The Best Years of Our Lives. 1946. Directed by William Wyler.

(9/3/00)

This was intendedfrom the outset to be an "important" picture. It's about three men who return from service at the end of World War II to the same American town. More than that, it is a portrait of middle America at this difficult period of readjustment. It is a handsome, well-crafted picture with top-notch talent. It is long--deliberately so, I think, in keeping with its epic aspirations.

I was tired (as I so often am) and found a lot of it difficult going. I didn't find the characters or their situations very interesting although I am sure that to an audience of 1946 they were painfully relevant.

I was particularly bored by the scene in which Fredric March takes his family out for a night of drinking. Why is alcohol of such importance to Americans?

I liked the story of Fred Derry (played by Dana Andrews) and his attempts to find decent employment in civilian life. Here is a man who has proven himself in the military, but can only get menial work at home. He ends up back in his former place of employment where he is assistant to the man who was once his assistant. He can't provide his wife with a decent life, yet he doesn't want her to work.

Then there is Homer who lost his hands in combat. He is embarrassed, angry and proud and consistently rebuffs his girl Wilma who still loves him very much. As Wilma, Cathy O'Donnell shines with earnestness. She totally outdoes Teresa Wright, no mean feat.

Ayn Rand hated this movie. Why? The most obvious reason I see is the attitude towards banking. Fredric March is in charge of giving loans to ex-servicemen and he shows a total disregard for business discipline in granting one to a man who has no collateral. He defends this on grounds which "sound good:" he's gambling, yes, but only on the future of America, his combat experience enables him to tell which men are good risks and which aren't. (But what happens if the man dies or something?)

Good business sense, which has benefited so many, is mocked as greed or selfishness. But if it hadn't been for that business sense that bank wouldn't have any money to help those people who are good risks.

Then there is the attitude of the man who comes in for the loan. He feels that he isn't asking for a favor, that he has a right to this loan. This is a complex issue because after having risked his life in the defense of his country he does seem to be deserving of some aid in getting on his feet. But is this the responsibility of the bank depositors instead of the country as a whole? Anyway, the very idea of having a "right" to other people's assets is a troublesome one.

The other scene which I think would have bothered Ayn Rand is when Homer and Fred beat up the guy who believes that the Americans were suckers with regards to the war and that the war was a waste of America's time. This scene seems to reject the American principle that everyone has a right to express his opinion. And the audience was most likely expected to be in agreement with Fred and Homer who are basically very likable characters. So in that sense the scene is pretty disturbing.

Yet it is totally believable. Human nature works this way. Two average American guys who spent years away from home in combat--one of whom lost his hands--are not going to be open to the ideas of someone who tells them it was all a waste of their time. They might very well act this way, not even aware of the irony that they are betraying the very values they supposedly risked their lives for. It is a pretty disturbing scene and it is startling to find it in a picture such as this.

Myrna Loy has a great scene when Teresa Wright says that her mother couldn't understand her situation because she and her father never had any problems. Loy smiles and gives her daughter the lowdown about what happens in a marriage. Harold Russell has a great moment when he erupts at children who he thinks were watching him through the window because he has hooks for hands.

Incidentally, the scene in which Russell lighhts a cigarette or cigar with his hooks reminds me of a similar scene in Tod Browning's Freaks where a guy without arms lights a cigarette with his feet.