The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Coming back form the war is one of the most popular movie themes of all times, especially for the Americans, since they didn't have the experience on fighting on the home ground for more than 200 years. Cultural and emotional shocks for both the veterans and their family and friends is the subject for one of the best movies that describes the returning of warriors after the WWII, William Wyler's "The best years of our lives". Centered around three totally different stories, the crafty director manages to cover all the angles and to show that the things and the people are not who and how they seem like at the first look. The toll of war is basically same for all three men and their families, regardless of their approach, mental posture and starting and ending points. Although basically tragic, this post war syndrome story ends with a strong positive message for the generation of "baby boomers" it was meant in the first place. "The best years of our lives" is a solid, real and strong script that manages to avoid most of its inevitable pathetic.

Readjusting to civilian life proves challenging for three World War II veterans in this sombre drama from William Wyler. Clocking in at close to three hours, the film has received some criticism about its length, but the ample runtime allows the film to properly flesh out all three protagonists and the camaraderie that develops between them as they meet while sharing a flight back to the same hometown. Fredric March won an Oscar for his portrayal of a banker unable to instantly return to being the shrewd businessman that his colleagues expect of him. Dana Andrews was not Oscar nominated but is equally as effective as a pilot haunted by nightmares of war and vexed by a selfish wife who believes that he could just "snap out of it" if he really wanted to. The best performance comes from Harold Russell though, a nonprofessional actor who really did lose his hands during the war. There is a truly heartfelt moment when he smashes a glass window and the film handles his uncertainty over whether his fiancée really still loves him very well. At times, the movie edges into melodramatic territory with Hugo Friedhofer's overbearing score no help, but it flows pretty smoothly in general. There also is a lot to like about how Wyler sets the film entirely in the aftermath of the war and yet manages to convey just how much each man is changed by his experiences.

I watched "The Best Years of Our Lives" for the very first time this morning prepared to loathe every minute of its almost three hour running time. Why ? I have an aversion to "prestige films". Movies that are made it seems just to win Oscars ("Gandhi", "Titanic"). I know that my prejudice is unreasonable and I risk missing some very good movies because of it but what can I do-I like quirky flicks, also ran's and B-movies the hell with the Miss America's I want the bearded lady in the side show. I was a bit disappointed I kinda liked this movie. I liked Myrna Loy and Dana Andrews, both great screen actors. I love Teresa Wright-she can do no wrong in my book. Fredric March was the weakest of the leads despite winning the Oscar for best actor (too much fat on this ham) but Virginia Mayo's performance holds up (and talk about va-voom! What a knock out. I wish they had gone with an actor for the role of the disabled vet. Harold Russell was admirable to tackle the part but his inexperience as a performer was off putting (think Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather 3"). Thank god we have William Wyler helming the picture-he is a great director and keeps this cumbersome vehicle humming along. Best scene: March's homecoming when Loy realizes it is her husband who has rang the doorbell. Almost wordlessly executed it is an exquisite piece of filmmaking. Too bad there are not enough of them to make this a great movie-only a pretty good one

I was never censored as a child...but I was encouraged and Dad ALWAYS encouraged my little sister and I to watch AMC back when AMC was showing classic movies all the time.MOST of the time. There were more than a few films that he would use the adult veto on because he hated them as a kid...This was one of them.I can't understand why. I remember watching this when I was around 7 and loving it. So involved in the banker's daughter and the old bomber and would they get together? Would he find a job? Would the guy with no hands make it out OK in the end? As a kid I was hanging on the edge of my seat watching the trio move through the transition from war to civilian life like your childhood babysitter watches a Soap Opera.I was fixated then...now as an adult I unfortunately know how it ends, but am still mesmerized by the beauty of it all and how moving the story is.There are few movies as beautiful and fulfilling as this.