The Best Years of Our Lives


performance, most notably during the sequence where he takes his wife and daughter on an impromptu drunken bender around all the bars in town. He does so because he figures that he has to loosen up after all these years in the military, and all those years before, working at the bank. All I can say is that March plays a very funny drunk, and I don't mean that as derision. I just think that he was quite funny, simply as that. At the very least, we get some good comic relief.

Russell also must be singled out, as he is a genuine double amputee, as a result of accident during the war. He had never acted in a movie before, yet is able to come across as a real guy, and certainly is able to hold his own during this film. Russell's casting clearly worked, as it brings a level of realism to the story. Near the end of the movie, he takes his girlfriend to his bedroom, and then tells, and shows, her the difficulties inherent in just going to bed for the evening -- of having to take his artificial arms off, and of having to get somebody to dress him for bed, of having to get somebody to put his arms back on in the morning, etc, etc. The fact that the actor playing this person has similar problems makes us feel as if we are watching reality head-on, which is pretty good for a 1946 film.

This movie could be promoted as the Coming Home of the Second World War. While Coming Home was about the Vietnam War, and was much more political, both films are unique in the war-film genre, because they are not about gory battles, but about emotions of the people back home. Interestingly enough, both films have a physically damaged character who suffers emotionally as well, and both films use a love triangle to symbolize some interesting points about how war and the military color certain people's romantic attachments.

I really enjoyed The Best Years of Our Lives, even at its great length of 170 minutes. It does what Hollywood does best -- create a movie that contains tried-and-true formulas (love story and the like), yet introduce some real issues and situations that make us think, and tells it all in a story that takes its time, as all great movies from the classic

The copyright of the article The Best Years of Our Lives in Hollywood Archives is owned by David Macdonald. Permission to republish The Best Years of Our Lives in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic