The Best Years of Our Lives
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1989. | ||
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The Best Years of Our Lives (aka Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen re-adjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II.
Why It Rocks
- Several Americans – including director William Wyler – returned from World War II deeply changed. Working in the Information Division of Special Services, Wyler flew in bombing missions that damaged most of his hearing. He also had firsthand experience with the ugly side of the war effort, especially since he documented the heroism of a B-17 crew. Since Wyler owed another film to producer Samuel Goldwyn, he adopted Glory for Me, a free verse story about the problems soldiers where having adapting to civilian life. The story concerns three soldiers of different backgrounds who meet when coming home to Boone City. The film spoke to a generation affected by World War II in the battlefield and on the home front.
- The army air-force bombardier (Dana Andrews) will face a wife he barely knows and tough times finding a job. The infantry sergeant (Fredric March) will find it difficult reconnecting to his kids and his work environment. The navy seaman (Harold Russell), who lost his hands and now wears prosthetic hooks, will face anxiety caused by other people’s pity and the fear that his girlfriend will no longer want him. And all three of them return to their hometown anxious about fitting back in. With these pervading themes of grief, alienation, belonging, and, above all, love’s power to endure despite terrible suffering, The Best Years of Our Lives captured the mood of a nation and remains relevant to veterans of all wars.
- In the source material, Fred Derry was a former soda jerk and newlywed when he left for the war; Alton Stephenson, an assistant vice president at a bank, was coming back to a wife and two children; and Homer Wermels (renamed Homer Parrish in the film), once engaged to his sweetheart, was now a hopeless spastic.
- The changes for the film adaptation work out very well and don't detract from the film's message or story.
- Fred Derry's story was altered
- Peggy Stephenson (Al Stephenson's daughter) is noticeably fleshed out more and gets her own side story.
- As Wyler had previous;y screened a Signal Corps film about Harold Russell – who lost both of his hands in a explosion at an Army training camp – Homer's role in the story was rewritten to fit Harold Russell.
- Plot contrivances are kept to a minimum, so as to not alienate real veterans in the audience, or indicate a solution that would only work for movie characters.
- Top-drawer cast, with the women in particular -- Myrna Loy, Cathy O'Donnell, Teresa Wright and Virginia Mayo -- delivering beautifully sensitive performances that show war's deep effects on those left at home.
- Harold Russell wasn't even a professional actor and that was his debut, yet he still manages to provide an unforgettable performance, and became possibly his most famous cast member. His scene in a bedroom with Cathy O’Donnell, in which he partially undresses to reveal his arms without the hooks, is one of the film’s indelible moments.
- With the cinematography by Gregg Toland, the film uses deep-focus instead of diffused backgrounds or glamourous close-ups. Wyler wanting to “have action and reaction in the same shot without having to cut back between individual cuts of the characters.” With deep-focus being such a time-consuming process, the film seemed more realistic and weightier than a normal Hollywood project.
- The earned experience Wyler brought to the project added to the film’s depth. A key scene set in the nose cone of a decommissioned B-17 worked because Wyler had been there himself in flight. And make the scene even more powerful, it’s done entirely without dialogue with only the soundtrack to provide narrative meaning.
- Top-notched editing from Daniel Mandell: His editing in this film isn’t particularly flashy, but there are a few notable moments: a nightclub montage where Al Stephenson, his wife Milly, and daughter Peggy go out to celebrate his homecoming; the haunting flashback Fred Derry has while sitting inside an abandoned B-17; and glimpses at the tally marks Milly makes on a tablecloth signifying the number of drinks Al has had during his speech at his employer’s awards banquet. Each edit has its specific purpose to the story and character development.
The Only Bad Quality
- Al's son, Rob Stephenson ends up disappearing midway without an explanation.
- While the first hour of the film is solid and strong in terms of story, but the picture loses focus as it dissolves into a familiar romantic drama.
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