Picture 19: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

The first postwar film on our journey and unsurprisingly we encounter a film about soldiers returning from the Second World War. We follow three ex-servicemen as they try to integrate back into civilian life. There is one of each from air, land and sea.

Fred (Dana Andrews), an airman, returns to a marriage that may not have grown fonder in his absence. Al (Fredric March), an infantryman, faces the monotony of a bank job whilst he wrestles with alcohol dependence and Homer (Harold Russell), a navy petty officer, was gravely injured on a sinking ship and now faces the grim reality of a life with mechanical hooks instead of hands.

All three demanding roles in these interlinked stories are expertly portrayed and one finds themselves gripped frequently throughout the 3 hour picture. It has the power to warm the heart and honours the so called Greatest Generation without going overboard. Teresa Wright who also featured in Mrs. Miniver sparkles once again, this time as Al's daughter Peggy.

It deserves a solid 8/10 and with tighter cutting to suit the short attention span of a modern day audience could have scored even higher. The fact it doesn’t make the top 10 shows just how competitive this best of the best game is becoming.

Rating:

8/10

Reflections:

1. We all play out numerous archetypes throughout our lives – none of them are permanent.

Oscar Best Picture Rankings:

1. Casablanca (1943)

2. Rebecca (1940)

3. Lost Weekend (1945)

4. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

5. Gone With the Wind (1939)

6. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

8. Wings (1928)

9. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

10. You can’t take it with you (1938)

11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

12. Cimarron (1931)

13. Grand Hotel (1932)

14. It Happened One Night (1934)

15. Cavalcade (1933)

16. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

17. Going My Way (1944)

18. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

19. The Broadway Melody (1929)