Looking Back:
The Best Years of Our Lives was a new type of film, an intimate tale done on a massive scale, fearlessly examining the ideological cracks in the American value system in the late 1940s. There’s no longer the belief that veterans would be treated honorably when they return, that the economy would perform miracles, that marriages would last, no matter what obstacles (absence of the husband for years). There are no longer clear villains and heroes.
The movie exposed problems–both in the public and the private domains–in a sensitive and subtle way, indicating a new direction and the sense that history is being made right in front of our eyes.
The scope of the film is epic, based on a large ensemble of characters (equally balanced along gender lines), and only two characters that are schematically constructed.
Of the women, only Virginia Mayo’s erring wife, Marie is narrowly viewed and judged. She is portrayed as an easy-going slut, dating men while her husband serves in the war. The movie never takes her side: How did she survive all those years, both financially, emotionally, and sexually. If the movie has a villainous figure, it’s Marie; no attempt is made to humanize her.
Cast
Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson
Fredric March as Platoon Sergeant Al Stephenso
Dana Andrews as Captain Fred Derr
Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenso
Virginia Mayo as Marie Derr
Cathy O’Donnell as Wilma Camero
Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch Engle
Harold Russell as Petty Officer Homer Parris
Gladys George as Hortense Derr
Roman Bohnen as Pat Derr
Ray Collins as Mr. Milton
Mina Gombell as Mrs. Parris
Walter Baldwin as Mr. Parris
Steve Cochran as Clif
Dorothy Adams as Mrs. Camero
Don Beddoe as Mr. Cameron
Marlene Aames as Luella Parris
Charles Halton as Pre
Ray Teal as Mr. Mollet
Howland Chamberlain as Thorpe
Dean White as Nova
Erskine Sanford as Bullard
Michael Hall as Rob Stephenson
Credits:
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood, based on Glory for Me, the 1945 novella by MacKinlay Kantor
Music by Hugo Friedhofer, Emil Newman
Cinematography Gregg Toland
Edited by Daniel Mandell
Production company: Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date: November 21, 1946
Running time: 172 minutes
Budget $3 million
Box office $23.7 million