Part of Restoration Roundup
It’s the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI — the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
Captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) is returning to a loveless marriage. Sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March) is a stranger to a family that’s grown up without him. And young sailor Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) is tormented by the loss of his hands. Can these three men find the courage to rebuild their world? Or are the best years of their lives a thing of the past?
Featuring a brilliant cast that includes Myrna Loy and Virginia Mayo, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES garnered seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Heart-wrenching, touching and “filled with emotional dynamite” (Hollywood Reporter), it remains “one of the best films about war veterans ever made” (American Movie Classics).
Restored by the Academy Film Archive, the Library of Congress, and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. DCP courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
“It feels surprisingly modern: lean, direct, honest about issues that Hollywood then studiously avoided. After the war years of patriotism and heroism in the movies, this was a sobering look at the problems veterans faced when they returned home…. As long as we have wars and returning veterans, some of them wounded, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES will not be dated.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Having to do with a subject of large moment — the veteran home from war — and cut, as it were, from the heart-wood of contemporary American life…. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES catches the drama of veterans returning home from war as no film — or play or novel that we've yet heard of — has managed to do.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Nov 22, 1946)
“I’d call this the best American movie about returning soldiers I’ve ever seen — the most moving and the most deeply felt. It bears witness to its times and contemporaries like few other Hollywood features.” —Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader