All Quiet on the Western Front

Many early sound films are at a great disadvantage when it comes topleasingmodern audiences. This problem stems mainly from two causes. For one,actors and actresses were still using the exaggerated mannerisms of thesilent film school. Today, this results in what we would callembarrassingly bad acting. Secondly, it is painfully evident that aneffective combination of sound and music, which should have complementedtheonscreen images, was back then an as of yet unmastered technique. Theserough edges were eventually smoothed out by the mid to late thirties whenactors and filmmakers began acclimating themselves to the art of soundfilm.Unfortunately, "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT" is one of the films thatfalls into the above-mentioned category.

HOWEVER, This having been said, every serious film lover should stillattempt to catch this movie at least once in his or her lifetime for itdoescontain many unforgettable moments. What will keep the film in yourmemory years after viewing it are its well-staged battle sequences, itspacifist message and of course its haunting final images which are purepoetry. Dated, yes - but also worthwhile. 7 out of 10.

Modern viewers can experience all the same emotions and issues tackled byALL QUIET without any of its drawbacks, by viewing Peter Weir’s memorable"GALLIPOLI" released in 1981. It also takes place during WWI but it is amore character driven film, which benefits from excellent direction,cinematography and music. Of the two, I believe it is the better motionpicture.

So, the writer wrote a good book, the director created a good movieabout the horrors of WWI. And the History read the book, watched themovie, yawned, … and proceeded with WWII. What a sad conclusion! But,you know what? Despite the fact that WWII was far more cruel andbarbarous that WWI, the WWI was still more senseless, meaningless. Atleast in WWII was something comprehensible: the evil force wanted toconquer the world and use it at her evil’s disposal, and the bravecourageous people stood up to the evil to save their lands.

But in WWI who wanted what? Why did millions of people died? For whatpurpose?

040.1: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - released 4/21/1930.

DOUG: We watched this film as part of our exhaustive War Movie Odysseytwo years ago, and it was definitely one of my favorite movies in theset, not to mention one of the all-time best movies about WWI. It showsthe war from the German point of view, but I got the feeling they couldhave done practically the same movie from the point of view of nearlyany nation in the war. The themes are pretty universal for whathappened; the needless massacres, the officers who had no idea how tohandle an army, the soldiers asking "why is this war happening?" Themovie is made up of nothing but memorable scenes; the scene where thesoldiers get back at their drunken CO for spoiling their leave; thescene where a fellow soldier realizes that his leg has been amputated;the scene where Paul spends the night in a foxhole with an enemysoldier he has killed; the scene where Paul enters the class ofstudents, just like the one he was in years ago, and tells them all howwar really is. War movies of the day were clearly about how war waspointless as that was the feeling about WWI (or, as it was called then,The Great War); this would change when WWII came along, when the wordwould be that the war was necessary, and worth fighting.

KEVIN: We watched this film years ago to kick off our massive war movieodyssey, and there were no other films throughout that list thatequaled this one in anti-war sentiment. Most war movies are anti-war onsome level, but All Quiet spends every frame of its 130-minute runningtime driving home its point. I remember so many scenes in this film.The scene when Paul and his friends are listening to their teacher goon about the honor and patriotism of going to war and fighting fortheir country, and the scene later when he returns to the sameclassroom after his disillusionment to find that his old teacher istelling the same bull story to a new flock of prospective corpses. Thescene when Paul finds himself in the hospital bed being wheeled throughthe door of no return. And of course there's the unforgettable scenewhen Paul winds up in a shell hole with a dying enemy soldier. Iremember the battle scenes were gritty and graphic to a degree that wewould not see again until Saving Private Ryan, the way the cameratracks viciously across the trenches as the enemy forces advance. Oneof the interesting things is that the fact that the characters areGerman is incidental, as the conditions and the despair were nearlyidentical on all sides of the conflict. Had we watched it again, itwould have been the first film depicting World War I on the list (afterthe more uplifting The Big Parade), and it would have been almostunnecessary to watch any others, simply in the way that this filmcaptures in every way the disillusionment the world saw during thatwar, brought to life from the point of view of a few scared youthsfacing horrors no one before them had ever experienced.

Last film chronologically: The Divorcée (1930). Next filmchronologically: Hell's Angels (1930).

