This site is devoted to the love of classic movies. What qualifies as a classic film or movie is somewhat subjective. There are certain films which endure because they strike an emotional chord long after their initial release. For example, a movie like "Casablanca" (1942) would qualify as a classic under that definition.
Daisy Kenyon (1947), based on the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Janeway, is one of many films referred to as “women’s pictures” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. In many ways, it fits that genre perfectly, especially with Joan Crawford—“an old hand at being emotionally confused” according to The New York Times review—playing the title role. However, in director Otto Preminger’s hands, it’s so much more, with the male protagonists, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, also grabbing the spotlight.
Andrews plays prominent attorney, Dan O’Mara who is married to Lucile (Ruth Warrick). They have two daughters Rosamund (Peggy Ann Garner) and Marie (Connie Marshall). O’Mara leads a double life: On the one hand, he’s a family man, and on the other, he’s a philandering husband carrying on an affair with Daisy (Crawford), a single career woman. The relationship is a strained one primarily because O’Mara refuses to divorce his wife and marry Daisy. Daisy is torn between her love for Dan and her desire for a relationship that doesn’t need to be kept secret. To complicate matters further, Daisy meets World War II veteran, Peter Lapham (Fonda). Not as exciting a character as Dan, but a safe one.
Who will Daisy choose?
Otto Preminger (1905 -1986) was an American film director who made more than 35 feature films during a five-decade career. Born in Austro-Hungarian into a Jewish family. Preminger was drawn to acting from an early age and became the apprentice of famed stage director Max Reinhardt. In 1935, he was recruited by Twentieth Century-Fox to apprentice as a director at the studio. After a rocky start, Preminger established himself as an A-list director after Rouben Mamoulian was fired from Laura (1944). The film noir classic made major stars of Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews and is considered one of the best film noirs of all time. While under contract to Fox, Preminger directed Fallen Angel (1945), Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947). After he left Fox, Preminger became a maverick, constantly clashing with members of the Production Code. He released two films without the approval of the Production Code: The Moon is Blue (1953) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Both films were financial successes and helped bring an end to the Code entirely. Later successes for Preminger include Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Exodus (1960).
Crawford at the top of the triangle.
Joan Crawford (190? – 1977) was an American actress. A former dancer, Crawford was signed to a movie contract by M-G-M in 1925. She started out in small parts in silent films, sometimes doubling for established star Norma Shearer. Crawford was an amazing self-promoter and by the 1930s, her popularity rivaled Shearer and Greta Garbo. She was famous for playing shop girls who somehow made it big. During the height of the Depression, women flocked to her films. But by the late 1930s, her popularity was beginning to wane. She left M-G-M and was absent from the screen for almost two years. She signed with Warner Bros. and made a successful comeback in Mildred Pierce (1945). The film was a hit with audiences and critics alike and won Crawford her one-and-only Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on the star in Humoresque (1946) with John Garfield, Possessed (1947) with Van Heflin, and Flamingo Road (1949).
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).
Trouble in the O’Mara household
Henry Fonda (1905 –1982) was an American stage and film actor. Fonda came to Hollywood in 1935 and became a star overnight. Early starring roles include Jezebel (1938), Jesse James (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and The Grapes of Wrath (1940) for which he received his first Best Actor nomination for playing Tom Joad. Fonda played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), and Mister Roberts (1955). In 1981 he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Norman Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond.
Daisy Kenyon trivia
Joan Crawford requested both Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews as her co-stars.
Fond and Andrews didn’t want to make the film but had to it to fulfill their contracts.
During an interview during the 1970s, Otto Preminger said he had no recollection of Daisy Kenyon.
Crawford was borrowed from Warner Bros. for her role as Daisy.
Andrews had already worked with Preminger on Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945).
John Garfield appears as an extra sitting at the bar in the Stork Club.
Columnist Walter Winchel, writer Damon Runyon, and New York Post columnist Leonard Lyons all have cameos as themselves.
Dan O’Mara at the Stock Club with Leonard Lyons and check out John Garfield drinking far left!
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Discussion questions
When the film was released on DVD, the film company classified it as a film noir. Do you think this film fits that genre? How would you classify it?
Did you find the relationships between the three stars believable?
Boomerang! (1947) is based on a true crime. A minister is murdered in a small town in Connecticut and John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a young drifter, is arrested and charged with the crime.
Arthur Kennedy and Dana Andrews
The prosecuting attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) is under pressure from local politicians to convict Waldron. The evidence points toward Waldron’s guilt, but Harvey has his doubts. Directed in a semidocumentary style by Elia Kazan, the movie features an impressive supporting cast that includes Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Sam Levine.
