The Best Years of Our Lives story
The Best Years of Our Lives (also known as Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen re-adjusting to societal changes and civilian life after coming home from World War II. The three men come from different services with different ranks that do not correspond with their civilian social class backgrounds. It is one of the earliest films to address issues encountered by returning veterans in the post World War II era.
27 total · 3 choice · 11 major · 13 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| reintegrating into society | choice | The story is about three United States servicemen re-adjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II. USAAF bombardier captain Fred Derry came from an all but impoverished family and returned to his selfish and materialistic wife Marie. U.S. Army sergeant Al Stephenson, a bank executive in civilian life, returned to his luxury flat, loving wife, and two now-teenage children. U.S. Navy petty officer Homer Parrish had lost both hands, sporting hooks where they had once been, and returned to his middle-class family and a next-door girlfriend. |
| romantic love | choice | Al and his wife, Milly, rekindled their affections for one another. Fred fell out of love with his selfish and materialistic wife, Marie, instead to fall in love with Peggy, whom reciprocated the feeling. Homer and his girl, Wilma, rekindled and deepened their love for one another despite Homer's condition. The story concluded with Homer and Wilma tying the knot. |
| the role of war veterans in society | choice | The story is about three United States servicemen re-adjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II. Homer had a fairly generous pension after losing his hands in the service but struggled with the social side of things. Al was offered a cushy job at his old bank but was unsettled by many things about his society, including the callous treatment of fellow ex-servicemen. Fred was one such serviceman who struggled to find a decent job. |
| coping with having a lousy dead-end job | major | Fred resented coming back to his old employer as an assistant to the man who had once assisted himself back when he was a soda jerk. Incidentally, he also had to carry out the duties of a soda jerk once more. His shallow wife was relentless in putting him down for being prospectless. |
| disintegrating romantic relationship | major | Fred and Marie's marriage was circling the drain, and in the end they split up on a bad note with a divorce looming. |
| duty vs. compassion | major | A side story concerned Al handing out unsecured small business loans to ex-servicemen whom he felt sympathy with. His boss chided him for doing so. |
| family affairs | major | The film tells the story of three U.S. servicemen who, at the close of the Second World War, return to their families in their hometown of (the fictional) Boone City. USAAF bombardier captain Fred Derry came from an all but impoverished family and returned to his selfish and materialistic wife Marie. U.S. Army sergeant Al Stephenson, a bank executive in civilian life, returned to his luxury flat, loving wife, and two now-teenage children. U.S. Navy petty officer Homer Parrish had lost both hands, sporting hooks where they had once been, and returned to his middle-class family and a next-door girlfriend. |
| father and daughter | major | Al reunited with his now almost grownup daughter, Peggy, who had worked two years in a hospital. He, she and Al's wife went out on the town together. A central part of the story was the romance that blossomed between Peggy and Fred, which Al opposed. |
| gold digging | major | Marie had married Fred for his officer's salary right before he shipped out to fight in the Second World War. She was quick to dump him when he returned from the war and was forced to take up a lowly clerk's job a the local pharmacy. |
| husband and wife | major | Al reunited with his loving wife, Milly. Fred reunited with his selfish and materialistic wife, Marie. |