The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

US 172m, B&W
Director: William Wyler; Cast: Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Harold Russell

The Best Years of Our Lives is a sympathetic post-war film that follows three veterans returning home to face a variety of  circumstances and personal challenges relating to civilian life. Despite not knowing each other during the war, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined after meeting on their journey home. Surprisingly honest, Wyler’s ensemble cast provide realistic performances in a film which is both honest and as realistic as Hollywood movies came in 1940s (Klaus Ming January 2013).