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THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES – Hugo Friedhofer
100 GREATEST SCORES OF ALL TIME
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Famous producer Samuel Goldwyn became inspired to make a film that spoke to challenges facing our returning servicemen after reading an article in Time magazine, which described the difficulty experienced by Marines returning to civilian life. He hired war correspondent MacKinlay Kanto to write the story; a novella titled “Glory for Me”, and then brought in director William Wyler and Robert Sherwood, his go to playwright, to adapt it for the big screen. They assembled a first class ensemble of actors, which included Fredric March (Al Stephenson), Myrna Loy (Milly Stephenson), Dana Andrews (Fred Derry), Virginia Mayo (Marie Derry), Cathy O’Donnell (Wilma Cameron), and for authenticity, newcomer Harold Russell (Homer Parrish), a real life serviceman who had lost both his hands in the war. The story follows the reintegration struggles of Homer and two fellow soldiers into civilian life. Each of them comes from a different walk of life and each has a different family situation. The film proved to be a huge commercial and critical success, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning seven among them, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best supporting actor and best Film Score. Two additional Oscars were awarded by the Academy; a honorary Oscar to serviceman Harold Russell for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance”, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to director William Wyler, whose body of work reflected a consistently high quality of motion picture production. Read more…
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES – Hugo Friedhofer
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In making The Best Years of Our Lives, Famous producer Samuel Goldwyn became inspired to make a film that spoke to challenges facing our returning servicemen after reading an article in Time magazine, which described the difficulty experienced by Marines returning to civilian life. He hired war correspondent MacKinlay Kanto to write the story; a novella titled “Glory for Me”, and then brought in director William Wyler and Robert Sherwood, his go to playwright, to adapt it for the big screen. They assembled a first class ensemble of actors, which included Fredric March (Al Stephenson), Myrna Loy (Milly Stephenson), Dana Andrews (Fred Derry), Virginia Mayo (Marie Derry), Cathy O’Donnell (Wilma Cameron), and for authenticity, newcomer Harold Russell (Homer Parrish), a real life serviceman who had lost both his hands in the war. The story follows the reintegration struggles of three soldiers into civilian life. Read more…
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