William Wyler's masterpiece

Couldn't get anyone to watch a movie with me and my brain was operating too slow for me to do anything else. Everyone wanted some space after the trip, plus new toys were finally being put to use.

So, with Vonne reading, I caught one of the two favorites that she got me for Xmas: "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) which Wyler directed three years after "Mrs. Miniver" (1943). He won best directing Oscars for each, and later added a third for "Ben-Hur." Only Frank Capra (3) and John Ford (4) won as many.

Wyler's most acclaimed (by Oscar, that is) movies are:

1937 Nominated for "Dodsworth"

1940 Nominated for "Wuthering Heights"

1941 Nominated for "The Letter"

1942 Nominated for "The Little Foxes"

1943 Won for "Mrs. Miniver"

1947 Won for "The Best Years of Our Lives"

1950 Nominated for "The Heiress"

1952 Nominated for "Detective Story"

1954 Nominated for "Roman Holiday"

1957 Nominated for "Friendly Persuasion"

1959 Won for "Ben-Hur"

1966 Nominated for "The Collector"

Something to be nominated in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

I think most people would cite "Wuthering Heights" and "The Heiress" as his two other best movies. Although "The Letter" is a classic too. The guy had a huge rep for directing women; every leading lady wanted to work for him (kinda spoils the old review joke about "Loved Ben, Hated Her")

Get the whole dump here.

The other favorite movie of mine that Vonne got for Xmas was . . . "Mrs. Miniver." That movie proved to be such a morale booster in England in 1943 that Churchill said Greer Garson was worth a dozen battleships, in his opinion.

The two movies also have two of my favorite male actors of that timeframe (and later): Walter Pidgeon (Miniver) and Frederic March (Years).

Of course, the big draw in both movies for me in Theresa Wright, the only actress nominated for Oscars in her first three movies. She won for "Miniver."

It always amazes me how "Best Years" holds up with time. The dialogue is as fresh and meaningful today as it must have been then (indeed, it must have really caught a lot of people off-guard in its existential ennui). Amazing performance from Dana Andrews too, who never got another role of that quality, in my mind.

"Best Years" killed "A Wonderful Life" at the Oscars that year, getting a best supporting for the real-world WWII double-amputee Harold Russell. March took the best actor. Screenplay and best picture to boot. Russell got a second honorary award for inspiring other disabled vets.

My only quibble: the DVD wasn't widescreen. Not sure if the original was that wide to begin with, but I felt a bit cheated because the backgrounds are so interesting in this movie. Still, I don't think it was clipped. Seemed like the whole frame, just boxier.

Comments

[Jim]

Hi Tom,

A legendary history professor (Jon Bridgman)at the U of W gave a WWII lecture series in the 90s and he mentioned how great this movie is for several reasons. One was the shots of Europe just after the war ended. He showed a few scenes.

http://depts.washington.edu/history/faculty/bridgman.html

I "Netflixed" the movie and I agree that it is great. Recommended for anyone.

[rblx]

Almost all movies were 4:3 format until the early 1950's. The studios went widescreen to differentiate themselves from TV which was also 4:3 (until HiDef). Abel Gance's "Napoléon" was a 1927 exception – the battle scene at the end is projected widescreen using three projectors – 25 years before Cinerama. Some films have been shot 4:3 since the inception of widescreen, recently Kubrick's "Eye's Wide Shut."

[Bo McGowan]

Wyler captured the post WWII cynicism and hope in "Best Years". The Dana Andrews Theresa Wright chemistry was incredible. Of course, you will be hard-pressed to find a movie where Ms. Wright wasn't incredible. Particularly moving when Fred Derry has his junkyard epiphany and can take those huge instruments of destruction and build America--made it all worth it to him--his way of winning the peace after winning the war--see, your ideas permeate across decades as Wyler's skills did also. Bo