Elia Kazan (1909 – 2003) was an American director, producer, writer, and actor. He is one of the co-founders of the Actors Studio in 1947 with Robert Lewis and Cheryl Crawford. Kazan is also one of the most celebrated directors of the theater and movies. Kazan won two Best Director Academy Awards-1947 for Gentleman’s Agreement and 1954 for On the Waterfront—a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1998. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) was Kazan’s feature film debut as a director.
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).
Boomerang! trivia
Boomerang! was Kazan's fourth feature film.
Ed Begley's film debut.
After Lee J. Cobb and Arthur Kennedy appeared in Boomerang!, Kazan cast them both in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Speaking of Arthur Miller, he has a cameo as one of the men in the police lineup.
First of four films, Kazan directed Karl Malden.
Walter Huston, Fredric March, and Joseph Cotten were considered for the role of Henry Harvey. John Payne was also considered for the role at one time.
First of two films starring Dana Andrews where the plot concerns the murder of a priest. The second is Edge of Doom (1950).
Click HERE to watch the film on the Internet Archive.
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Discussion questions
Did the film shot on location add authenticity to the narrative?
What did you think about the politics of the film? Did it seem realistic?
The film has an impressive cast, but the film rests primarily on the shoulders of Dana Andrews's character. Was he successful in the role of Henry Harvey?
Why do you think there was a rush to judgment in convicting the Arthur Kennedy character?
As mentioned, the supporting cast is impressive; did anyone stand out to you?
When production on Laura started, no one believed that the end product would be worth seeing. From the beginning the project was problematic. Arguments between studio boss Darryl Zanuck and the original director, Rouben Mamoulian ended in Mamoulian being fired. Zanuck then assigned Otto Preminger, already the film’s producer, to be its director too. The only problem: Preminger had limited experience as a movie director.
Under Preminger’s supervision, what began as a fairly ordinary murder mystery, turned out to be a critical and box office success. Tierney in the title role became a superstar and was forever identified with the beautiful, enigmatic Laura Hunt. Andrews, as Detective Mark McPherson, established himself as a major star and popular leading man. Webb, who hadn’t made a movie since the early days of talking pictures, earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Waldo Lydecker. Thomas M. Pryor, in his October 12, 1944 New York Times review called Laura “a top-drawer mystery.”
With some of the sharpest and wittiest dialogue ever recorded on film, Laura set the standard for 1940s film noir. Andrews’s portrayal of McPherson became a prototype for what would become known as the hard-boiled detective, influencing a generation of movie actors. Pryor from the Times put it this way: “Mr. Andrews is fast proving himself to be a solidly persuasive performer, a sort of younger-edition Spencer Tracy.”
The musical score by David Raksin is one of the most hauntingly beautiful movie themes ever recorded and will forever be associated with the enigmatic Tierney.
Laura trivia
Vincent Price thought this was the best movie he ever made.
David Raskin's famous film score wasn't nominated for an Academy Award.
Jennifer Jones and Hedy Lamarr were both offered the role of Laura but turned it down.
Gene Tierney, knowing that she wasn't the first choice was reluctant to take the part.
Joseph LaShelle won an Academy Award for his black and white cinematography.
Click HERE to watch the film on Internet Archive. You can play the film on your laptop or phone. If you have an HDMI cable, you can hook it up to your TV.
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Discussion questions
Laura is considered one of the top films noir of all time. Do you think it deserves that reputation?
Some critics upon the film's release thought that Gene Tierney was miscast. Do you agree with that assessment?
Did David Raskin's score help the movie narrative?
The film is filled with great performances; did one performance stand out to you?
Where you surprised by the plot twists?
Do you think Waldo Lydecker was in love with Laura?
The Forbidden Street
(1949) is a melodrama directed by Jean Negulesco starring Dana
Andrews and Maureen O’Hara. The other cast members include Sybil Thorndike, Fay
Compton, and A. E. Matthews. The movie, set in Victorian London, was filmed in
England by Twentieth Century-Fox with funds that were frozen in Great Britain.
Backstory
Based on the bestseller Britannia
Mews by Margery Sharp (1905 – 1991), Fox paid the author $150,000 (over $2M
in 2024 dollars) for the film rights. Sharp was a popular author of adult and
children’s books. Cluny Brown (1944),
was a huge bestseller and made into a successful film starring Charles Boyer
and Jennifer Jones. An earlier novel, The
Nutmeg Tree (1937) was filmed as Julia
Misbehaves (1948) with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. So with that
track record, Fox was sure they had a box office hit on their hands.
Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.
Dana Andrews as Henry and Maureen O'Hara as Adelaide
According to The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, the screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. “failed completely to get
a tight dramatic script from the book by simply stringing together some of its
narrative episodes. And certainly, he missed organizing a consistent temper or
mood,”
The film had a competent director Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda). The cinematography was
by Georges Perinal who worked successfully with Rene Clair, Michael Powell,
Charlie Chaplin, and Otto Preminger. And let’s not forget Dana Andrews and
Maureen O’Hara, two top stars of the day and important Fox contract actors.
Is the film a total failure? There are some questionable
choices the producer made. For example, Dana Andrews has a dual role. For the
first character he plays, his voice is dubbed by someone who sounds like Ronald
Colman. It’s jarring at first to those of us who know what Dana Andrews’s voice
sounds like. As Carl Rollyson tells it in his biography Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews, “The picture upset Dana because he
was dubbed, negating his carefully cultivated British accent, which—had it
survived the editing process—would have made for a striking performance, as he
reappears in the second part of the film as an American.
If you take the film on its own merits, it’s enjoyable.
Andrews and O’Hara have good chemistry and work well together. The atmosphere of
the mews—a street lined by buildings originally used as stables converted into
dwellings—is well done. The mews was the forbidden street that O’Hara’s character
was scolded for venturing into as a child.
The Plot
In late-1800s London, Adelaide Culver (O’Hara), a proper and
well-to-do young lady marries her drawing teacher, an impoverished artist Henry
Lambert (Andrews) who teaches young women like Adelaide to help pay the bills. To
prove to her family that Henry didn’t marry her for her money, she moves to the
mews with her husband. Unfortunately for Adelaide, Henry doesn’t love her and has
been unfaithful with his artist models. An alcoholic to boot, Henry’s hobby was
creating elaborate marionettes, rarely completing his paintings.
With money becoming an ever-increasing issue, Adelaide
confronts Henry, who is drunk, about their deteriorating situation and marriage.
Henry tries to grab Adelaide, but she pushes him away. Due to his drunkenness,
Henry stumbles and falls down a flight of stairs and dies instantly.
Mrs. Mounsey (Thorndike) observed the argument between Adelaide
and Henry before he fell to his death and used this knowledge to blackmail her.
Enter Gilbert Lauderdale (Andrews) an American barrister who has a striking resemblance
to Henry. Henry develops a real affection for Adelaide and gets rid of Mrs
Mounsey by threatening to take her to court for blackmail. Gilbert is married
to a woman who left him and moved to America so he cannot marry Adelaide.
However, the two live together and call themselves Mr. and Mrs. Lambert. To
keep things good and proper, the two sleep in separate rooms to avoid any sexual
entanglements.
Dana Andrews as Gilbert and Maureen O'Hara
Gilbert discovers a trunk with the marionettes and is
intrigued. Adelaide has long thought of them as nothing of value and a reminder
of Henry. Gilbert connects with a man who knows marionettes—who declares the
ones Henry made as excellent—and Henry learns how to operate the marionettes
and before you know it, Adelaide and Gilbert are presenting marionette shows. Their puppet theatre becomes a sensation,
making the couple financially secure, and turning the mews into a fashionable
place to visit. Adelaide’s success helps reunite her with her family.
Then Gilbert’s wife Milly shows up at the mews. She tracked
him down from an advertisement for the theatre. She’s looking for money due to
his “improper” relationship with another woman. But Adelaide insists that
Gilbert go back to his wife. At that, Milly comes clean. She divorced Gilbert years ago and married another man, allowing Gilbert to marry
Adelaide.
A happy ending for Gilbert and Adelaide!
In Conclusion
The Forbidden Street
wasn’t the blockbuster that Fox had hoped it would be, but wasn’t the disaster
that some have called it.
Give The Forbidden
Street a try. It’s on YouTube for free. What do you have to lose? You may
even like it!
Swamp Water (1941)
is an American crime drama set in the Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia. The
film was directed by Jean Renoir and stars Walter Brennan, Walther Huston, Anne
Baxter, and Dana Andrews. The strong supporting cast includes Virginia Gilmore,
John Carradine, Mary Howard, Eugene Pallette, and Ward Bond.
