While previous war films had largely tended to treat coming home from battle as a triumphant coda, William Wyler’s The Best Years Of Our Lives, like Homer’s epic, begins with the war already over and offers something recognisably much more honest and accurate that set the template for much that followed. Fred (Dana Andrews), from the wrong side of the tracks, struggles with PTSD and an unsympathetic wife. Al (Fredric March), a bank executive, turns to alcohol. Homer (Harold Russell), a star high school athlete with a girl waiting at home, comes back with hooks where once he had hands.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of the IFI’s Odysseys season throughout July.

Tickets for 70mm screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on sale now!