This film has to be one of the most moving films ever made, right up therewith Schindler’s List. The death of youth and innocence is realistic. Theimage of the butterfly has been reused again and again and yet it is stillmoving. The inclusion of comic moments, such as the encounter with theFrench girls and the revenge over Himmelstoss, make in a rounded film. Thenovel is amazing but so is the film. It should be made compulsory and shouldnever be remade.

Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Casualties Of War, The Deer Hunter, TheBest Years Of Our Lives, and Platoon can all chase their roots back to thismovie. All Quiet On The Western Front remains one of the most stunning warmovies ever produced. This depressing tale of friends lost in the neverending trench battles of World War I is inspiring filmmaking. Even bytoday’s standards this is a beautiful movie to watch about how unbeautifulwar is. This gem of a movie should regularly be shown in schools countrywide. I never knew what I was missing until I saw it for the first time 2years ago. It is one of the most powerful movies I’ve everseen.

This motion picture is nearly 70 years old and the message it sends is stillas powerful as it was when it first came out. An anti-war film that wasyears ahead of it’s time. Younger audiences would probably not be able toidentify any of the actors/actresses in this film and the 1979 TV versionremake may be better suited for them as the story is the same one with a fewminor variations. Many of the old films from the 30’s become harder to watchand enjoy simply because of their age and film techniques. However this onecontinues to hold it’s own.

This motion picture is the most outstanding of its day. Today, it stillranks as one of the "Best". Junior Laemmle wanted to make this movie,although his father was not keen on the idea. The father/son collaborationthat ensued during production turned out to be Junior’s greatestachievement, under the direction of Lewis Milestone, who Junior had muchfaith in. ALL QUIET was the first best picture Oscar won for Universal andprobably its most prestigious. Next year will be the 70th anniversary of theOscar presentation to the Laemmles for this most honorable production.

With great dialogue scenes, moving images, and symbolism involved makethisa stunningly powerful war film.

It is set against the background of World War I, and a teacher encouragestotake pride in their country and enlist, only to realize that war isn’t asglamerous as its made out to be. One by one, Kat loses his friends andthesoldiers become younger and younger. He later returns to his teachersclassroom on a leave.
Kat questions the teacher on why he told them toenlist, and told the students that they shouldn’t listen to him, but theyall call him a coward. He returns to the front, to the trenches, and tounfamiliar faces. I won’t give away the ending, but it is one you won’tforget.

The special effects and sound aren’t all that great, but the film makingisspectacular. It won a much deserved Best Picture in 1930, and is on theAFI’s 100 years 100 movies list. It’s beyond any war movie I’ve everseen.

One of the greatest films of all time. Far superior to such modern films asSaving Private Ryan. The battle scenes are impeccable and it tells in anoutstanding way how their naive hopes failed them and tells alot aboutgrowing up. As opposed to other films, crane lifted camera is used instead of a manstanding behind them like in Saving Private Ryan. The quality of the performances was extremely surprising because at thattime there was alot of bad acting among young male performances. As well as being one of the most moving films of all time it is prettyentertaining for a masterpiece The characters can all be sympathised with including the misunderstoodprofessor because propaganda and unnecessary patriotism were very commonduring the first world war. Without being particularly graphic it is still one of the most harrowingwar films of all time. The scenes with the French civilian girls tells about the desparation andloneliness of war in a beautiful way

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a key film in the subject of warfilms.It had one of the biggest budgets of that time ($1.25 million) and it musthave been quite risky for Hollywood seeing as how it was an anti-war film.What I love most about the film is that it knows the basic rule for makingreally good movies and that is not how many body parts are left on thefield, but what the movie does is let you imagine what’s goin on, like howthey were being shelled in the bunker and some of them went mad. It’s likethe so many horror movies today that believe by simply startlying you,theyscare you, and they build no suspense. This movie lets you imagine a goodportion of what the soldiers are going through, but build a great amountofsuspense by havinf so much lead up to it. Everyone is spectacular in theirperformances, and the last moments of the film are sad and painful. Ithinkthat the last shot is as great as it’s title, the last shot probably had aprofound effect on how movies with messages were to be made, as symbolicandless literal. A truly powerful, timeless film.

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