Best Picture Winner
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
Director: William Wyler
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn
Three World War II veterans return to their small town and struggle to adjust to civilian life.
From the Worthy Podcast
Disability in film
Post War films that focus on PTSD, suppressed memories and rehabilitating back to normal life
A common theme and discussion in some of our favorite Best Picture winners so far has been focused on darker aspects of storytelling and filmmaking. We talked about alcoholism with The Lost Weekend, mental health in Rebecca and the horror of war in All Quiet On The Western Front. These are all touched on again in the 1946 Best Picture winner, The Best Years Of Our Lives.
The film features these in incredibly strong ways through their 3 main characters. What they come back to after fighting in the Second World War was common for returning soldiers. They were broken, lost, pensive on their experience in the war.
The irony of all this is the film’s title. “The Best Years Of Our Lives”. So I wanted to ask Jon, what does the title mean to you? Does it represent something else about the film?
What is in a movie title, does it matter?
All Categories (25)
Best Motion Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives— Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Winner
Henry V— J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films
It's a Wonderful Life— Liberty Films
The Razor's Edge— 20th Century-Fox
The Yearling— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Actor
Gregory Peck— The Yearling {"Pa Baxter"}
James Stewart— It's a Wonderful Life {"George Bailey"}
Larry Parks— The Jolson Story {"Al Jolson"}
Laurence Olivier— Henry V {"Henry V"}
Actor In A Supporting Role
Charles Coburn— The Green Years {"Alexander Gow"}
Claude Rains— Notorious {"Alexander Sebastian"}
Clifton Webb— The Razor's Edge {"Elliott Templeton"}
William Demarest— The Jolson Story {"Steve Martin"}
Actress
Celia Johnson— Brief Encounter {"Laura Jesson"}
Jane Wyman— The Yearling {"Ma Baxter"}
Jennifer Jones— Duel in the Sun {"Pearl Chavez"}
Rosalind Russell— Sister Kenny {"Elizabeth Kenny"}
Actress In A Supporting Role
Ethel Barrymore— The Spiral Staircase {"Mrs. Warren"}
Flora Robson— Saratoga Trunk {"Angelique Buiton"}
Gale Sondergaard— Anna and the King of Siam {"Lady Thiang"}
Lillian Gish— Duel in the Sun {"Belle McCanles"}
Directing
Brief Encounter— David Lean
It's a Wonderful Life— Frank Capra
The Killers— Robert Siodmak
The Yearling— Clarence Brown
Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Seventh Veil— Muriel Box, Sydney Box
Winner
Children of Paradise— Jacques Prevert
Notorious— Ben Hecht
Road to Utopia— Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
The Blue Dahlia— Raymond Chandler
Writing (Original Story)
Vacation from Marriage— Clemence Dane
Winner
The Dark Mirror— Vladimir Pozner
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers— Jack Patrick
The Stranger— Victor Trivas
To Each His Own— Charles Brackett
Writing (Screenplay)
The Best Years of Our Lives— Robert E. Sherwood
Winner
Anna and the King of Siam— Talbot Jennings, Sally Benson
Brief Encounter— David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame
Open City— Sergio Amidei, F. Fellini
The Killers— Anthony Veiller
Cinematography (Black-And-White)
Anna and the King of Siam— Arthur Miller
Winner
The Green Years— George Folsey
Cinematography (Color)
The Yearling— Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith, Arthur Arling
Winner
The Jolson Story— Joseph Walker
Music (Music Score Of A Dramatic Or Comedy Picture)
The Best Years of Our Lives— Hugo Friedhofer
Winner
Anna and the King of Siam— Bernard Herrmann
Henry V— William Walton
Humoresque— Franz Waxman
The Killers— Miklos Rozsa
Music (Scoring Of A Musical Picture)
The Jolson Story— Morris Stoloff
Winner
Blue Skies— Robert Emmett Dolan
Centennial Summer— Alfred Newman
Night and Day— Ray Heindorf, Max Steiner
The Harvey Girls— Lennie Hayton
Art Direction (Black-And-White)
Anna and the King of Siam— Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, William Darling; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little, Frank E. Hughes
Winner
Kitty— Art Direction: Hans Dreier, Walter Tyler; Interior Decoration: Sam Comer, Ray Moyer
The Razor's Edge— Art Direction: Richard Day, Nathan Juran; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox
Art Direction (Color)
The Yearling— Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis
