Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent Movie - One of the Best!
Review: Without trying to be sappy or use too many superlatives, this is a very special and moving movie. The premise is, of course, returning veterans after WWII, and their adjustment problems. Three veterans - each very different - meet coming home and strike up a friendship - Fredrick March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell (he actually lost his hands in the War and he never acted before making this film!). Their ensuing difficulties in melding back into their lives is poignant, moving, and very touching. With extraordinary acting from a top notch Hollywood cast of the 40's (including Myrna Loy and Theresa Wright - who is fabulous in her part) - a terrific script, and great direction, The Best Years... may in fact be one of Hollywood's best of all time. I have seen this movie many times and never grow tired of it. It still moves me to tears in parts, and touches me deeply. I suppose that this film has some special meaning to me having worked with veterans. I also find Dana Andrews' portrayal of what we now refer to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to be very realistic, very believable and extremely moving. If you buy this DVD, I am sure you will love it and want to watch it over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best of Any Year
Review: Nowadays it seems almost unthinkable for a movie about everyday people with (sort of) everyday problems to have a run time of close to 3 hours. Maybe half that! Anything longer is an epic and it better be about extraordinary men and women living extraordinary lives, preferably, against the backdrop of a particularly tumultuous historical era--or a futuristic/fantastic one. But William Wyler's 1946 classic BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES about the difficulties experienced by WWII vets upon re-enterring civilian life somehow manages to tell the tale of ordinary men and women in the years after an extraordinary historical era and to keep the viewer engrossed throughout its entire 172 minutes. In fact, it could almost stand to be a little longer.I say that because upon watching it again recently, it occurred to me that the storyline around the returning middle-aged vet (Fredric March) seems to get dropped midway through. His initial discomfort on rejoining his wife and reacquainting himself with his now grown children could likely have been explored in more depth. On his first night home, he drags his wife (Myrna Loy) and daughter (Teresa Wright) out for a night on the town, a celebration that involves way too much drinking and definitely makes the women characters uncomfortable. From a 21st century perspective, the readjustment of a middle aged vet seems potentially as interesting a storyline as that of his younger comrades in arms. But in short order, the focus shifts to the plights of those two younger vets (Dana Andrews as the bombadier reduced to resuming his job in a drug store and Harold Russell as a double amputee, struggling to adjust to life with prosthetics and recked with doubts about his suitablity for marriage to longtime sweetheart Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell), the patient and giving girl next door). The night-on-the-town in fact, pretty much becomes a plot device to introduce Dana Andrews' character to March's daughter, which initiates another storyline involving the mutual attraction between the unhappily married Andrews and the impressionable Wright. Nowadays, with material this rich, they'd make a mini-series. That wasn't an option back then, and thank goodness for it. BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES works best as a leisurely paced work of cinema. Contemporary viewers may actually be surprised to see so many post-war themes developed so immediately post-war. Frankness about matters such as divorce, disability and the psychological ramifications of war may seem a little surprising for 1946. One might have thought that after suffering through the Depression and the Second World War, American audiences may have just wanted escapist fare. There was plenty of that, to be sure, but the best film of 1946 (both in the opinion of many critics and of voters of Academy) was a film that bravely grappled with the issues of the day.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This masterpiece depicts the lives of 3 U.S. servicement after their return home from WW2. You learn that the acclamation back to normalcey isn't as easy as you may believe. The way the story is weaved to accurately portray 3 very destinct characters is amazing, and unparalled to this day. This milestone in movie making was nominated for eight academy awards, and received seven, including best supporting actor for real life WW2 veteran and amputee, Harold Russell. If you would like to see a portrayl of a story not so heard of, I would advise watching this superb classic.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece For Any Era
Review: A timeless movie which should serve as a primer for all movies about returning war veterans. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES is so emotionally satisfying with an absorbing story plot(s) and characters that demands repeat viewings. Three veterans of WWII (Frederick March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell) come home after the war to face their own personal war of unfamiliarity with loved ones, alcoholism, physical disability, post-war trauma, unemployment, lack of skills,and non-empathy from a post-war society that wants to forget about war and it's servicemen and act as if the war never happened. The cast is top notch including a great support role from songwriter Hoagy Carmicheal and a first class performance from disabled WWII veteran Harold Russell. This is one of great pictures of all time with some great cinematography, script, and production values.
