Till The End Of Time (1946)

At the end of WWII, a marine (Guy Madison) returns to his hometown to find things very different. He feels displaced and isn't sure what he wants to do with his life. When he meets an attractive war widow (Dorothy McGuire), he focuses on her but she isn't sure she's ready for another relationship just yet. Based on the novel THEY DREAM OF HOME by Niven Busch (DUEL IN THE SUN) and directed by Edward Dmytryk (CROSSFIRE). Released the same year as the epic THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES which dealt with the same subject matter (returning war veterans attempting to reabsorb into civilian lives), the film isn't as good which is why it isn't remembered as much. It's not a bad film by any means but it's not as rich or as complex as BEST YEARS. It's too simplistic and wrapped up in a neat little package. It also suffers with a weak leading man, Guy Madison is so handsome to the point of being beautiful but he's not a good enough actor to inhabit such a complicated protagonist and show us what he's going through. He tells us (courtesy of the screenplay) but he doesn't show us. On the other hand, Dorothy McGuire as the widow does reveal to us a wounded woman struggling to put her life back together while guarding her emotions. She's wonderful but in Madison, she has no one to play off of. With Robert Mitchum, Bill Williams, Tom Tully, William Gargan, Jean Porter and Selena Royle.