The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Robert E. Sherwood (screenplay)
MacKinlay Kantor (novel)

Release Date:

3 October 1947 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

THE SCREEN'S GREATEST LOVE STORY IS THE BEST FILM THIS YEAR FROM HOLLYWOOD!

Plot:

Three WWII veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.

Plot Keywords:

Veteran | Love | Banker | Marriage | Soda Jerk

Awards:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Myrna Loy	...	Milly Stephenson
Fredric March	...	Al Stephenson (as Frederic March)
Dana Andrews	...	Fred Derry
Teresa Wright	...	Peggy Stephenson
Virginia Mayo	...	Marie Derry
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Wilma Cameron
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Butch Engle
Harold Russell	...	Homer Parrish
Gladys George	...	Hortense Derry
Roman Bohnen	...	Pat Derry
Ray Collins	...	Mr. Milton
Minna Gombell	...	Mrs. Parrish
Walter Baldwin	...	Mr. Parrish
Steve Cochran	...	Cliff
Dorothy Adams	...	Mrs. Cameron
Don Beddoe	...	Mr. Cameron
Marlene Aames	...	Luella Parrish
Charles Halton	...	Prew
Ray Teal	...	Mr. Mollett
Howland Chamberlain	...	Thorpe (as Howland Chamberlin)
Dean White	...	Novak
Erskine Sanford	...	Bullard
Michael Hall	...	Rob Stephenson
Victor Cutler	...	Woody Merrill
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gene Krupa	...	Himself (archive footage)
James Ames	...	Jackie (uncredited)
Carol Andrews	...	Saleswoman (uncredited)
Mary Arden	...	Miss Barbour (uncredited)
Al Bridge	...	Gus, Salvage Superintendent (uncredited)
Harry Cheshire	...	Minister at Wedding (uncredited)
Sidney Clute	...	Drugstore Clerk (uncredited)
Joyce Compton	...	Hat Check Girl (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Man At Bank Dinner (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Customer (uncredited)
Bert Conway	...	ATC Sergeant (uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Mady Correll	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Roy Darmour	...	Parking Lot Attendant (uncredited)
Hal K. Dawson	...	Man at Airport (uncredited)
Lester Dorr	...	Bar Patron (uncredited)
Claire Du Brey	...	Mrs. Talburt, Perfume Customer (uncredited)
Tom Dugan	...	Doorman (uncredited)
Edward Earle	...	Steese (Bank) (uncredited)
Blake Edwards	...	Corporal at ATC Counter (uncredited)
Billy Engle	...	Customer (uncredited)
Ben Erway	...	Lou Latham (Bank) (uncredited)
Doris June Fesetta	...	Camera Girl (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	Salvage Foreman (Junking Bombers) (uncredited)
Tennessee Ernie Ford	...	Nightclub / Hillbilly singer (uncredited)
Louise Franklin	...	Ladies' Room Attendant (uncredited)
Harry Gillette	...	Card Player at Lucia's (uncredited)
Dick Gordon	...	Maitre d'Hotel (uncredited)
Earle Hodgins	...	Diner Attendant (Lucia's) (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Ray Hyke	...	Gus The Foreman (uncredited)
John Ince	...	Ryan (uncredited)
Teddy Infuhr	...	Dexter, Brat in Drugstore (uncredited)
Jackie Jackson	...	A Boy (uncredited)
Robert Karnes	...	Technical Sergeant (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp	...	Man At Bank Dinner (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	Steve the Bartender (uncredited)
Alyn Lockwood	...	Counter Girl (uncredited)
Susan Mann	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Michael Mauree	...	Glamour Girl (uncredited)
Doreen McCann	...	A Girl (uncredited)
Peggy McIntyre	...	Girl at Soda Fountain (Enter Mollett) (uncredited)
Chef Milani	...	Giuseppe (Lucia's Restaurant proprietor) (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Wealthy Man at Nightclub (uncredited)
Ernesto Morelli	...	Card Player (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Waiter At Bank Dinner (uncredited)
Georgie Nokes	...	One of Homer's 'Kids' (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Nightclub Waiter (uncredited)
Joe Palma	...	Card Player (uncredited)
Leo Penn	...	ATC Corporal (uncredited)
Caleb Peterson	...	Black Soldier At Airfield (uncredited)
Norman Phillips Jr.	...	Clarence 'Sticky' Merkle (uncredited)
Jack Rice	...	Apartment Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Suzanne Ridgeway	...	Girl At Table With Cliff (uncredited)
Mickey Roth	...	Boy at Soda Fountain (Enter Mollett) (uncredited)
Ruth Sanderson	...	Mrs. Garrett (uncredited)
Ralph Sanford	...	George H. Gibbons (uncredited)
Noreen Sayles	...	A Girl (uncredited)
Stephen Soldi	...	Card Player (uncredited)
John Tyrrell	...	Angus (Gus), Butch's Waiter (uncredited)
Amelita Ward	...	Counter Girl (uncredited)
Jan Wiley	...	Perfume Saleswoman (uncredited)
Marek Windheim	...	Waiter at Lucia's Restaurant (uncredited)
Catherine Wyler	...	Department store extra (uncredited)
Judy Wyler	...	Department store extra (uncredited)

