I've rarely experienced so much schmaltz in one setting. The film is about WWII veterans who are paraplegics, in particular one man (Marlon Brando, in his film debut), who is very embittered. He can't deal with life as a man who cannot walk. He especially wants his girlfriend (Teresa Wright) to leave him be and continue on with his life, but nothing doing. I suppose the film does contain plenty of truthful insights into the lives of Brando and the other men in the hospital, but the pathos is pushed on the audience with such force that it becomes hard to care about the clearly painful lives these men lead. Worst is Dmitri Tiomkin's musical score. This is easily the most overscored film I can think of offhand. Brando is good in his debut, but, I must say, the more I see of him the less I like him as an actor. It becomes rather easy to see through his acting tricks. I no longer think of him as one of the best. Besides, his character is kind of a jerk, and definitely a whiner. Not that I blamed him too much, but the film takes place over a couple of years. I pretty much gave up on him when he punched that WWI vet. Sure, the guy was a somewhat obnoxious drunk, but what he says to Brando and his friend, about appreciating their sacrifice, did not deserve a punch to the face. Teresa Wright is boring, and, surprisingly, she's gotten a bit homely by 1950. I liked the scene where she confronts her parents about her wish to marry a paraplegic, but she doesn't accomplish anything else near that elsewhere in the film. Jack Webb and Richard Erdman are fine as two of Brando's closest paraplegic companions, but their constant wisecracking, especially in the first ten minutes of the film, bugged me so much that it took most the rest of the movie for them to win me over again. Everett Sloane wasn't especially good as their doctor. Really, if you want to see a movie about men coping after WWII, in particular a wounded man, just stick with Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives. That just about says everything that ever needed to be said about all men who return from a war. 5/10.