The Best Years of Our Lives

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Timing: 2:51 (171 min)

7.77/10
727

7.784/10
3772

8.1/10
68927

All about film

Video 3

Photo 57

Actors and characters

Release date

1946-12-25

Country

United States

Production

RKO Radio Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn Productions, Samuel Goldwyn Company

Genre

Drama, Romance, War

Budget

$2 100 000

Revenue

$23 650 000

Website

Director

William Wyler

Actors

Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Myrna Loy, Cathy O'Donnell, Virginia Mayo, Hoagy Carmichael, Gladys George, Roman Bohnen
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Samuel Goldwyn

Operator

Gregg Toland

Composer

Hugo Friedhofer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Daniel Mandell
All team (21)

• A film adaptation of McKinley Kantor's novel 'Glory for Me'.
• The film had two working titles – 'Glory for Us' and 'Back Home'. Eventually, it was decided to settle on the current version, which caused dissatisfaction from the author of the source novel, McKinley Kantor.
• 'The Best Years of Our Lives' is director William Wyler's first post-war work and his last film for Samuel Goldwyn Company.
• Samuel Goldwyn originally intended to cast Theresa Wright, Dana Andrews, David Niven, Farley Granger, Walter Brennan, and Constance Dowling in the film. Ultimately, only the first two from this list were cast.
• June Haver, a 20th Century Fox star, was originally slated to play the role of Millie Stephenson, but was replaced by Myrna Loy.
• The fictional city of Boon City was filmed in Sacramento and Los Angeles, but according to the film's press release, Cincinnati served as its prototype.
• The film's advertising campaign lasted six months and cost half a million dollars.
• In 1989, the film was deemed nationally significant and added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
• Filming took place from April 15 to August 9, 1946, and the premiere was held in New York City on November 21 of the same year.
• Director William Wyler was indignant to learn that Samuel Goldwyn had sent Harold Russell to acting lessons. He believed that Russell's performance would be more natural without preparation. Furthermore, striving to make the film as realistic as possible, Wyler insisted that the entire supporting crew be recruited from real World War II veterans.
• On August 6, 1992, Harold Russell auctioned off the Oscar statuette he received for Best Supporting Actor for sixty-and-a-half thousand dollars.