's daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright), who works at a Veterans Hospital, meets Fred and falls in love with him. Having seen the horrors of war, Fred is a changed man. Today he would likely be diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Peggy finds herself falling in love with Fred, and holds Marie in contempt after discovering how shallow and selfish the other woman is. As a result, Al pressures Fred to break off all contact with his daughter, breaking their friendship.

Al had been an officer for the Corn Belt Savings and Loan bank. While shown to have a drinking problem, he has the least trouble adjusting to civilian life with wife Milly (Myrna Loy). In fact, he receives a promotion from the bank upon his return. Like Homer and Fred, Al was also changed by the war, he has become a better judge of character. After he approves a loan to a veteran who plans to buy a farm, his boss expresses concern, reminding him that the money being loaned doesn't belong to the bank, it belongs to individual shareholders. Al is told not to gamble with it by giving loans without collateral. Al explains that the farmer's collateral was in his hands and in his character. Later, Al gives a stirring, slightly drunken speech at his welcome-home dinner, telling of the good men that he met in combat, concluding with the comment that the bank will be giving so many loans to these men that people will be thinking that they're gambling with the shareholders' money -- "And they'll be right . . .we'll be gambling on the future of America!" His boss finally understands what Al had tried to explain earlier, and comes around to Al's point of view.

Homer appears to have been inducted shortly after graduating from high school, where he was a football quarterback. He and Al were veterans of the Battle of Lingayen Gulf, near the end of the war. Before leaving, he had become engaged to Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell) ("a real swell girl"), but worried that she is "just a kid." He doesn't want to burden her with a handicapped man, so he pushes her away. His uncle Butch (Carmichael) owns a bar where the principal characters meet from time to time. Butch counsels Homer, and teaches him to play the piano, but is careful not to tell his nephew what to do.

Eventually, Marie shows her true colors, and she demands a divorce. Fred decides to leave town, not caring where he goes. Though he said to burn his papers, his father reads the citation which came with the Distinguished Flying Cross which Fred had earned in combat, detailing his heroics. As Fred walks around the airport, killing time until a military flight out, he visits the aircraft "boneyard" and climbs into a B-17 Flying Fortress like he had flown aboard. His memories are interrupted by the boss of a work crew which is salvaging the aluminum from the planes to build affordable housing [there was a critical shortage of such housing following WWII]. Fred asks for a job and is put to work.

Wilma comes to tell Homer that her family wants her to go away, because of the strain of living next door to him as he tries to distance himself from her. He explains what life with him would be for her, then removes his hooks, showing her (and the audience) what remained of his arms. Wilma, unfazed, places the hooks and their harness where they will be convenient for him in the morning, after making it clear that she intends to marry him. Harold sees that she has a much stronger character than he had realized.

At the wedding, Fred meets Al again, and both men are polite but embarrassed about the impasse between them. Al -- at his wife's insistence -- has pretty much given up alcohol, and uses that for an excuse to joke with Fred. When Fred sees Peggy, he announces that he is ". . .in the junk business," a career which some people think suits him "due to temperament and experience." They separate uneasily as the wedding begins, Fred taking his place as Homer's best man.

Homer's hooks are accepted without comment during the ceremony, and when told to put the ring on her finger, he holds it in the hook and rests it on top of her finger for a moment (leading the audience to see the irony), then he gently puts it on properly, showing that he is not clumsy and incapacitated, but able to perform such normal activities despite the loss of his hands.

As the vows were spoken, Fred casts frequent glances at Peggy, who can't take her eyes off of him. As the family and friends move forward to congratulate Harold and Wilma, Fred approaches Peggy, matter-of-factly telling her that their life will be a struggle as he gets back onto his feet financially, but she cares no more about that than Wilma had about Harold's injuries. The movie ends with Fred and Peggy in a very warm embrace.

Spoilers end here.

Homer playing piano. Note the in-focus figure of Fred in the phone booth in the background, while maintaining clear focus on Homer, Butch and Al.

The Best Years of Our Lives is notable for its use of deep focus photography, in which objects both close to and distant from the camera are in sharp focus.^[2]

Producer Samuel Goldwyn was motivated to produce the film after reading 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

Dana Andrews was in his mid-30s, a decade older than his Fred Derry character was to have been.^[5]

The planes seen waiting to be scrapped really were in that situation: the studio simply took advantage of the location and timing to film those scenes. More of each type of plane is seen in the overflight scene than currently exist in the world, and each plane would be worth several million dollars today to collectors.

In an early scene, when Al mentions how long he has been married, Fred touches a row of insignia on the sleeve of his service coat. Those are "hash marks," indicating the duration of his service.

The film was well received by the film critics.

Critic Bosley Crowther, who writes for The New York Times hailed the film a masterpiece. He 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."^[6] He also said the ensemble casting gave "a 'best' performance in this best film this year from Hollywood."

Dave Kehr was more reluctant to praise the film and 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."^[7]

Not everyone was as complimentary. Iconoclastic critic Manny Farber called it "a horse-drawn truckload of liberal schmaltz."^[8]

Currently, the film has a 96% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on twenty-six reviews.^[9]

Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson
Fredric March as Al Stephenson
Dana Andrews as Fred Derry
Harold Russell as Homer Parish
Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson
Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry
Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron
Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch

Academy Awards (1947)
The film received seven Academy Awards. Harold Russell, who lost both hands in the war and played an amputee, received an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance" in the movie. Despite his touching Oscar-nominated performance, he was not a professional actor and the Board of Governors assessed Russell's chances of winning a competitive award as a long shot. About an hour later, Russell was named Best Supporting Actor to a tumultuous reception. He is 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

Golden Globe Awards (1947)

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

BAFTA Awards (1948)

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.

American Film Institute