Rating:
Summary: Movie of YEAR 1946 (7 Oscars including the BIG 3) timeless !
Review: This movie (1946 Movie of the Year OSCAR) has everything HOLLYWOOD needed to make a TIMELESS CLASSIC; An unforgetable story / screenplay (OSCAR), the top Director - William Wyler (OSCAR (1 of 4 he received in his career)), the greatest cast to be assembled for a post war classic. Led by Fredrick March (Best Actor Oscar), Dana Andrews (Oscar nominee), Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo & Harold Russell real WWII veterans acting debut (Best Supporting Actor OSCAR plus a special 2nd Oscar for his inspirational performance as a handicap veteran. He lost both his hands do to a ship board fire). This movie is also on the American Film Institutes greatest 100 movies in the last 100 years (1998). What an opening paragraph. This is only the beginning of a 3 hour intimate journey through these peoples lives in post World War II America. If you want to experience all the emotions and joy of family commitment this movie delivers everything you could possibly desire. William Wylers Direction is flawless and he perfectly tells the story which has an everlasting effect on its viewers. In summary: 3 veterans meet on their journey home from the war. Al (March) an Army Sergeant, Fred (Andrews) was a bombardier Captain & Homer (Russell) a Navy Machinist Mate are exchanging war stories and enjoying themselves. Finally reality begins to set in. After 3 years away from home they now realize they must deal with home & Peace time. Al is a Banker & a 20 year married man with 2 kids. Fred is a newly wed who went away to the war days after he was married. Homer is returning home to his family & girlfriend, handless. They are all experiencing nervousness & fears worse now, than when they were in the war. These characters must adjust & deal with relationships because the war took "The Best Years of Our Lives". What we the viewer share in this movie will be with us forever. A great picture quality DVD. The family value film of a lifetime to share for an eternity.
Rating:
Summary: Correction to Jeff Shannon's Review
Review: The Best Years of Our Lives may have perhaps drawn from some things in a Life Magazine article on returning vets, but the plot is really based on MacKinlay Kantor's 1945 novel Glory for Me, which follows a similar trio of returning GIs.
Rating: 
Summary: PROFOUNDLY MOVING EXPERIENCE - PROFOUNDLY DISMAL TRANSFER!
Review: "The Best Years of Our Lives" is an Oscar winning picture that, at the height of the dream factory in Hollywood, stooped to strip away the pretensions of glamor and expose the sad, sobering truth that faced returning soldiers after WWII. Dana Andrews, Frederic March and real life amputee, Harold Russell star. Their journey from war front to home front is poignant, heart-breaking, yet ultimately, life affirming. Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Myrna Loy costar.
TRANSFER: An absolute travesty. Not only is the gray scale poorly rendered, with insufficient black levels and low contrast, but there is so much film grain and age related artifacts present to make this movie look three times its age. Worse still, digital anomalies; aliasing, shimmering, edge enhancement, abound and are thoroughly distracting to say the least. The audio - remixed by CHACE sound is amply presented, however, the documentary on the making of the film - previously available through HBO home video (though there too the transfer of the film was pure junk) is absent from this MGM re-release! What a mess, shame and sham!