Directed by
William Wyler

Writing credits
Robert E. Sherwood		(screenplay)
MacKinlay Kantor		(novel) (as Mackinlay Kantor)

Produced by
Samuel Goldwyn	....	producer

Original Music by
Hugo Friedhofer

Cinematography by
Gregg Toland		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Daniel Mandell

Art Direction by
Perry Ferguson
George Jenkins

Set Decoration by
Julia Heron

Costume Design by
Irene Sharaff		(as Sharaff)

Makeup Department
Marie Clark	....	hair stylist
Robert Stephanoff	....	makeup artist

Art Department
Dorothea Holt	....	illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Richard DeWeese	....	sound recordist
Larry Gannon	....	sound (uncredited)
Gordon Sawyer	....	supervising sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special effects director (uncredited)
Harry Redmond Sr.	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
E. Truman Joiner	....	key grip (uncredited)
Paul Mantz	....	aerial director of photography (uncredited)

Music Department
Emil Newman	....	musical director
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Jerome Moross	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Samuel Goldwyn	....	presenter
Dale Tate	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Herzog-Filmverleih (1948) (Germany) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1954) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Concorde Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Nelson Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Pioneer Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)

Also Known As:

Glory for Me (USA) (working title)
Home Again (USA) (working title)
Samuel Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

172 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | South Korea:15 (2002) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Australia:PG (alternate rating) | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #11972)

Filming Locations:

Long Beach Airport - 4101 E. Donald Douglas Drive, Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

William Wyler's first post-war movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In several shots when Fred moves around inside the nose of the B-17 at the airplane grave yard, the interior rocks unnaturally, indicating he's in a separate, detached set.

Quotes:

Fred Derry: I dreamed I was gonna have my own home. Just a nice little house for my wife and me out in the country... in the suburbs anyway. That's the cock-eyed kind of dream you have when you're overseas.
Peggy Stephenson: You don't have to be overseas to have dreams like that.
Fred Derry: Yeah. You can get crazy ideas right here at home.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Man from Elysian Fields (2001)

The ravages of war don't end on the battlefield.

I watch this movie every time it plays on TV. A simply brilliant film. Three men return home from war and try to return to civilian life with great difficulty. All three led opposite lives during the war (Executive Banker became an army corporal, a soda jerk became an Air Force Captain and the High School Football hero loses both his arms in battle)and now each must reconstruct his life and connect with a new reality. The homes they return to, with grown children and independent, working women along with a depressed economy, only add to the strife. It's the scenes just off camera and the unspoken dialog which resonates the most loudly, however. The awkward intimacy of Frederich March and Myrna Loy and his struggle to return to his place as leader (both at home and at work) are heartbreaking.

Dana Andrews is riveting as the handsome, decorated Captain who struggles to keep his life together without the uniform.

The film is filled with honest characters and each is portrayed by a gifted actor.

This film, however, took on a whole other level after seeing, "Saving Private Ryan." The reality and magnitude of what these men lived through for love and country......and obviously it didn't end on the battlefield.

This is an essential for any collection.