Till the End of Time

..If only to see beautiful and appealing Guy Madison in one of his earlier roles before lost to western films and TV ("Wild Bill Hickok") in the 1950s. Madison is the focal point here, portraying a returning serviceman from World War II and his subsequent adjustment to civilian life with sincerity and easy-going charm. Brad Pitt has a bit of his extremely handsome blonde, athletic looks, but not ingratiating acting prowess. (Madison is on the cover of "Hearthrob", a book about male cinema stars). Top-billed Dorothy McGuire is really support, somewhat of a matronly mis-matched love interest for the youthful Madison. A lovely score and good direction offset some dated aspects in the script. But Madison carries the day!

This takes one back to the end of WWII when GIs were being released from service and coming home to dubious situations.

Confused, disoriented, and restive, these ex-service men were suddenly thrust into lifestyles for which they were unprepared. From holding a bayoneted rifle to pushing a pencil, the transition was abrupt and strange.

Many drifted into and out of relationships, while others took to the bottle as a form of escape. "Till the End of Time" dramatizes a few of these plights with some interest.

Cast in the lead role was Guy Madison, newly "discovered" by Henry Willson and David O. Selznick for a snippet but memorable scene in "Since You Went Away" (and shot quickly while Madison was on navy leave). After being mustered out of the service a couple of years later, Hollywood was eagerly waiting to cast him in what really amounted to his first feature (barring the earlier "cameo"). Unfortunately it was a starring role.

That was a pity, for the young "find" needed small vehicles in which to mature and grow in the profession. That he comes off as well as he does here is commendable, yet it does him a great disservice. Guy's reedy, inconsistent, and even amateurish looking--qualities that would have been honed and polished, had he the sensitive career management other similar "discoveries" were afforded.

Having his greatest weaknesses so exposed in a lead part, Madison was "written off" for other starring roles, and pushed into routine westerns--where he more or less remained for the rest of his career. However, his appearance in some seven dozen radio, television and movie parts ain't especially hay. And while he may not have been considered the greatest actor, he did make an honest living that put food on the table for the rest of his life.

His costars here are the excellent Robert Mitchum and Dorothy McGuire, and they certainly help bolster the proceedings. All in all, "Till the End of Time" is an interesting drama, and Guy Madison's most notable vehicle.

The pop adaptation of Chopin's "Polanaise" played throughout doesn't hurt.

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.

I picked this up for $5 at a sale just because it had Robert Mitchum's name on the credits. Mitchum's role is secondary but I found I enjoyed the movie rather more than I thought I would.

I understand it was released the same year as THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and was rather over shadowed by that more expensive production.

The theme is dated, servicemen adjusting to civilian life after WW2, it is basically a soap opera but it very well handled by director Edward Dmytryk. Chopin's music is cleverly interwoven throughout, as background music, as a popular song with lyrics added heard over the radio and even jazzed up in a barroom sequence.

Performances are good. Guy Madison is no great shakes as an actor but he looks the part, give an honest performance and doesn't bump into the furniture. Dorothy Mcguire has always been a favorite of mine. Usually she played dowdy housewives but she had a neat figure and to me she had a down to earth sex appeal.

Well worth seeing.

I would make the case that Guy Madison may be the best-looking young man to ever star in a feature film, and this is his best one. There are moments where his totally unselfconscious looks are just jaw-dropping. His acting, on the other hand, can be described charitably as "natural"; but I wasn't expecting Lawrence Olivier. Guy was an early find of legendary Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who would later "discover" a tall young man whom he renamed Rock Hudson.