Alison Macor has written a thoughtful and meticulously researched book that documents the fascinating production history of this groundbreaking film while also exploring its cultural, industrial, and social contexts. It will be appreciated by all readers who are drawn to in-depth studies of classic Hollywood films, as well as those interested in disability rights, veterans' issues, war and social problem films, and the postwar American film industry.
— Barbara Hall, coeditor of Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Moviemaking
In her compulsively readable, meticulously researched, and altogether elegant reappraisal of The Best Years of Our Lives, a towering Hollywood classic that many regard as William Wyler’s most enduring cinematic achievement, Alison Macor offers a veritable model of accessible, public-facing scholarship. She chronicles in rich detail the film’s fascinating production history, the deep personal connection it had to its director, and the remarkable resonance that the picture struck with movie-going audiences in its day and continues to strike in us three quarters of a century later.
— Noah Isenberg, author of We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie
More than seventy-five years after it was first released, William Wyler’s film The Best Years of Our Lives remains the beating heart of American cinema. No other movie ever made has proved more powerful, honest, and intimate about the struggles of ordinary people, returning military veterans and their families, in the aftermath of the great cataclysm that was World War II. Alison Macor’s meticulously researched and carefully written account covers all the important ground in the making of this masterwork, from its origins as a blank-verse novel to the selection of the superb cast and crew and the extraordinary and at times painful artistry that went into every creative decision. She is especially alert to the authenticity and compassion that two wounded veterans—the director Wyler and the first-time actor Harold Russell, whose hands were blown off in a training accident—brought to the project.
— Glenn Frankel, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic
Detailed and often rewarding...Anyone who loves 'The Best Years of Our Lives' will appreciate [Macor's] efforts.
— Wall Street Journal
Macor succeeds in delivering a thoughtful and well-researched portrayal of the complicated influence of The Best Years of Our Lives and the film’s overall impact. Fans of the wartime film will no doubt enjoy this close examination of the film.
— Hometowns to Hollywood
Macor’s fascinating book details many factors that converged to make one of Hollywood’s greatest films about war and its aftermath.
— Shepherd Express
[A] comprehensively researched book…Though the book is full of juicy Hollywood details, this is ultimately the triumphant story of how [director William] Wyler and [lead actor Harold] Russell channeled their trauma into a project that brought personal and professional satisfaction to them and a greater awareness of veterans’ issues to the American public...An eloquent testimony to the power of film.
— Library Journal
[Macor] traces [The Best Years of Our Lives'] journey from script to screen, focusing on the film’s production history, its personal connection with its director, and lasting resonance more than 75 years later.
— The Alcalde
An illuminating account of the film’s journey to the screen and its impact on the nation.
— The Film Stage
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.
— Classic Movie Man
The scars of World War II were sometimes physical but just as often mental, and before war movies became adept at discussing – and even naming – post-traumatic stress disorder, characters suffering from shell shock were either cowards or came to their heroic senses after a good slap. In her new book, Alison Macor...salutes William Wyler's 1947 Oscar-winning smash that gave that pain a space on the silver screen, even as the filmmakers were targeted in the Red Scare.
— Austin Chronicle
Macor gives the certified masterpiece from studio-system Hollywood…the treatment it deserves—intelligent, sensitive, and respectful…she smoothly incorporates and generously acknowledges the research and insights of previous critics, culls the money-minded trade press with ready expertise, and applies her own sharp eye for illuminating interpretations. Her study is a welcome addition to a growing body of single-film biographies...Macor is such a rich encyclopedia of all things Best Years.
— Cineaste
