Best Years of our Lives: when the boys are home again movies

[Atterbury Dodd]

Hello,

I just watched Best Years of Our Lives. I admit I was not wild about the last scene in the movie, but enjoyed many other aspects. It seems like movies that pertain to wounded veterans and the direct post war period can be hard to hunt down. So I think we need a thread where we can discuss and list movies having to do with the post war atmosphere and wounded or disfigured veterans. I will start of with a few:

Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Crossfire (1947)

The Enchanted Cottage (1945)

 

[dhermann1]

"Till The End of Time", Guy Madison and Dorothy McGuire, Robert Mitchum, 1946. Marine comes home to find that his girl, who he expected to wait for him, married another soldier, who was later killed in action. He has to adjust to this, and many other things.

 

[StraightEight]

The Best Years was in my top 10 best war movies list in a thread awhile back.

Just watched Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer Tracy. Thought it was an interesting allegory for the country's unwillingness to deal with its own wartime sins.

 

[Lincsong]

Some of these post-War films are quite difficult for me to watch. They have a way of blowing out any pre-conceived notions of America at the time.

 

[Widebrim]

The Best Years of Our Lives was certainly unique in its frankness to show the scars of war, particularly by its featuring an armless veteran. Currently in the Film Noir thread, some have been discussing the idea of the veteran coming home to a society that he now can't quite fit into. In addition to the good examples you gave, I would add The Blue Dahlia, The High Wall, Dead Reckoning, The Crooked Way, Try and Get Me!, Act of Violence, and (depicting a Canadian Airman's angst) Cornered.

 

[The Wolf]

Somewhere in the Night would certainly fit that mold.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Some of these post-War films are quite difficult for me to watch. They have a way of blowing out any pre-conceived notions of America at the time.

At times it is important to remember that these movies were just that: movies. Some of the stuff shown in the post war noir type movies did happen, but most of the GI's home from the war were just nice guys like my Grandpop and other veterans I know. They just wanted a job. They married that nice girl they had known for years before the war, and lived fairly stable lives and put all that behind them. But for some it was just never the same.

Anyhow, there is a lot to be learned from the post war films, even if they are just movies. Many of the things represented in the films were real problems--and those films can take us back in a way few other things can.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Just watched Bad Day at Black Rock with Spencer Tracy. Thought it was an interesting allegory for the country's unwillingness to deal with its own wartime sins.

Bad Day at Black Rock is an excellent movie. I think the fact that such a movie could be made only five years after the war is a really neat--what other nations on earth have been so quick to admit their faults? Crossfire is another film with a similar theme you might like.

PS, thanks everybody, and keep em' coming!

 

[CherryRed]

Pride of the Marines 1945 John Garfield and Eleanor Parker

From Wikipedia: It tells the story of U.S. Marine Al Schmid in World War II, his heroic stand against a Japanese attack during the Battle of Guadalcanal, in which he was blinded by a grenade, and his subsequent rehabilitation. The film was based on the Roger Butterfield book, Al Schmid, Marine.

I saw this on TCM several weeks ago. It's a very good film.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

post war atmosphere and wounded or disfigured veterans.

It is not just physical wounds that scar a human being. The mental anguish and trauma suffered can and does have long lasting and far reaching effects and consequences.

It was not until well after the Vietnam Conflict that the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the First World War it was called "Shell Shock" and in the Second World War it was called "Battle Fatigue".

However, in the 1937 novel the German novel Three Comrades, by World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, follows the lives of a trio of German World War I veterans in 1920s Weimar Germany. It touched upon several issues regarding veterans and the challenges faced by those in a post war environment.

The Deer Hunter 1978 was inspired by the novel and speaks directly to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it's ramifications and other issues. Although the motif is post Vietnam era America it fits within the OP's topic.

 

[Stearmen]

Ira Hayse

The Outsider. The story of Ira Hayse, a Pima Indian who helped raise the famous second flag on Mt. Surabachi Iwo Jima! He went on to do War Bond tours, and always felt guilty for surviving. Like so many WWII veterans he turned to the bottle, and was arrested on many occasions for drunken and disorderly conduct. Tragically, Ira died face down frozen in an irrigation ditch, the only source of fresh water for the Reservation, and almost 10 years to the day after he became famous!

 

[dhermann1]

There was also a terrific TV drama starring Lee Marvin about Ira Hayes.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Lots of interesting looking movies. I've been looking them up on imdb.com as you-all list them. Keep in mind that what I am looking for is mainly movies actually filmed during and shortly after the war period (WWII-1949-fiftyish). I probably didn't make that clear, but I'm not that strict anyway.

 

[Widebrim]

Pride of the Marines 1945 John Garfield and Eleanor Parker

From Wikipedia: It tells the story of U.S. Marine Al Schmid in World War II, his heroic stand against a Japanese attack during the Battle of Guadalcanal, in which he was blinded by a grenade, and his subsequent rehabilitation. The film was based on the Roger Butterfield book, Al Schmid, Marine.

I saw this on TCM several weeks ago. It's a very good film.

That is a good one. Taped it off the TV about 25 years ago...

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I just found the Blue Dahlia and I have started watching it. It's a very interesting movie. Glad I started this thread!

 

[skyvue]

Marlon Brando's first movie, The Men, fits the bill, exploring the struggles of paraplegic WWII vets.

It also features Jack Webb sporting a goatee.

 

[Naphtali]

Some of these post-War films are quite difficult for me to watch. They have a way of blowing out any pre-conceived notions of America at the time.

On lighter notes:
Teahouse of the August Moon (Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford)

The Last Time I Saw Archie (Jack Webb, Robert Mitchum)
***
On a tangent:
Cornered (Dick Powell, Luther Adler)
The Blue Dahlia (Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake)

Hope these help.

 

[Widebrim]

I just found the Blue Dahlia and I have started watching it. It's a very interesting movie. Glad I started this thread!

I won't spoil the ending (in case you haven't finished the film), but the original script had someone else as the murderer. Censors changed the identity of the killer due to post-wartime sentiment. At any rate, a very enjoyable film.

 

[Naphtali]

Expanding on my previous reply, the movie I would want someone who had never seen a movie to view first, Fred Zinnemann's "The Search," starred Montgomery Clift in his second movie, Aline McMahon, Wendell Cory, and Ivan Landl. It is the story of the American Army (and displaced persons) in occupied Germany and shows human beings at their worst - and their best.

 

[TailendCharlie]

Ten seconds to hell

A favorite of mine
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Seconds_to_Hell