One of the Finest Films Ever.

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2005)

World War 2 was a conflict that tested the resolved of the American nation, and it's spirit. The film changed the country permanently, in many ways, the world was a different place. So few films captured how the world was changing, as did this film. Frederick March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell play veterans on their way back to their hometown. They strike up a friendship on the way home and as they have to deal with the various aspects of their homecoming they talk and comfort each other, and try to help each other to adjust to going back home. Myrna Loy plays the love interest to Frederick March, a very nice woman who appreciates all that Frederick March is going through, but he is married to another woman that does not, and is more concerned about appearances than she is of the welfare of her husband.
Even though movies were not allowed to delve into the issues that movies can today this movie talked about so many things that even movies today won't even touch, like the horrible state of job availability, how sometimes veterans are not appreciated for all that they do, even when they are physically altered as a result, and how they are set aside and hurt by American business who sometimes don't appreciate anything they do. This movie made quite a statement for the day, and I haven't seen too many movies do it since. This is a movie that more than other movies talks about a specific time, talks about certain standards and thoughts of the time. Much of the America talked about at the time doesn't exist today, or if it does it is not nearly as prominent as it is today.
And that is why this movie is so good in a way: It is a time capsule, a movie so in tuned to this very important time in history, and it tells the story not through a documentary on the time, but through a very human story, with actual people that have very serious problems, and have to face the world as it was, with all of it's good and bad. The strength of this movie is in the characterizations, the writing and the acting portray a number of characters, and their interests, sometime good, sometimes bad, sometimes indifferent, and they come together so flawlessly to put such a great movie together.
There's the wife who doesn't like what her husband is doing, the department store manager who gives Frederick March a low paying job, and doesn't appreciate at all that he fought for his country, the bank president who is reluctant to give loans to military families who need and deserve money so much, the axis sympathizer, and so many more, the diversity of the people here is amazing, and while there is so much going on the movie seems so focused, so singular, and the results is a spectacular movie.
The leads do an excellent job, Frederick March as the disillusioned and troubled veteran, Dana Andrews as the wealthy veteran who is trying his best to help all of those around him, and upset by what he finds, Harold Russell, who actually lost his arm in World War 2, plays a man who did so, and he works perfectly for the movie. musician Hoagy Carmichael has a small but nice part as well, and Myrna Loy turns in a great performance too. This movie almost flawlessly captures the time, the essence of the era, as few movies can.
There is really not a weakness in this movie, it is fun to watch, sad, funny, everything a movie should be, and the greatest thing about this movie, as few movies did, the movie does not have a truly happy ending, you don't know where their lives are going to go, some good things happen and some bad things happen, it just ends, and it's a very open ending, so it kinda shows you that so much is happening in the world, and this movie can't resolve it. This is one of the best movies ever made, William Wyler did a masterful job directing this movie, kudos to him and everyone that was involved in this movie.