The best years of our lives 1946
When I was a kid, maybe 8, 9 or 10 I was a regular at our local public library which beautifully stood only a block away from our apartment in Boro Park Brooklyn. This was the early 50's. I've written about this library and my childhood years there in previous pieces so I will only note it briefly in what will eventually be my review of the movie “The Best Years Of Our Lives.”
I use to sneak down to the adult section from the
kids room which was on floor above to listen to records, and browse
the magazines and books. No one ever said hey kid what are you doing
in the adult section. I used my older brother's adult library card
that I took from his drawer at home which afforded me the experience
of listening to Edward R. Morrow LPs, but also caused me to get
caught by a mean librarian who took the card away. I've also written
about this in previous pieces.
I would also browse the
reference books especially one in particular. It was Deems Taylor “A
Pictorial History of The Movies” which was a history of film from
1889 to 1949 and was illustrated with 100's of movie stills from
films unknown and unseen by me. The edition that the library owned
was a revised edition from 1950. This was pretty much my introduction
not only to movies but also to photography and how at this early age
peppered my young imagination. These were commercial photographs used
to publicize movies, taken by studio photographers and it was not
until many years later that they were considered as art. I was
intrigued by the images of movies still unseen by me.
One
still I remember that caught my attention was from “All About Eve”
a movie also unseen by me until my early 20's when I saw a cut
version of it one afternoon on my roommate's small t.v. This strange
to me image of Bette Davis (who I was familiar with even at my young
age) sitting in a dressing room with an net like thing covering her
head. Did she have an injury? Did someone try to shoot her? Many
years later I would learn that what she was wearing was a wig cap.
She was not physically wounded but emotionally wounded.
The
other still image that caught my attention was one of Frederic March,
Dana Andrews, and a sleeping Harold Russell from The Best Years of
Our Lives. What was it about this image that caught my eye and
attention. Maybe it had to do with the good looking Dana Andrews, but
it probably had to do with the mystery of what they were doing in
this small space all cramped and looking uncomfortable. Again I would
not know what was happening in this still until many years later when
I finally saw the movie, most likely again on t.v. and probably cut
up for the limitation of time. What brought me back to the movie was
a novel by the late great Paul Auster that I finished last week in
which one of the characters is writing a paper on the film for
college, and induced me to watch it again after many years. Happily
I have a dvd of the film, so I pulled it from my large collection and
it sat on a table for a week or so, before I took a spin around the
block with it.
The film opens with three men trying to get
back home to their small mid west town of Boone City after serving in
the armed forces. They are played by Federic March as Al Stephenson
who was an army sergeant, Dana Andrews as Fred Derry who was an air
force Bombardier captain, and Harold Russell as Homer Parrish who was
a navy petty officer. Having trouble getting a regular flight back
home, they hitch a ride in a bomber plane and have to settle in the
cockpit which is what that still of my youth showed. Uncomfortable
and anxious over what awaits them they get to know each other on the
long flight home.
All are carrying the weight of the
war with them especially Homer who lost his hands in battle and is
played by Russell who actually lost in hands when he was an army
instuctor teaching demolition work and a defective fuse detonated
that he handling causing him losing both his hands.
This was
not an easy bit of casting, but Russell a non actor does well and won
a surprising supporting actor Oscar along with an honorary one for
his service “for aid and comfort to disabled veterans.”
His
scenes with Cathy O Donnell as his life long love Wilma are
especially moving without being maudlin which some accuse the entire
film of being. Me I'm mixed about maudlin. Ain't nothing good without
the maudlin.
Dana Andrews is also scarred more mentally
than physically, and although March appears to be the most adjusted
of the three he is also somewhat lost, all are battle weary and all
of them have problems that will be shown to us during the long 3 hour
running time of this “epic” American story.
We are introduced to their family
life, and again each one has individual stories and homecomings. Dana
Andrews comes back to find his wife missing, who is out working in a
nightclub joint shaking her blues away. He returns to his family home
which is not only on the other side of the tracks but pretty much
right on them. His father worn and weary played by the marvelous
character actor Roman Bohnen is happy to see him, and there is love
for him not only from his father but also from his stepmother acted
by the great Gladys George who is also worn and weary. The film is
filled with many great character actors besides the ones already
mentioned and include Ray Collins, Mina Gombell, Steve Cochran,
Dorothy Adams, Don Beddoe, Charles Halton, Erskine Sanford and the
great songwriter Hoagy Carmichael in a key role as Russell's “Uncle
Butch” who owns a bar that is frequented by some of the characters
in the film.
Andrews finds little love when he finally meets
up with his loose wandering party girl wife played with her usual
flair by Virginia Mayo who does get excited when she sees all those
ribbons on his chest. She wants to go out on the town and show off
her hero war husband. Oh trouble trouble trouble.
Harold
Russell is met with joy and love from his mother, father, young
sister, and the next door girl of his life who he's loved since
childhood but there is shock and sadness when they see the loss of
his hands, and his mother breaks down in tears. This is one of the
memorable scenes, beautifully done showing us the sadness of love and
loss that no doubt hit home to thousands of viewers.
The last
reunion and indeed one of the most famous sequences in the film and
indeed in film history is when March unannounced comes home to his
well off life of 1946, and is greeted by his now teenage son, played
by Michael Hall who disappears from the film after this sequence, his
grown up daughter played by Teresa Wright and his wife acted by Myrna
Loy (superb movie star acting). Hugo Friedhofer's wonderful music
score swells and Loy who is asking who's at the door, but gets no
response comes out of the kitchen into the long hallway and from a
distance sees her husband for the first time in many years. The great
cinematography by Gregg Toland who filmed many of Wyler's films along
with a little film called “Citizen Kane” adds to the drama and
feeling of this scene, that is still searing and memorable.
The
rest of the film is taken up with the reentry of the three vets into
civilian life in which we witness the hardships and problems the
three guys face. March who was an executive in a bank before going
off to war, must reenter this straight laced world where he is
welcomed with a promotion that puts him in charge of handling loans
for vets. He is not happy with this old world that he left behind and
is starting to have drinking problems, that are obvious to his family
and to us.
Russell is trying to get a grip on his disability
and his love for Wilma that seems to him to be daunting and distant.
The scenes with Russell and his family and Wilma are among the most
moving in the film especially in the scene where his father comes
into his room to get him ready for bed, topped only by the scene
where he presents the dilemma of his life to Wilma also taking place
in his bedroom and what she will face if they get married.
Also
moving and indeed touching are the scenes with Dana Andrews who is
lost and is suffering from PTSD is forced to take his old job back at
the town drugstore making sandwiches and sodas all the while dealing
with his problems with his nasty wayward wife. He is humiliated by
having to take this low job and he is so touching in his
vulnerabilities that you truly worry about him. Another great scene
in the movie is when Andrews wanders into a bomber plane “cemetery”on
an army airfield and climbs into one of the lost abandoned planes
like the one that he once commanded, and has a flashback moment from
the war that brings him down. A false note for me is how quickly he
recovers and because of a coincidence of plot and screenplay finds an
open path for him to take. This is Andrews best performance.
The
screenplay is by Robert Sherwood who based it on a short novella by
MacKinley Kantor. Kantor wrote the story on a request from Samuel
Goldwyn and was originally published as “Glory for Me.” The film
was directed by the great Hollywood guy William Wyler who made it
after returning from the war where along with four other major
directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston and George Stevens did
hours of film footage on the front lines that dealt with all aspects
of the the war including battles and the aftermath of the horrors
notably the concentration camps that were filmed by George Stevens
who was never the same afterwards and the after effects the war had
on the men of the military. I recommend everyone see the great
documentary “Five Came Back” which details the story of these
directors and is based on the book of the same title by Mark Harris.
I won't go into details about this part of the story as it would take
another long piece for me to cover this important episode in film
history.
Upon release the film got mostly favorable reviews
but the great writer James Agee scalded it and ended his scathing
review with “Yet
I feel a hundred times more liking and admiration for the film than
distaste or disappointment." It was a huge boxoffice hit, and at
awards time it sweep the Oscars winning 8 academy awards. This is a
great film, sure it is a bit dated and tattered in some ways. Some of
the plot and storylines are a bit simplistic, forced and awkward but
it's still powerful and graceful movie making. If you've never seen
it please do.
.jpg)
.jpg)
