Ehirerapp Waste of time

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

p-hodges536 I won't go into the story which has been extensively covered in other reviews. What I will say is that this film deserved every one of it's seven Oscars. It is unashamedly sentimental at times, but is perfectly acted by a superb cast. They don't make films as good as this anymore, and I think it should rank in the top ten of anyone's list of favourite films. Very highly recommended.

Owen Mcalister Title - The Best Years of Our LivesDate Released (UK) - 5 March 1947Average Rating at Time of Review - 8.1Position in IMDB's Top 250 at Time of Review - #249Directed By - William WylerStarring - Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews & Fredric MarshPlot - Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.To be honest, I'd never heard of this film before it came time to watch it. That fact along with the three-hour runtime of the film made me a little apprehensive. A film needs to be pretty great to make me want to pay attention for such a length and given that I'd never heard of it, my expectations weren't very high going in. What I did think was that it seemed like a brave venture; coming out just a short while after the Second World War this film looks at how war can negatively impact a soldiers state of mind. Not to mention it was surrounded by war movies filled with adventure and heroics. Watching the film, I realised that it wasn't the "pretty great" I needed to make me want to stick around, however it was enjoyable. Most importantly, it never felt like a slog - in fact I found myself quite surprised when the credits rolled. The fact that it never felt three hours long is a point in its favour. Was it a brave film? In theory, yes. Based off of IMDB's plot description, yes. In actuality, no. Whilst the film touched upon many very real issues that were (and still are) faced by soldiers returning home, I felt that they were sidelined pretty quickly in favour of the romance plot-line, in which two of veterans played critical roles. However the third veteran, the one with the most to say on post-war struggles given that he was an amputee, isn't important to the romantic sub-plot and has significantly less screen-time than the other two. Of course, those two still face their own post-war issues, however they seem to forget them pretty quickly.PROS:-The Acting: The acting in this film was by far the best thing about. Everyone seemed to fit perfectly into their roles and there was no performance I felt was under-delivered. When any of the three main gentleman are on screen together the acting really sticks out and those were some of the most enjoyable moments in the film. The Music: Music really helps to hold this film together and is used to great effect when acting as a scene-transition. It also doesn't feel intrusive and feels as though it belongs in the scene, unlike some other films from this same era. The Writing: This is a film based around character interactions and they are done wonderfully and you can tell the cast had fun playing their characters. Even during the more somber character interactions, they are written flawlessly and makes the film feel very grounded, no doubt helped by the set design and costumes. CONS:The Plot: I can't think of a great many flaws in this movie, but I can easily think of one and it is perhaps the biggest flaw a film can have. As I mentioned above, this film is about character interactions. No matter how good those character interactions are they do not carry a film of this length, it must also have a compelling plot-line. This film falls short on that front. There weren't a whole lot of moments that spring to mind as "memorable" and if I were caught-off guard I imagine I would struggle to recap the events of the film, even at the time of writing this review three hours after watching. There is also the aspect I mentioned earlier in regards to the post-war difficulties being put to the side for a more cliché romance story. This film could easily have been an hour shorter and due to the lack of a strong plot, it gets a lower rating than it perhaps could have. For every one thing I enjoyed about the film, there were 2 scenes that were completely inconsequential to the overall narrative. On top of that, the most compelling character in the film is the one with the least story and the film never really delivered on demonstrating issues faced by soldiers coming home. What they did show, however, was important. That is what this film is and what this film was - important, especially during its time. There would have been many people going through a lot of the stuff that the three soldiers went through and this film showed to them that they weren't alone. Seeing even the most downtrodden characters lives improve throughout the film also allowed them to hope, when some of them may not have had the will for it.

sol- Readjusting to civilian life proves challenging for three World War II veterans in this sombre drama from William Wyler. Clocking in at close to three hours, the film has received some criticism about its length, but the ample runtime allows the film to properly flesh out all three protagonists and the camaraderie that develops between them as they meet while sharing a flight back to the same hometown. Fredric March won an Oscar for his portrayal of a banker unable to instantly return to being the shrewd businessman that his colleagues expect of him. Dana Andrews was not Oscar nominated but is equally as effective as a pilot haunted by nightmares of war and vexed by a selfish wife who believes that he could just "snap out of it" if he really wanted to. The best performance comes from Harold Russell though, a nonprofessional actor who really did lose his hands during the war. There is a truly heartfelt moment when he smashes a glass window and the film handles his uncertainty over whether his fiancée really still loves him very well. At times, the movie edges into melodramatic territory with Hugo Friedhofer's overbearing score no help, but it flows pretty smoothly in general. There also is a lot to like about how Wyler sets the film entirely in the aftermath of the war and yet manages to convey just how much each man is changed by his experiences.

higherall7 I must have seen this film ten times on the Bill Kennedy Show while growing up. Sometimes in snippets and often times all the way through. I have seen it over a half a dozen times on Turner Classic Movies. I remember seeing it in my high school English Literature text book. The only screenplay I ever saw in a book about serious literature. Now I finally have a DVD copy of it for my personal collection. I still can't believe it runs nearly three hours. It just never seemed that long.Strange how time is affected when you become involved in a story. CITIZEN KANE always seems longer than it really is; nearly three hours and yet it barely comes in under two hours. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES is the exact opposite. It seems like it comes in under two hours, but runs nearly three.Go figure.This is an entirely character driven story that doesn't depend on sex and violence to carry the narrative. It could have easily degenerated into soap opera, but somehow never does. The chemistry between the three male leads; Dana Andrews as Fred Derry, Harold Russell as Homer Parrish and Fredric March as Al Stephenson is largely responsible for this. But this is still one of the greatest examples of ensemble acting in cinema because it all seems so ordinary and everyday and effortlessly true to life.The women are also a revelation. Myrna Loy as March's wife Milly Stephenson hits all the right notes as the beleaguered wife, Teresa Wright shines as their bewildered daughter, unwillingly caught in a love triangle between Fred Derry and his wife, Marie, memorably portrayed by Virginia Mayo. Cathy O'Donnell is achingly poignant as Homer Parrish's girl friend Wilma Cameron, sympathetically standin' by her man with no hands.Russell won two Oscars for his moving portrayal as Homer Parrish and I have never been more reluctant to write a spoiler. This time I'll just advise you to see for yourself what his performance is all about. Dana Andrews as Fred Derry gives one of the best interior monologues you will ever see in film and hungover Fredric March waxes eloquent about the rights of the returning veteran.Here is a great place to start dissecting that complex of relationships that make for absorbing drama. There is nothing forced or histrionic about this film. The ending I found resoundingly fitting as everything fell into place. You should easily be able to relate the experiences of your own life to what you see on the screen. Even so, this 'life as it is' version of service men returning home from war will register stirring, vivid images in your mind that will stay with you for the rest of your life.