Watching and researching The Best Years of Our Lives was honestly a really valuable experience for me. It gave me a look into the lives of vets and their families as well as social and film aspects of the time. One very important thing I saw in the movie was Fred’s dream. Today, PTSD is addressed, treated and talked about, but in the film, it was just something that happens and isn’t talked about. The only thing that was done was placing them in smaller combat groups so their social interactions would be limited. Millions of soldiers were discharged from WWII for psychiatric reasons and medical personnel were baffled. The vets felt like strangers to their town and families when they came home. They had to re meet their wives and children. This is evident in the scene when Al goes home and tells his wife he didn’t even recognize his own children. Homer’s hooks especially interested me. He could do just about everything with his hooks that anyone else could do with their hands. The 40’s boomed with new medical technologies because of all the injuries from WWII. I was also quite surprised at how long the film was for the time. Saying that, it went by rather quickly because it was interesting from start to finish.
Alfred Hitchcock was praised for his directing of the scariest movies of his time. Some of his most famous are: Psycho, The Birds, and Rear Window. The 39 Steps was one underappreciated movie that Hitchcock directed. This movie had it all; it was sexy, dark, and funny. At first, I thought Hannay was going to end up with the spy woman, until she got killed. It became very clear he was going to end up with the woman on the train as soon as we saw her. I thought she was gone forever once he got off the train, but much to my surprise, she showed up while Hannay was on stage pretending to be someone important. Overall, I thought the film was romantic, suspenseful, and intriguing: very on brand for Hitchcock.
History of the Motion Picture 
Great beginning! But…incredibly short. No pictures or videos or anything else. I like your tone of writing and how you give great summaries of what you learned. Just add more!
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After hearing your presentation, I will need to try to see the film. I have found it crazy how PTSD has been a real issue for several years but has never seemed like a major issue up until a few years ago. I don’t think I could ever relate to try and help these people forget the scary things they have seen. It almost seems like to fix that problem; every doctor goes to prescribe medication and I think that could be the worse thing. These soldiers almost get a dependency for these drugs to help them feel better. I think what they really need is someone like them to talk about these issues like how they did in the movie. Go to a bar and chill with fellow vets. I also think that veterans are not treated as well as they were in the past.
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I completely agree. It was nice to being able to see some insight coming from both the vets especially since I always found history and their wars interesting. One thing I found notable was the PTSD and how it was addressed, which I am glad you brought light to. PTSD or any mental disorder or problem was taken lightly back a couple of decades ago, and people were seen as weak or that this was not a serious issue occurring with a lot of people. Even today there is still some stigma connected with PTSD and the people it affects. There were a couple of parts that the group brought up which made feel empathetic towards the things these vets were going through. Feeling as if they are lost or alone within there own homes and around family is something incredibly sad that I can never picture going through. Very sad. Also, I wonder why this specific Alfred Hitchcock film was as under appreciated as it was? was he before his time with this one? I do also agree that it had a little bit of everything to be considered an amazing film, it’s interesting to see different peoples thoughts on situations that deal with vets.
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