It’s hard for me to recall a film that had me feeling so unexpectedly emotional right from the start. That’s the innate power of “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) – the classic movie that was produced shortly after WWII ended and yet feels as though it was made yesterday. It is so profoundly current and relevant – an exceptional experience.
“The Best Years Of Our Lives” focuses on three veterans, Fred Derry, Homer Parrish, and Al Stephenson, who meet while returning to their hometown in the Midwest and have to adjust to the changes – both external and internal. Fred (Dana Andrews) – was a captain in charge of bombings. He was a soda jerk before enlisting – and now cannot get a better job. His wife – who worked as a nightclub waitress while he was away – resents her husband’s incapability of doing better in life. Al (Frederic March) – was a banker before the War with a loving family. He’s promoted to Vice President in charge of giving loans to returning servicemen – and gives one to a young soldier without collateral for he believes the country has to take care of the men who sacrificed for it. Homer (Harold Russell) – who was engaged to be married before departing – lost both his hands during the War and has in their place hooks. He’s embarrassed to see his future wife. There’s a lot more to their stories. It plays out episodically, determinedly, full of confidence, detailed and nuanced – showing us their challenges and triumphs. It’s not done sentimentally yet honestly and sympathetically.
Director William Wyler does quite a lot of remarkable things cinematically. Instead of shooting the film in the traditional oversized sets of the period so all the cameras and lights could fit in – the sets were built to actual size – to create a real sense of intimacy – not only for the characters – but for the audience as well. He also worked with cinematographer Gregg Toland using deep focus photography. Deep focus is a style of cinematography that includes foreground, middle-ground, and extreme-background objects, all in focus. It allows you to see the whole scene – and take in everyone’s reactions and actions in the entire frame. This works poignantly throughout the film – giving you different visuals entries into the scene you’re witnessing. When Al first arrives at his apartment at the top of the film, and he is welcomed by his son and daughter – they’re in the foreground. Down the long hallway – you see the wife (Myrna Loy) and her emotional reaction to his arrival – tremulously not knowing what to do. Halfway through the film there’s an incredible scene where Homer shows Al he’s learnt to play the piano. They’re in the foreground – a pivotal revealing part of the story will take place in the foreground. There’s also one of the most important moments in movie history that’s captured in deep focus – and it’s Fred visiting a graveyard of abandoned warplanes that are being repurposed. This scene was not originally planned yet it’s heartwarming and iconic. It encapsulates the profound theme of this movie – how these war heroes felt inescapably lost coming home after the war. How we all – as humans – feel at times inexorably lost.
The movie had the biggest box office since “Gone With The Wind” and it won 7 Academy Awards – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Frederic March), Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Score and Best Supporting Actor to Harold Russell. Russell had never acted before and was a World War II veteran who while instructing demolition lost both his hands. The Academy didn’t expect him to win Best Supporting Oscar and had arranged for him to get an honorary Oscar – and thus he’s the only performer to receive two Oscars on the same evening for the same role. The scene where he takes off his hooks in front of his fiancée is one of the most vulnerable and touching scenes in cinema.
I hope you’re having a good Memorial Day Weekend. Watching “The Best Years of Our Lives” will be a great reminder what we’re honoring this holiday.
Fred: “Do you remember what it felt like when we went overseas?”
Al: “As well as I remember my own name.”
Fred: “I feel the same way now – only more so.”
Al: “I know what you mean.”
Fred: “Just nervous out of the service, I guess.”
Al: “The thing that scares me most is that everybody is gonna try to rehabilitate me.”
Fred: “All I want’s a good job, a mild future, a little house big enough for me and my wife. Give me that much and I’m rehabilitated – like that.”