BOTTOM LINE: This film will get a better transfer somewhere down the road. On this journey however, the wise DVD consumer would do best to steer clear!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent but dated movie
Review: The Best Years of Our Lives is an often touching drama about three WWII vetrans returning home. Scenes such as a sailor who has hooks for hands flawlessly attempting to light a match to the amazement and discomfort of civilian familiy members are unforgetable. Also powerful is the slow dissolution of the bonds of these vetrans as the affairs of normal life begin to take over. Frediric March delivers a powerful performance as a Sargent who returns home to a well off life as a bank executive, giving loans to vets under the GI bill. He won the best actor oscar for his performance, beating even Jimmy Stewart in Its a Wonderful Life that year. Toland delivers fantastic cinematrography, the more often the camera leaves the studio, such as the rows and rows of mothballed bombers. An interesting performance is delivered by real life vet Harol Russell who truly had no hands and was performing in his first and only movie. Amazingly, he won the Oscar for best supporting actor - an award I found undeserving given he even botched lines in scenes such as his wedding. Nevertheless, this movie has plenty of emotion and plenty of great screenwriting to make it worth seeing. What it is not, is one of the greatest movies of all time now. Much of the acting is dated - comprising the overdone, grandiose style common to the stage and 30s and 40s movies. The plot lines and reactions of the actors sometimes seem dated and not genuine in 2003. Screenwriters tended to boil down their characters to one dimentional entities in 1946. Air Force Captain Derry's wife played by Virginia Mayo is one such one dimentional character. She wants money and glamour being married to an officer, but when that offier becomes a 32 dollar a week soda fountain worker, she loses interest. And her loss of interest is obvious, unsubtle, repeated, and driven home in every scene over and over. Its this sort of dated style which makes Best Years of Our Lives a great movie in 1946 but it plays more like a well done AMC classic today and does not have the sweep of Cinematic giants and other Best Picture winners like Godfather, Gone with the Wind or even Schindler's List. I'm sure to vets or folks who remember 1946, the movie will pack more punch than it delivered to me.
Rating:
Summary: The story of a Generation
Review: Every now and then a book or a movie appears that tells the story of a whole generation. Some, like Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" and Hopper's "Easy Rider" tell the story of a segment of a generation. However, "The Best Years of Our Lives" eloquently tells the story of Americans at the end of World War II. The story is told through three returning veterans who come home together. Before their flight takes off, one of them wanders through a "graveyard" of military planes. The vastness of this airfield of defunct military equiptment brings home the message; the war's over and there's no further need for its' "leftovers". The soldier can either move on or become another "leftover". However, moving on is not all that easy to do. Not after you've been through what these three men have been through. Ironicly, the sailor, played by Harold Russell, laments that he didn't see any action. The pilot and the soldier look at his two missing arms questioningly. Russell was, himself, a returning disabled vet and he won a special Oscar for his inspiring preformance. His role served as a reminder that it wasn't only the front-line troops that that came home with scars. The three servicemen represent three different types of enlistees. The men who entered the services right out of school, the ones who were called as they were starting out in the world on their own, and those who left behind an established career. In turn, the ones they came home to represnted three different scenarios. The young sailor comes home to his high school sweetheart. She knows that this is not the boy who left her. She is ready to love the man who returned in his place if she can figure out who he is. The pilot came home to the woman he married just before he left for war. He discovers that she had married a uniform and wasn't the least bit interested in what was inside it. The third homecoming is to an established household of many years were there was still some uncertainty. All three men found their perspectives radically changed by their absence and their experiences. The ultimate question for each of them to answer was the meaning of the movie's title. What were "the best years of our lives"? Were they they years of dedicated military service that they sacrificed for their country? Or were they the lives they came home to. The power of this movie is seeing them struggle with the question. The way they they and the vast majority of US servicemen ultimately answered the question was what made America the greatest country in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary masterpiece!
Review: A movie that was years ahead of its time in explaining the impact of WWII had on domestic life in America. Fredric March gives a wonderful performance that shows the difficulties the everyday middle American had in trying to return to what on the surface seems like the ideal life. Harold Russell is a marvel as he shows not simply the difficulty people had with his condition but the impossibility of overcoming everyday challenges that made him feel less than a man. The scene with Dana Andrews towards the end of the film in the aeroplane graveyard is one of those scenes normally only found in great literature. To truly understand the post WWII experience I believe this film is necessary viewing. Moving, powerful, literary, poetic. Simply put, one of the greatest films ever to made about the WWII fighting man.
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