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Features
• Black & White
• DVD-Video
• NTSC
In Theaters : 1946
DVD Release : 18 July, 2000 |
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The Best Years of Our Lives description
Winner of seven Academy Awards, including best picture, director, actor, and screenplay, William Wyler's brilliant drama about domestic life after World War II remains one of the all-time classics of American cinema. Inspired by a pictorial article about returning soldiers in Life magazine, the story focuses on three war veterans (Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell in unforgettable roles) and their rocky readjustment to civilian life in their Midwestern town of Boone City. Capturing the contradictory moods of America in the mid to late 1940s, this three-hour drama spans a complex range of honest emotions, from joyous celebration and happy reunion to deep-rooted ambivalence and reassessment of personal priorities. A movie milestone when released in 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives still packs a punch with powerful, timeless themes. --Jeff Shannon |
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The Best Years of Our Lives Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Deeply Moving American Masterpiece
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Although this movie was made in 1946, it is still fresh, real, and deeply moving today. The story involves the adjustments military men have to make when they come home. (This was before we knew about post-traumatic stress disorder.) Surely the men and now, women, who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will each have their own stories.
William Wyler must have been a terrific director for actors because he got such spontaneous, naturalistic moments from this cast. I found this quality of acting unusual in a film of that time. The cast is terrific--each one gives a deeply moving performance. Myrna Loy is so charming and at once sophisticated and sweet, tender and tough. She makes you think about what the wives who were left at home to raise their children alone had to cope with. Harold Russell's performance, as others have said here, is worth the price of the DVD. I knew nothing of him, if he was a real amputee, a professional actor, or what, until I read the reviews. He has an amazingly open, beautiful face and the sunniest smile you'll ever want to see. The marriage scene which shows each detail of the hands, clasping each other, giving the ring, brought tears to my eyes!
Dana Andrews is great as the young, carefree, ex-soda jerk who married a blonde bombshell but comes to realize he may have made a mistake. Frederick March is wonderful, too, as the ex-banker who returns to face a wonderful family, but there are still problems. We see that he drinks too much and this is probably the only problem that isn't spelled out and resolved. Teresa Wright is luminous as his grown daughter who falls in love with Dana Andrews. I have found her acting a bit sappy in other films but here it rings true. Virgina Mayo is gorgous and certainly convincing as the girl who just wants to have fun.
I really enjoyed the appearance of Hoagy Carmichael, a very cool guy, who gives additional class to this film.
It plays for three hours and I was glued to the screen for the entire time. As a snapshot of a moment in America's history and as a universal human picture, it has great value. |
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