When Ben Regan (Andrews) goes looking for his dog in the
Okefenokee Swamp, he encounters Tom Keefer (Brennan). Keefer is wanted for
murdering Deputy Shep Collins. Keefer claims he is innocent. Ben and Keefer
form a partnership with Ben selling animals that the two of them trapped. Part
of the money that they earn from trapping goes to Julie (Baxter) who is Keefer’s
daughter.
Will the actual murderer be revealed? Will Keefer return to normal life as an innocent man?
Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews
Jean Renoir (1894 - 1979) was a French film director, writer, and producer. He directed more than forty films. Renoir worked during the silent era until the end of the 1960s. Two of his films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are considered among the greatest films ever made. Renoir fled to the United States when Germany invaded France in 1940. He came to Hollywood and directed Swamp Water (1941) starring Dana Andrews, This Land is Mine (1943) starring Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton. The Southerner is considered Renoir’s best American film. Other films he made in America include Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Woman on the Beach (1947). He is the son of the renowned artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Walter Brennan (1894 – 1974) was an American character actor
and three-time Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor. Brennan is the
only actor male or female to win three awards in the supporting actor category.
He got his start as an extra in silent films and eventually made the transition
to talking pictures. By the late-1930s, Brennan was one of Hollywood's most sought-after and highest-paid character actors. Some of Brennan’s movies
include Three Godfathers (1936), Kentucky (1938), The Westerner (1940), Meet
John Doe (1941), The Pride of the
Yankees (1942), My Darling Clementine
(1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and How the
West Was Won (1962).
Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.
Anne Baxter (1923 – 1985) won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Sophie MacDonald in The Razor’s Edge (1946). She was signed to a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox in 1940. In 1948, Baxter starred in four movies, with Yellow Sky being her most prominent role to date. She went on to have a prolific career in film, television, and theater. She is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated performance as Eve Harrington in All About Eve. Frank Lloyd Wright was Baxter’s grandfather.
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).
Swamp Water trivia
Linda Darnell was originally cast as Julie. Gene Tierney was also under consideration for the role.
Director Jean Renoir and studio chief Darryl Zanuck butted heads during the film's production with Renoir wanting to shoot on location and Zanuck wanting to shoot on sound stages and the backlot.
Lillian Gish was considered for the role of Hannah.
Jean Gabin and Henry Fonda were announced for the role of Ben before Dana Andrews was cast.
Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Anne Baxter, and Walter Huston would star in North Star (1943).
Dana Andrews was the only actor who actually filmed on location in Georgia.
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To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.
Discussion questions
The film had an impressive cast; did anyone cast member stand out to you?
Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews were in the early stages of their film careers. Would you have predicted stardom for them both?
Some critics thought Walther Brennan was miscast. What did you thik of his performance?
Deep Waters (1948) is a drama film directed by Henry King and starring Dana
Andrews and Jean Peters. The film co-stars Cesar Romero, Ed Begley, Anne
Revere, and Dean Stockwell. Others in the cast include Mae Marsh and Will Geer.
Hod
Stillwell (Andrews) quit his studies in architecture to become a fisherman in
Maine. Social worker Ann Freeman (Peters) is so disappointed with his decision that
she calls off their engagement. She doesn’t want to be among the rest of the wives
in the village always wondering if their husbands will return home from the sea
alive.
Ann
places an 11-year-old orphan Donny Mitchell (Stockwell) with her friend Mary
McKay (Revere). Donny’s father and uncle both died at sea and he has a
fascination with them and with the fishing lifestyle of Hod and his partner Joe
Sanger (Romero). Donny’s interest in the sea and fishing put Hod and Ann at
odds and Donny is not easily managed by Mary.
Will
Danny be able to settle into life with Mary or will he be sent away
due to his continued misbehavior?
And
what about Hod and Ann? Will they be able to reconcile and settle their
differences?
Henry King (1886 - 1982) was an American actor and director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Director and seven films that he directed were nominated for Best Picture including The Song of Bernadette (1943) where he directed Jennifer Jones to a Best Actress Academy Award. While under contract to Twentieth Century-Fox he directed many films starring Tyrone Power and Gregory Peck. Some popular films directed by King include Lloyd's of London (1936), In Old Chicago (1937), Jesse James (1939), Twelve O'Clock High (1949), The Gunfighter (1950), David and Bathsheba (1951), The Sun Also Rises (1957), and The Bravados (1958).
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).
