Three World War II veterans return to their small town after the war and struggle to reintegrate themselves back into society.

That would be the logline that I would use to describe The Best Years of Our Lives, which is another one that I hadn’t seen, yet pleasantly surprised me. I didn’t have terribly high hopes for it going in, because I generally feel like films that follow too many characters get to be convoluted and unfocussed. I was also nervous due to the running time of 172 minutes. This had all of the earmarks of a film that would be difficult for me to get through. I found the opposite to be true. In fact, if anything, the film started out slowly, but then became more and more engaging as it went on and the characters more deeply involved with their individual issues and with each other.

The film begins with Capt. Fred Derry, a former bombardier, boarding a cargo plane bound for his home town. He gets on the plane with Homer Parrish, a sailor who lost both of his arms below the elbow. Derry tries to help him, but Homer refuses any help, determined to take care of himself and he manages to get his duffle on the plane and even light his own cigarette. Already on the plane is Sgt. Al Stephenson, and the three of them, although with different back grounds and at different ages, form an instant bond as they make their way back to the hometown that they all share.

On the plane ride, they all talk about their hopes and their concerns. Homer is nervous that the girl he left behind will no longer love him after she sees he has no arms. Al is nervous that his children, who will now be grown up, will not remember him and that he won’t be able to relate to them or to his wife. Fred is worried about finding a job and taking care of his wife who he married just before he left after only knowing her for a couple of weeks.

One by one, they’re each dropped off by a taxi. The pass by a club owned by Homer’s uncle, and Homer tries to get the guys to have a drink with him in order to avoid going home, but the other guys tell him no. He’s dropped off with his parents, and his mother can barely contain her tears and the look of heartbreak is evident on his father’s face. Only his fiancé Wilma doesn’t seem to mind, but Homer is so ashamed of his predicament that he can’t let Wilma get close to him.

Fred is taken to his parents’ house and they tell him that his wife Hortense has moved out and taken an apartment down town. She works at a nightclub, but they don’t know which one. He decides to go out and look for her after a few more uncomfortable moments with his parents.

Al arrives home to his wife Milly, played by Myrna Loy, who was making her second appearance in a Best Picture winner (The Great Ziegfeld) and adult daughter Peggy, played by Teresa Wright, also making a second appearance in a Best Picture winner (Mrs. Miniver). His teenage son is there as well, and it’s immediately clear that he is now a fish out of water. The war has not only changed him internally, but the time away has transformed his children into people that he doesn’t recognize. Overcome by the discomfort, Al decides to take Milly and Peggy out for a drink. As luck would have it, they bump into Fred, and Fred and Al get so drunk together that they pass out and Fred has to spend the night at Al’s apartment and in Peggy’s bed. After waking up, more than a little hung over, Fred shares a nice conversation with Peggy and there is an instant attraction between the two of them.

Meanwhile, Al goes back to the bank that he worked at before the war, and he’s more out of place there than he is at home. Fred tries to find a decent job and build his relationship with Hortense, even though he continues to fall deeper in love with Peggy, but all he’s able to find is his old job at the drug store that pays a fraction of what he made in the army. Homer tries to adjust to life being disabled, even though he can do almost anything that a person with two good hands can do. However his shame at his disability drives him farther away from Wilma, even though she makes it clear that she’ll love him no matter what.

As the film moves its way through the plot, the relationships between the veterans become more complex. Seeing how unhappy he is in his marriage, and how poorly he’s treated by his wife, Peggy vows to break up Fred’s marriage. Al and Milly don’t take too kindly to this idea and Al confronts Fred about it. Fred admits to Al that he’s in love with Peggy, but Al makes him promise not to see her anymore because he’s married and it wouldn’t be right for Peggy to be in the middle of that. The scene where this all comes to a head is classic film making and should be studied by any aspiring screenwriter or director or cinematographer. In fact, the documentary The Story of Film dedicates a sequence to how well this scene was filmed.

