After the Vietnam War when returning vets started protesting and complaining, some WWII veterans were taken aback and called them whiners and cowards.One need only see this film to get it. Coming home from combat is not an easy thing, and yes, a number of good soldiers, after the Big War, had a very hard time adjusting to civilian life. This film is a very realistic portrayal of that unfortunate situation and pulls few punches. The tone is perfect and the performances are excellent. The "neat little bow" ending is abrupt and unconvincing and keeps this from being pure film-noir, but "til the end" it is one powerful presentation of the post-war predicament. A nod also must be given to the inclusion of a set-up to announce to ALL of America that it took a ALL kinds of Heroes to win the war. Catholics, Jews, Negroes and others...not just WASPS.That, after all, is a situation we still have to deal with and its victims are ever present.

A timely message at the close of WWII and one that needed to be told.Guy Madison is quite the looker but a great actor he is not. But considering this is his first leading role, he does well enough. This was well before my time and I had never heard his name before so it was nice to stumble upon someone considered quite the heartthrob in his day. It's interesting that he ended up married to Gail Russell, who I had heard of, but apparently the marriage didn't last long (she died an early death at 36 due to alcoholism).Mitchum shows good acting skills early in his career. Dorothy Maguire gives an interesting depiction of a war widow. Sure, she's not the best looking they could have cast here, but I think her "ordinariness" makes her character much more sympathetic and probably helped many real war widows see themselves in her character.I'm not sure the tidy ending did anyone a service though. I doubt many vets with real problems and issues could tie up there loose ends so neatly, but this is Hollywood.

When I came back from DESERT STORM, my friends had moved, my girlfriend had a new boyfriend, everything I had was gone. It was only a year.When I first saw "Till The End of Time", I was drinking and crying. Then I understood.Clint Eastwood interviewed Vets for his recent movie (the one about Iwo Jimo). One of them, he movingly related, had never been able to form a relationship and start a family.If you watch this movie you'll understand. Just being a war Vet is weird, even if you weren't shot at nor wounded. Physically.Coming back, I couldn't get a job. I never got an interview, even after hundreds of professional resumes. No wanted me. I was alone.Watch this movie. It and "Walk In The Sun" are the best WWII flicks I've ever seen.

Here is one of the earliest of the impact-of-civilian-life-on-soldiers stories. The story is pretty conventional, with different returning vets faced with different challenges. But there are a two factors which for me make this an engaging, even endearing movie.It's 1946, and we're seeing stars at their freshest. Robert Mitchum is the "old hand," which gives you an idea of how young we're talking about. Then there's the perpetually baby-faced Bill Williams. Finally, we have Guy Madison. I agree that he has to be one of the handsomest guys ever to appear on screen, a fact that renders his hopeless acting irrelevant. The love interest is provided with a fresh-faced Dorothy McGuire. Seeing these "kids" is really fun, not playing off old timers but each other.It's RKO, which means fairly low budget. This is actually an advantage. These are mainly middle-to-lower-middle-class folks, in their modest homes with their modest dreams, and more ambitious pipe dreams. Again, it's 1946. We're seeing 1946 urban (L.A.) sets, L.A. bars and pinball machines, clothing and hairstyles. No Adrian. No fancy nightclubs, no Gable, Crawford or Stewart or Dietrich. Just some very handsome kids, playing how those who lived in that moment recall so well: flush with victory but still shell-shocked, confident but not having it quite sunk in that we had become the masters of the world.