Jean Peters (1926 - 2000) was an American film actress. She was under contract with 20th Century-Fox from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Early in her career, she got a boost co-starring with Tyrone Power in The Captain from Castile (1947). She later went on to costar with Dana Andrews, Ray Milland, and Marlon Brando. She was set to play the female lead in The Robe co-starring Richard Burton but was replaced by Jean Simmons when she discovered she was pregnant. Peters married Howard Hughes in 1957 and retired from film. After her divorce from Hughes in 1971, Peters appeared on television in several mini-series. Her last acting role was in Murder, She Wrote in 1988. Today she is probably best remembered for her role as Candy in Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street.
Dana Andrews, Anne Revere, Dean Stockwell, and Jean Peters
Deep Waters trivia
Mark Stevens was originally announced as the male lead.
Jean Peters received several marriage proposals from a fan during filming.
Filming took place in Maine where the story takes place.
Dana
Andrews, Jean Peters, and Dean Stockwell reprised their film roles for
broadcast on “The Screen Guild Theater” on February 17, 1949.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Special Effects but lost out to A Portrait of Jenny.
To watch the movie on YouTube, click the link below.
Discussion questions
Did the relationship between Jean Peters and Dana Andrews seem believable?
What did you think of the Maine setting? Did the film benefit from the location shooting?
Do you think Peters's portrayal of a social worker was true to the era?
Dean Stockwell was one of the most popular child actors of the 1940s. What did you think of his performance?
The film is filled with several popular character actors. Did you have a favorite?
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The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is an American drama directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo. The screenplay was written by Robert E. Sherwood, based on a novella,Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor. The cinematography was by Greg Toland.
The plot of the movie concerns three United States servicemen returning home after World War II and the struggle they have re-adjusting to civilian life. The movie is almost a time capsule of what life was like after the war and the changes it brought to American society. Apart from winning the Best Picture Academy Award, it was the top-grossing film of the year and the top-grossing film of the decade. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top 100 grossing films in the United States.
The movie lobby card downplays the seriousness of the film.
William Wyler (1902 - 1981) was an American (born in Mulhouse, Alsace, then part of Germany) film director and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Direction three times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). Wyler was nominated 12 times for Best Director, an Academy Awards history record. Wyler started working in the movie business during the silent era, eventually making a name for himself as a director in the early 1930s. He would go on to direct Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Actress Bette Davis received three Oscar nominations under Wyler’s direction, winning her second Oscar for her performance in Jezebel (1938). Other popular films directed by Wyler include The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1954), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), and Funny Girl 1968).
Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993) was an American film, television, and stage actress. Loy was a trained dancer but decided to concentrate on acting, appearing in silent films before becoming a major star with the advent of sound. Perhaps Loy is most famous for playing Nora Charles opposite William Powell in The Thin Man (1934) and its subsequent sequels. Loy and Powell were one of the screen’s most popular acting teams; they appeared in 14 films together. Loy starred opposite the top leading men of the day including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power, and Cary Grant. Some of her films include Wife vs. Secretary (1936), Libeled Lady (1936), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Test Pilot (1938), Too Hot to Handle (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Love Crazy (1941), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). Film character: Milly Stephenson.
Fredric March (1897 - 1975) was an American actor and two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner. Also a famous stage actor, March won two Tony Awards as well and is one of a few actors to have won both the Academy Award and the Tony Award twice. March was an immediate success in films receiving his first Best Actor nomination in 1930. He won his first Best Actor Oscar for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and his second for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). During the 1930s and 1940s, March was a popular leading man starring opposite Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Norma Shearer, Katharine Hepburn, and Carole Lombard. March continued acting on stage and in films until 1973, two years before his death from cancer. Film character: Al Stephenson.
Actor Dana Andrews (standing) refuses to serve cinematographer Greg Toland (left) and director William Wyler (right) on the set.
Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda; so popular was Andrews during the 1940s that he was billed above Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Film character: Fred Derry.
Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews in a crucial scene from The Best Years of Our Lives
Teresa Wright (1918 - 2005) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations in her first three films, a record that still holds today. In 1942, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress forMrs. Miniver and for Best Actress inThe Pride of the Yankees. She won the Supporting Oscar forMrs. Miniver, and her co-star, Greer Garson won Best Actress. Today Wright is most famous for playing Lou Gehrig’s wife inThe Pride of the Yankees,The Best Years of Our Lives, and Alfred Hitchcock’sShadow of a Doubt (1943). Wright was a popular star throughout the 1940s starring opposite Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Gary Cooper, and David Niven. She starred opposite Marlon Brando in his first film role inThe Men (1950). Wright continued working in film, with her last role as Miss Birdie inThe Rainmaker (1997). Wright is the only non-baseball player to be honored by the New York Yankees when she passed away at age 86.Film character: Peggy Stephenson.
