| The Best Years of Our Lives | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Screenplay by | Robert E. Sherwood |
| Based on | Glory for Me 1945 novella by MacKinlay Kantor |
| Produced by | Samuel Goldwyn |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Gregg Toland |
| Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
| Music by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 172 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.1 million[1] or $3 million[2] |
| Box office | $23.7 million[3] |
The Best Years of Our Lives (also known as Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen re-adjusting to societal changes and civilian life after coming home from World War II. The three men come from different services with different ranks that do not correspond with their civilian social class backgrounds. It is one of the earliest films to address issues encountered by returning veterans in the post World War II era.
The film was a critical and commercial success. It won 7 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), and Best Original Score (Hugo Friedhofer).[4]
In addition, Russell was also awarded an honorary Academy Award, the only time in history that two such awards were given for a single performance.
It was the highest-grossing film in both the United States and United Kingdom since the release of Gone with the Wind, and is the sixth most-attended film of all time in the United Kingdom, with over 20 million tickets sold.[5]
In 1989, The Best Years of Our Lives was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6][7]
- ^ Thomson 1993, pp. 490–491.
- ^ "Variety (January 1947)". 1947.
- ^ " 'Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 4, 2010.
- ^ "The 19th Academy Awards (1947) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Ultimate Chart: 1–100". British Film Institute. November 28, 2004. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
- ^ "ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 19, 2020.