Customer Reviews
The Poetry is in the Pity - By: Mr. G. C. Stone, 17 Jun 2008 
I first saw this as a young boy, & couldn't understand why I empathised with these soldiers when they were German. And then I watched transfixed, & when the ending came that clinched it - it was, & remains till this day, very close to my heart. It permanently changed me as young person & my moral compass & my view of the world. It was that important. It also helped fire up my love of great cinema & how total an experience a great film can be.
And of course, it was made very close to the real events, & has that touch of realism that films made now cannot reach back & grasp.
Too many highlights to list here - the individual stories, the great scenes (alonein a foxhole with a frenchman he's killed etc) - but what is permanenty etched on my mind is the view from behind a row of machine guns as they mow down the men running towards them.
This goes beyond cinema - a great novel, a great film, & a kind of testament of the 20th century that will simply endure
Still the benchmark for WW1 films - and rightly so - By: Trevor Willsmer, 06 Nov 2007 There's a reason that Lewis Milestone's All Quiet On the Western Front is still the best remembered of all the many films about the horrors of the First World War despite rarely being revived on television: it really IS a great & often very moving film that plants itself firmlyin the memory. While WW1 movies had been gradually moving into darker territory as the silent era came to an end, perhaps only J'Accuse had dealt with the bitter disillusionment so many felt at the time quite so graphically. In that, All Quiet was aided at the time by having its lost generation on the losing side - British, French & American films would deal with the horrors of trench life but would still regard them as a price worth paying for victory. It would not be until the 1960s that futility on both sides would become the cinematic norm.
Filmed on a truly epic scale with a striking visual fluidity that was still unusual for an early talkie thanks to Arthur Edeson's pioneering cinematography, after the initial establishing scenes there's no real story, simply a succession of incidents as its group of schoolboy recruits are gradually killed off. As impressive as these incidents are, the film wouldn't be nearly as effective if the characters didn't convince, & the film is anchored by a superb lead performance from Lew Ayres as the idealistic young schoolboy who gradually becomes a shell of his former self, with excellent support from Louis Wolheim as the old soldier who takes him & his friends under his wing. Wisely replacing the flashback structure of Erich Maria Remarque's book with a chronological narrative, rather than introducing the characters as the cynical survivors they become, the film gradually shows their idealism worn away. While the attack & counter-attack sequences are still incredibly vivid, breathtakingly edited & surprisingly violent -in one memorable shot an explosion leaves only a pair of severed hands clinging to barbed wire - the real horror almost seems to be the way the characters adapt to their dehumanising conditions at the front to such an extent that they no longer fitin at home when they do get leave. It becomes impossible to imagine a life after the war so completely have they been consumed by it.
Ironically the film's most famous scene is nowhere to be foundin the novel. Remarque never describes the final death: his body is simply discovered, appearing to be at peace. Milestone opted for something more explicitly powerful, but not without much trial & error. After at least seven scripted versions had been rejected, another ending of Paul hallucinating of French & German troops marching into the same grave & crying outin anguish before being shot by a sniper had been filmed but satisfied no-one - the studio wanted a happy ending (Milestone jokingly suggested having the Germans win!) while Milestone hated the rushes: it was cinematographer Karl Freund who suggested that the ending should be `as simple as a butterfly.' Hastily shot by Freund with Milestone's own hand standingin for Ayres, the iconic scene would become one of cinema's most enduring moments. Yet perhaps even more moving is the film's closing shot of the boys marching up the line to death, their faces superimposed over their graves as they look back at the camera & the audience without life & without hope. It still packs an incredible emotional punch more than three-quarters of a century later.
It's a shame there isn't a documentary to accompany the film on DVD, as the film's history is fascinating (Andrew Kelly's book Filming All Quiet On the Western Front gives an excellent account). Numerous scenes were reshot with different cast members - ZaSu Pitts' scenes as Paul's mother were reshot with Beryl Mercer because Pitts had just had a comedy on release & the studio were afraid audiences would laugh when they saw her - while the film was exhibitedin both sound & silent versions. Future directors Fred Zinnemann & Robert Parrish were extrasin the film while an uncredited George Cukor was the film's dialogue coach. The film was bannedin several countriesin Europe before WW2 (New Zealand was the first country to ban it, on the bizarre grounds that it was `not entertainment' & therefore `unsuitable for public exhibition'!) & attacked by McCarthy as Communist propaganda after it when he included the Russian-born Milestonein his list of the 19 most `dangerous' subversivesin the film industry.
