"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."
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is an American drama film about three servicemen trying to piece their lives back together after coming 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 about the difficulties experienced by war veterans returning to civilian life. Goldwyn hired former war correspondent MacKinlay Kantor to write the story, which was first published as a novella.
It was directed by William Wyler, with cinematography by Gregg Toland. The film won seven Academy Awards. In addition to its critical success the film was a massive commercial success upon release becoming the highest grossing film in both the USA and UK since the release of Gone with the Wind. It remains the sixth most profitable film of all time in the UK.
The ensemble cast includes Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Hoagy Carmichael. It also features Harold Russell, a U.S. paratrooper who had lost both his hands in a training accident.
Director William Wyler had actually flown combat missions over Europe in filming Memphis Belle (1944) and worked hard to get realistic depictions of the combat veterans he had encountered. One of the innovative elements he introduced was in asking all the principal actors to purchase their own clothes to maintain an affinity for the period and provide a more genuine "feel."
This is the great return from WWII story that deals with how the family dynamic and its relations have changed in the post-war world. The fact that this was regarded as the best film of 1946 is partly a testament to the original story, and partly to Wyler's unique style of blending the story with the real lives of the actors, drawing from his and other's own personal experience in WWII and society at that time to give the film a more realistic feel, grealty contributing to the ethos and pathos of the story - the audience is able to relate to these characters as if the family and story represent a great synthesis of all American morals,values and ideals at that time.
It is a boastful, prideful movie in that it tries to evince the true persona of Americana during perhaps the most patriotic and trying time in this country's history. That no matter what the times of our lives may bring, its the family--the family and its components--that will always endure throughout the generations, and thus; so will we as a people. And it's no coincidence that this film was as big a hit in the UK as it was in the US.
It harkens back to a time when 'girls were girls and men were men;' the music and the notoriety and authenticity of the actors greatly contribute to the viscereal effects of the film and the emotions that are drawn from the audience.
All of this together, giving us The Best Years of our Lives
