Truly Dreadful Film

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

No need to repeat the plot. That scene where Pat (McGuire) and Cliff (Madison) encounter the shell-shocked outpatient is genuinely disturbing. For a screenplay, that's a tough problem to treat in a single set-up. Pat's little anecdotal lesson works pretty well-- the soldier is relieved of his demons for the moment. But for how long, I wonder. And what will become of him, sitting alone, quaking, and afraid to go home. And how many others will come home like him. The script says the inner wounds will wear off eventually, but then it had to say something like that, otherwise the movie's hopeful tone would be compromised. And that would be counter to what the country needs following four years of horror. It' a decent, earnest movie, produced by the studio's (RKO) head honcho Dore Schary, so it's a prestige production. Looks like they took a gamble on an unknown Guy Madison in the lead role. He certainly looks the part—I can just about hear the echoing squeals of bobby- soxers even 60 years later. He does bring an earnestness that's refreshing, even if his range is pretty limited as the heavier scenes show. Newcomers Mitchum and the underrated Bill Williams also register, along with the dewy-eyed Dorothy McGuire before she became a favorite movie mom. But I especially like Jean Porter's vivacious teenager. It's really her Helen who projects the buoyant spirit of the coming consumer age.There were, of course, a number of these "adjustment" films as the country struggled with a return to normalcy. Where this movie excels is with the uncertainty of a recovering civilian world. Each main character is drifting as a result of the war. Each has been changed and must now work out how to fit back in. Then too, I like the rather ambivalent way the movie ends, avoiding easy solutions. There's one other sequence worth noting. The barroom brawl is both over-done and clumsily staged. Nonetheless, it makes an important point. Namely, that the war has changed society as well as individuals. A post-war America will be more inclusive than the traditional America. The logic appears to be that since it took everyone to win the war, no one should be excluded from the fruits. Given the civil rights movement soon to emerge, the movie thus proves prophetic. Too bad this worthy movie effort now seems so obscure. Despite the years, it remains an affecting look at a key period in American life and merits catching up with.(In passing—that's filmmaker Blake Edwards of Pink Panther fame as the shop foreman that Cliff tangles with, soon to become a screenwriter, and then an A-picture producer-director.)

Though Till The End Of Time boasted a hit song which filled the radio airwaves for months after the film was released, seen today it looks a whole lot like a dress rehearsal for The Best Years Of Our Lives. Not that it is a bad film, but Sam Goldwyn did so much better with a very similar plot involving three returning war veterans.In this case we're talking Marines, veterans of the Pacific Theater who have just come home and are trying to readjust to civilian life. At least Guy Madison is all in one piece. He meets up with attractive war widow Dorothy McGuire who's having a much harder time. Her late husband was a flier, the glamor job of the service and just about anyone else doesn't measure up. But Madison has one advantage, he's alive and McGuire is not getting any younger.Till The End Of Time was a followup film for Robert Mitchum who had just had his breakthrough role in The Story Of GI Joe. He plays Madison's best friend, the cowboy of Kwajalein, who talks about getting enough money together for a chicken ranch in New Mexico, but just can't quite get around to ending the partying from being discharged. Mitchum got the most notice from this film and this cemented his number one status at RKO for years.Like The Best Years Of Our Lives this film dealt with three veterans and the third is Bill Williams, later television's Kit Carson, who is a double amputee. Not much call for prize fighters which he was before the war with no legs. Selena Royle is particularly touching in her role as Williams's mother.The acclaim this film got was drowned out by the Goldwyn masterpiece which ironically enough was also released by RKO. But besides Mitchum's performance, the title theme from this picture was a big record hit in 1946. Adapted from Chopin's Polonaise by Ted Mossman and Buddy Kaye, Till The End Of Time gave Perry Como one of his earliest gold records just as he was breaking out as a singer. Doris Day also had a big seller with the Les Brown band.A lot of the plot elements from The Best Years Of Our Lives are found in this film. Served up nicely, but not quite the same flavor, still tasty though.

Hard to believe that this out-standing film has not come out on DVD. Guy Madison gives his finest on-screen performance as a returning U.S. Marine, whose World War II combat experiences have left him a changed man. For those of you too young to remember, Madison was the 1940s version of Robert Redford or Brad Pitt. Beyond his screen-idol good looks, the blonde haired Madison was a highly under-rated actor. It's really a shame that he was "saddled" in second and third rate Westerns, and ended his once-promising career in dubbed-in Italian stinkers. Till the End of Time captures a time now long gone. It was romantic, sentimental, and information. A truly great film. Keep an eye out for a young Robert Mitchuim.

Some jerk movie reviewer says it was to much of a tear jerker. What does he or she know. I , being a Vietnam combat vet, remember seeing the movie some years ago on TV and thinking how much I related to the story line. I can't remember much about the movie except for the fact that the filmmaker was right on when it came to trying to readjust. It ain't easy. Lots of resentment and hostility. The story may have tugged at the heart but film making has got to deal with the emotional side of ones story as well as the artful aspects of making a film. The reviewer obviously has spent no time in combat so as a result the main theme of the story escapes him or her. FIGURES