The film's German premiere was disrupted by the Nazis, who even released micein the theatre & organized several days of riots that successfully got the film bannedin Germany to `preserve public order.' Over the subsequent years music was added to some scenes & the film was heavily cut with each reissue, even turned into an anti-Nazi pro-war propaganda filmin 1939 by the judicious deletion of certain scenes & the addition of newsreel footage of Nazi rallies & book-burnings. Yet ironically the film's restoration was largely based on the longest surviving print, which had been foundin Joseph Goebbels private collection - while he publicly attacked the film, he genuinely admired its artistry. The version here is still missing a few minutes of footage, some of which has been subsequently restored to 35mm prints, but it's still well worth picking up.
In-depth look war and peoples attitudes. - By: B. Chandler, 25 Oct 2005 The country is at war & Paul Bäumer (Lew Ayres) isin school. His instructor is proud that he is volunteering to protect his country. He & his classmates are off on & adventure. This adventure will chance the way they look at life &in the process change our life outlook.
On the surface this looks like a pacifist or anti war movie. One may think this has something to do with an enemy's view of war. Also there is a tendency pick the film apart because it is not the book.
In reality this story is more of a, don't get over zealous movie. At least don't let some one mesmerize you. It even happenedin a contemporary film "Private Benjamin" (1980). She was promised the army with the private condos. Again we see the zealous onesin "Starship Troopers" (1997) where they show the romantic side of war.
As far as the rating it is ridicules to compare a movie that has to pass censors & only has 130 minutes with the book. Naturally the book is going to be more thorough & descriptive. What we can compare it to is the original movie "Westfront 1918" (1930) directed by George Wilhelm Pabst (1885-1967) & "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1979). Check them all out including the audiocassette of the book.
The points are made much clearerin "Westfront 1918" even though is shorter it is the 5 star movie. Especially when we return to the schoolroom to see the teacher inspiring the next generation of students to become soldiers. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) however is easier to understand then "West Front". You can spend more timein the message & less on the translation from German. In either film the actual down time (between actions) drove me crazy as I remembered the time that we were not fighting or planning somethingin Viet Nam was when I got antsy. The 1979 movie is a boring TV type movie with "Johnboy" Richard Thomas, playing the part of Paul Baumer. The only good part is when he got shot.
"Im Western Nichts Neues" By Remarque: "He fellin October 1918, on a day that was so quiet & still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the western Front."
best war (anti war) film ever - By: Mr. Mark Brooker, 15 May 2005 I first saw this film many years ago & was immediately takenin by its pure genius . Written & acted way way before its time. What first strikes you is the differencein attitude from then to now. All brainwashed by a patriotic teacher the characters go together to fightin the trenches of ww1. thinking themselves doing the right thing & truly believing that it is going to be one big adventure & that they will all return as heroes to the flag waving public.the boys soon find out at training camp that it is no picnic. So eventually its off to war & greeted by old warhorses who soon teach them that life on the front line is dog eat dog. Scrapping for the last morsal, for days pinned down by shelling from enemy lines . Death affects every one of them as friends dissappear or die.The most touching part is after an assault on french enemy lines the main character has to spend the nightin a shell crater when losing his platoon strandedin no mans land.The nignt is not spent alone, a french soldier he has killed lies there looking at him all night.an ending you dont expect shows there is no gloryin war.Although madein 1930 the film is superbly acted & very atmospheric.No plastic explosions to hide weak story lines that many films of today must have to hide their lack of content. & much better than the remake with richard thomas madein the eighties. Had this film been created & released today no one else would have to turn up at the oscars. Your war collection will only be complete when this is purchased for your collection..
