My heart goes out to Niven Busch, the novelist and screenwriter who penned the original novel behind Till the End of Time. Hollywood bought up the rights to his story and filmed an adaptation, and mere months after its release, the incredibly similar The Best Years of Our Lives was released. Not only was that film more successful, but it swept the Academy Awards, endeared itself to American audiences in the decades to come, rendered Niven's story forgotten, and it starred Niven's wife at the time, Teresa Wright! Poor guy!
If you've seen The Best Years of Our Lives-and let's face it, who hasn't?-you'll find yourself shouting at the television set as I did, remarking at the uncanny coincidences between the two films. If you haven't seen it, feel free to skip to the next paragraph. Till the End of Time starts as three marines are getting their honorable discharge papers at the close of WWII. They take taxis back home to their small town. One young man comes home to an empty house, so he goes into town at the local bar, which has just undergone some improvements. The bartender is an old pal and doesn't let underage patrons drink. One soldier doesn't want his old job back because after years in the war, he thinks it's beneath him. One soldier has lost two limbs. There's a girl next door, characters who just want things to go back to the way they were before the war, a PTSD episode, and a brawl. These aren't spoilers, by the way, since these happen pretty quickly. Poor Niven Busch!
As much as my heart bleeds for Niven, The Best Years of Our Lives is a superior film. Hugo Friedhofer's score is one of the most beautiful film scores ever written, and the love story between the young handsome soldier and Peggy is easy to root for. In Till the End of Time, the young, handsome soldier is involved with Pat, and all they do is fight about each other's lack of consistency. Guy Madison can't hold down a job and keeps wanting to run away from his problems, and Dorothy Maguire can't help herself from fooling around with other soldiers. Their romance is the worst part of the movie! Guy is a total dreamboat, though, and I don't know why he didn't have a booming career after this movie. In only his second screen appearance, he carries the movie, oozes with confidence, swing dances, and looks ridiculously handsome. It's too bad he gets hung up on Dorothy, the town bicycle.
If you've seen The Best Years of Our Lives-and let's face it, who hasn't?-you'll find yourself shouting at the television set as I did, remarking at the uncanny coincidences between the two films. If you haven't seen it, feel free to skip to the next paragraph. Till the End of Time starts as three marines are getting their honorable discharge papers at the close of WWII. They take taxis back home to their small town. One young man comes home to an empty house, so he goes into town at the local bar, which has just undergone some improvements. The bartender is an old pal and doesn't let underage patrons drink. One soldier doesn't want his old job back because after years in the war, he thinks it's beneath him. One soldier has lost two limbs. There's a girl next door, characters who just want things to go back to the way they were before the war, a PTSD episode, and a brawl. These aren't spoilers, by the way, since these happen pretty quickly. Poor Niven Busch!
As much as my heart bleeds for Niven, The Best Years of Our Lives is a superior film. Hugo Friedhofer's score is one of the most beautiful film scores ever written, and the love story between the young handsome soldier and Peggy is easy to root for. In Till the End of Time, the young, handsome soldier is involved with Pat, and all they do is fight about each other's lack of consistency. Guy Madison can't hold down a job and keeps wanting to run away from his problems, and Dorothy Maguire can't help herself from fooling around with other soldiers. Their romance is the worst part of the movie! Guy is a total dreamboat, though, and I don't know why he didn't have a booming career after this movie. In only his second screen appearance, he carries the movie, oozes with confidence, swing dances, and looks ridiculously handsome. It's too bad he gets hung up on Dorothy, the town bicycle.