Winner
Caesar and Cleopatra— John Bryan
Henry V— Art Direction: Paul Sheriff, Carmen Dillon
Special Effects
Blithe Spirit— Special Visual Effects by Thomas Howard
Winner
A Stolen Life— Special Visual Effects by William McGann; Special Audible Effects by Nathan Levinson
Film Editing
The Best Years of Our Lives— Daniel Mandell
Winner
It's a Wonderful Life— William Hornbeck
The Jolson Story— William Lyon
The Killers— Arthur Hilton
The Yearling— Harold Kress
Sound Recording
The Jolson Story— Columbia Studio Sound Department, John Livadary, Sound Director
Winner
It's a Wonderful Life— RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John Aalberg, Sound Director
The Best Years of Our Lives— Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon Sawyer, Sound Director
Documentary (Short Subject)
Seeds of Destiny— United States Department of War
Winner
Atomic Power— The March of Time
Life at the Zoo— Artkino
Paramount News Issue #37 (Twentieth Anniversary Issue! 1927.....1947)— Paramount
Traffic with the Devil— Herbert Morgan, Producer
Special Award
To Laurence Olivier for his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen.
Winner
IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD
Samuel Goldwyn
To Claude Jarman, Jr., outstanding child actor of 1946.
To Ernst Lubitsch for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture.
To Harold Russell for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives.
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class III)
To HARLAN L. BAUMBACH and the PARAMOUNT WEST COAST LABORATORY for an improved method for the quantitative determination of hydroquinone and metol in photographic developing baths. [Laboratory]
Winner
To ARTHUR F. BLINN, ROBERT O. COOK, C. O. SLYFIELD and the WALT DISNEY STUDIO SOUND DEPARTMENT for the design and development of an audio finder and track viewer for checking and locating noise in sound tracks. [Sound]
To BURTON F. MILLER and the WARNER BROS. STUDIO SOUND DEPARTMENT for the design and application of an equalizer to eliminate relative spectral energy distortion in electronic compressors. [Sound]
To BURTON F. MILLER and the WARNER BROS. STUDIO SOUND and ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENTS for the design and construction of a motion picture arc lighting generator filter. [Lighting]
To CARL FAULKNER of the 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department for the reversed bias method, including a double bias method for light valve and galvonometer density recording. [Sound]
To HAROLD NYE and the WARNER BROS. STUDIO ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT for the development of the electronically controlled fire and gaslight effect. [Stage Operations]
To HERBERT E. BRITT for the development and application of formulas and equipment for producing cloud and smoke effects. [Stage Operations]
To MARTY MARTIN and HAL ADKINS of the RKO Radio Studio Miniature Department for the design and construction of equipment providing visual bullet effects. [Stage Operations]
To the MOLE-RICHARDSON COMPANY for the Type 450 super high intensity carbon arc lamp. [Lighting]
Music (Song)
"On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe" from The Harvey Girls— Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Winner
"All Through The Day" from Centennial Summer— Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
"I Can't Begin To Tell You" from The Dolly Sisters— Music by James Monaco; Lyrics by Mack Gordon
"Ole Buttermilk Sky" from Canyon Passage— Music by Hoagy Carmichael; Lyrics by Jack Brooks
"You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" from Blue Skies— Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Short Subject (Cartoon)
The Cat Concerto— Frederick Quimby, Producer
Winner
Chopin's Musical Moments— Walter Lantz, Producer
John Henry and the Inky Poo— George Pal, Producer
Squatter's Rights— Walt Disney, Producer
Walky Talky Hawky— Edward Selzer, Producer
Short Subject (One-Reel)
Facing Your Danger— Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
Winner
Dive-Hi Champs— Jack Eaton, Producer
Golden Horses— Edmund Reek, Producer
Smart as a Fox— Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
Sure Cures— Pete Smith, Producer
Short Subject (Two-Reel)
A Boy and His Dog— Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
Winner
College Queen— George B. Templeton, Producer
Hiss and Yell— Jules White, Producer
The Luckiest Guy in the World— Jerry Bresler, Producer