Love,
Roger
Available to rent on iTunes and Amazon Prime
Screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood
Directed by William Wyler
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell
170 minutes
About Director William Wyler
“Born to Jewish parents in Germany in 1902, Wyler became interested in American culture at an early age. His cousin, Carl Laemmle, was the head of Universal Pictures, and in 1920 brought Wyler to America. Before long he was living in Hollywood and working on films. Within five years he was an assistant director, concentrating much of his energy on short Westerns. By the early 1930s, Wyler had begun to direct features, and with COUNSELOR-AT-LAW (1933) he received his first taste of success. He followed it two years later with two films, a comedy written by Preston Sturges called THE GOOD FAIRY, and THE GAY DECEPTION (1935). By 1936, Wyler had teamed up with Samuel Goldwin to make the film, THESE THREE. The following year they made DODSWORTH, a film that dealt with a decaying marriage, and in 1937 DEAD END, about life in the slums. Working with Bette Davis throughout the early 1940s, Wyler created such classic films as THE LETTER(1940) and THE LITTLE FOXES (1941). During the mid-1940s, Wyler was in the Army, where he made a number of documentaries. Before leaving for the service he had had his most popular film, MRS. MINIVER, and upon returning he made what is considered his best, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946). Both about wartime, MRS. MINIVER dealt with the lives of the British during the war, while THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES hit home with a serious look at the lives of three veterans returning home from the war. For Wyler, the 1950s were a time of great achievement. With ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), he not only directed a significant and popular film, he first presented Audrey Hepburn to an American audience. With major releases such as THE DESPERATE HOURS (1955) and THE BIG COUNTRY (1958), he set the scene for his unprecedented success with a re-make of BEN-HUR (1959). It won eleven Oscars and remains a classic today. Throughout the 1960s Wyler continued to make films including THE COLLECTOR (1965) and FUNNY GIRL (1968) starring Barbara Streisand in her film debut. Already in his late sixties, Wyler directed THE LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES (1970) about racism in a southern town. Soon after, he retired, and in 1981 he passed away. Acknowledged by the Academy Awards and filmmakers everywhere for his lifetime commitment to the highest quality filmmaking, William Wyler stands out as a major source in the history of American dramatic cinema.” (PBS)
Bringing The Best Years of Our Lives to the Screen
“Goldwyn struck on the idea for the film when he read an Aug. 7, 1944, TIME feature called “The Way Home.” The piece followed a group of Marines packed onto a train they called the “Home Again Special,” which was tasked with returning them to their hometowns after 27 months of bloody battle at places like Guadalcanal. Goldwyn had a son in the Army when the piece appeared. Moved by the piece and its portrayal of the uncertainties that would face soldiers returning from the war, his wife Frances urged her husband to consider making a movie about how veterans readjust to post-war life. “Every family in America is part of this story,” he mused, commissioning a writer to turn the idea from article into film. He eventually spent an estimated $2.1 million (about $19 million in today’s dollars) to make the film, enlisting the likes of Myrna Loy and Hoagie Carmichael for a moving story of trauma and triumph. The movie offers a surprisingly nuanced take on the challenges faced by returning vets. Its director, William Wyler, had combat experience of his own. He convinced Goldwyn to take a chance on Harold Russell, an untested actor whom Wyler spotted in an Army film about veterans who lost limbs in combat. In real life, Russell was equipped with two metal hooks he used in place of both hands, which were blown up in an explosives accident. On film, he can be seen using the hooks to play piano, embrace his girlfriend and perform everyday tasks. When Russell’s character returns from war, the battle has only just begun—he must struggle to accept life with a physical handicap and his misgivings about the woman who loves him anyway.” (TIME)
Wyler’s Connection to the Story
”This is the kind of picture I couldn’t possibly have made and done with conviction if I had not been in the war myself,” said Mr. Wyler. ”If Sam (Goldwyn) had handed me this story five years ago I would have had to say, if I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, ‘Wait just a minute! I’ll join the Army and come back in three years after I get to know these characters.”’ As Mr. Wyler thinks back over some of his earlier pictures, he realized that he didn’t understand the characters well enough. ”But I know these fellows,” he continued. ”I’ve come home twice myself from the war and I know just how these fellows would feel and act. One character is very much like myself in the sense he comes back to a nice family, a good job and a little money. This fellow has lived with the same woman for twenty years, yet he feels a bit strange and out of place at first. No man can walk right into the house after two or three years and pick up his life as before. ”I explained all my own fears and problems to Bob (Robert E.) Sherwood, who wrote the script, and he worked them in just the way I wanted them. He did a wonderful job in weaving the characters together. Writing the script was like doing an original story. The three characters we have now are not at all like the ones MacKinlay Kantor had in his book ‘Glory For Me,’ which he wrote at the suggestion of Mr. Goldwyn. Kantor’s story was good for 1944-45, but we wanted a story that would stand up in 1946-47. Our toughest problem was shaping the character of the disabled veteran. We had a spastic case first, but I realized such a character would never ring true; that no actor, no matter how great his talent, could play a spastic with conviction.” (The New York Times)