THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)

The Best Years of Our Lives truly captures America in the years just after World War II. Doing so, it captured the hearts of moviegoers and critics. It is one of the most popular pictures of the sound era and received eight Academy Award nominations, winning seven Oscars and a special citation.

The film's major theme is the cost of winning the war - both what it cost our country and the toll on personal lives. It is said the film provided the nation with a sort of post-war catharsis.

America's victory over tyranny is celebrated but in following the readjustment to civilian life of ex-GIs from three social classes (Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell), the film's darker moments depict America entering a new, edgier world.

With outstanding black-and-white, deep-focus cinematography by Greg Toland (Citizen Kane, Grapes of Wrath) and a stirring score by Hugo Friedhofer, William Wyler's 168-minute saga remains a true American classic.

The film has lapsed, unfortunately, out-of-print, and is currently available only in poor bootleg copies from oversea. A Blu-Ray edition would certainly welcome but seem unlikely.

This is a 2GB mkv rip of the out-of-print MGM DVD of the title.