Fred and Al meet at the bar of Homer’s uncle. They have a drink in one of the booths. Al asks Fred directly if he’s in love with Peggy and Fred answers him honestly. Fred finally agrees not to see her anymore and tells Al that he’ll call her right now. Al says that’s fine. It’s an intense conversation that reveals the complex nature of their relationship. Al tells Fred that he’s fond of him, but he doesn’t want Peggy to get into a mess. He doesn’t like the idea of Fred “sneaking around corners to see Peggy. Taking her love on a bootleg basis.” That’s a great line of dialogue right there. He goes on to tell Fred that he’s going to do everything he can to keep Peggy away from him until Fred agrees not to see her anymore and he puts it in the form of a guarantee. Fred goes to a phone booth on the opposite end of the bar to make the call. We then watch an over the shoulder shot from Al’s POV as Fred walks to the other side of the bar to a phone booth. It’s a deep focus shot so the entire room stays in focus. After Fred enters the phone booth Homer enters the bar. He sees Al and wants to show him a routine that he does with his uncle on the piano. Al walks over to the piano and watches Homer and his uncle play Chopsticks on the piano. Now the camera is set up so that Homer is in a close up and Al is behind him in a medium shot. Still on the other side of the room and in focus is Fred talking on the phone. Al has one eye on Fred the whole time, and Fred, who can’t be heard, can be seen talking on the phone and reacting sadly. He’s clearly doing what he agreed to do.

There are so many things going on in this scene it’s hard to keep track of them. First of all, we have a contradiction of mood within the scene. We’re watching as Fred has to break up with the one girl who makes him happy. His life is crumbling. At the same time, we’re watching as Homer and his uncle merrily play a happy tune on the piano and Homer makes strides to becoming more normal. His life is rising while Fred’s is simultaneously falling. That creates a wonderful dramatic irony within the scene. Also, we see Fred break up with Peggy, but we don’t hear him say it. It’s done completely visually, the way it should be in film. Plus, the film makers use deep focus to keep the entire room in focus as we watch so we can clearly see everything that is going on in the scene. This scene has it all. Great writing, great acting and excellent cinematography and directing come together to create a scene that is dramatic and moves the story forward.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing the rest of the plot. This is a film that you should try and see if you haven’t already. It is long, but it’s worth getting through, as many of the thematic elements involved in it are certainly topical today. With as many soldiers as we have coming home from wars today, seeing this film is something that a contemporary audience should be able to relate to. There are a lot of ideas relating to gender roles as well. This is a deep story that is emotional and topical all at the same time.

There is one more point I’d like to make. Harold Russell, who played Homer became the only person to ever win two Oscars for playing the same role. He won for Best Supporting Actor, and the Academy also bestowed on him an Honorary Award “For bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives”. Russell was an actual amputee who lost both of his arms in an accident while working with explosives while in the Army. His performance was an inspiration to many, and it’s just another example of how this film is so topical today.

Did the Academy get it right?

I am of the opinion that they did. It was nominated against It’s a Wonderful Life, which is not only one of my favorite films of all time, but has become one of the best known and most beloved films in popular culture of all time. However, it was underappreciated in its time and didn’t reach the popularity it has now until it was shown repeatedly on television during Christmas time. Henry V, The Razor’s Edge and The Yearling have all reached varying levels of classic-ness over the past 70 years, and any of them certainly would have been a worthy winner on Oscar night. However, I believe that The Best Years of Our Lives was the clear winner because it struck a chord. The war hadn’t been over for very long and this film touched on issues that were permeating all levels of society. There probably wasn’t a person alive in this country in 1946 who couldn’t relate to this film on some level. I’m sure that it struck an emotional chord that carried it to a big night on Oscar night. But even aside from that, this is a very good film. It has a dramatic story, it’s well crafted, well made and deserved to be named the best picture of the year.