Virginia Mayo (1920 - 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She made a series of popular films with Danny Kaye while under contract to Samuel Goldwyn which made her a star. In the late 1940s, Warner Bros. bought her contract from Goldwyn and she became one of the studio’s top box office attractions. At Warners, Mayo made a variety of films including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She co-starred with James Cagney in White Heat (1949), The Flame and the Arrow (1950) opposite Burt Lancaster, Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. co-starring Gregory Peck(1951), the studio’s biggest hit of the year. After her film career ended, Mayo guest-starred on much popular television series including Remington Steele, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote. Film character: Marie Derry.
Harold Russell (1914 - 2002) was a Canadian-born American World War II veteran. Russell lost both hands in a training accident when a defective fuse detonated the explosives he was handling. He was given two hooks to serve as hands and he was featured in an Army rehabilitation film, Diary of a Sergeant. This film brought Russell to the attention of director Wyler who cast him in the film. Russell won two Academy Awards. He won an honorary award for bringing hope and courage to veterans and he also won the Best Supporting Actor award, something he was not predicted to win. Russell remains one of only two non-professional actors to win Academy Awards. Haing S. Ngor won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in The Killing Field (1985). Film character: Homer Parrish.
Cathy O’Donnell (1923 - 1970) was an American actress best known for her roles in The Best Years of Our Lives, They Live by Night (1948), and Ben-Hur (1959) where she played Tirzah, the sister of Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston). She appeared on the small screen on Perry Mason and Bonanza. She was married to director Wyler’s older brother Robert. She passed away after a long illness on her 22nd wedding anniversary. Film character: Wilma Cameron.
To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.
The Best Years of Our Lives trivia:
The fictional Boone City was modeled after Cincinnati, Ohio.
William Wyler hated the score by Hugo Friedhofer; it won the Oscar that year for the best film score.
Myrna Loy was only 13 years older than Teresa Wright who played her daughter.
The film includes four Oscar winners: Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Hoagy Carmichael (Uncle Butch), and Harold Russell.
Future director Blake Edwards has an uncredited part as a Corporal and actor Sean Penn’s father, Leo, played a soldier working as a scheduling clerk at the beginning of the film.
To join the discussion on August 29, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you'll receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.
Questions for discussion:
The film is a product of its time. Does it still have meaning for us today in 2022?
What if anything surprised you about the film?
Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue that stood out to you?
Would you recommend this film to a friend to watch?
How do you think the acting holds up? Are the performances true to life?
Do you think the film had an anti-war message?
Why do you think this film resonated with audiences in 1946?
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is one of the most honored and beloved films from Hollywood's
Golden Age. It was released over 75 years ago. Author and film historian, Alison Macor has written a very readable narrative on how this ground-breaking film got made.
It all started with a short article that producer Samuel Goldwyn's wife, Frances read in Time entitled "The Way Home" about returning Marines after the war. Goldwyn wasn't interested in making a film like that but he was shrewd enough to register "The Way Home" as a possible movie title.
While browsing a bookshelf at the Goldwyn studio, the director Willliam Wyler came across the novel Glory for Me written by MacKinlay Kantor. Goldwyn wanted to have playwright Robert E. Sherwood adapt the book for the screen, but Sherwood was busy and wasn't sure the subject of soldiers readjusting to life after World War II would be relevant by the time the production made it to the screen.
Teresa Wright and Dana Andrews in a crucial scene from The Best Years of Our Lives
Well, Goldwyn was nothing if not persistent. Eventually, Sherwood would write the screenplay and the whole project would come together under the direction of William Wyler, who was at the tail end of his contract with Goldwyn. Amazingly, everything jelled to create a truly memorable motion picture.
Macor has done scrupulous research in putting the pieces together on how The Best Years of Our Lives came to be. From its beginning as an idea to its casting, everything you ever wanted to know about the making of this beloved classic in Macor's book.
Cinematographer Greg Toland and director William Wyler discuss how to shoot a scene with Dana Andrews and Virginia Mayo.
As someone who truly loves The Best Years of Our Lives (I have my own DVD copy), I was a little uncertain if it would meet my expectations. It did and then some.
If you love The Best Years of Our Lives and/or you love learning how the old studio system worked, Making The Best Years of Our Lives, is a great read and you'll learn a lot.
The book is available from Amazon or wherever books are sold.
Publisher : University of Texas Press (June 7, 2022)
