All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) User Reviews

A great pacifist work!

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 8 October 2000]

In 1930, three great pacifist films were released, in the United States, Lewis Milestone's "All Quiet on the Western Front;" in Germany, G.W. Pabst's "Westfront 1918;" and the English film by Anthony Asquith, "Tell England." Of the three, Milestone's film was the one that has received most acclaim...

Based on the novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, "All Quiet on the Western Front" tells the story of a teenager brought up to believe in the values of patriotism, militarism and the glorious death... The teenager returns on leave to his school where the schoolmaster who has taught him the values that he now despises greets him with ecstasy...

As a fighter he is treated with great respect, and the eager young children wait to be aroused by thrilling tales... He has none. There is no heroism. There is no glory. 'We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed - that's all!'

The film is totally committed to its proposition war is evil; not only the First World War which is portrayed in the film, but all war.

The motion picture, considered among the screen's most powerful indictments of the futility of war, contains many excellent sequences and set-pieces which still keep their power: the pair of boots being continually taken over as successive owners are killed; Lew Ayres talking impotently on about the brotherhood of man and the futility of killing as he watches his French enemy die beside him in a shell crater; Ayres carrying the wounded Wolheim on his back and talking cheerfully to him, ignoring he has been killed by a shell splinter; and of course, the closing scene of the hand reaching out from the trenches to seize a butterfly only to fall back slowly as an enemy's bullet falls home...

Despite dated moments, this highly emotive war film retains its overall power and remains a great pacifist work... The film won won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director and was nominated for Best Cinematography & Best Writing...

'Every Day a Year, Every Night a Century'...

[Xstal · 9/10 · 11 November 2020]

The horrors of war, The Great War, seldom better summarised by: 'It's dirty and painful to die for your country, when it comes dying for your country it's better not to die at all. There are millions out there dying for their countries, and what good does it do?'. And yet the wars continue, death and destruction sustained, lessons seldom learnt, the cries remain unheard.

Wilhelmine Perspective

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 15 March 2006]

Erich Maria Remarque's novel and the film made from it may possibly be the greatest anti-war statement ever created. All Quiet on the Western Front won a deserved Best Picture Academy Award in the year it came out and brought great prestige to Universal Pictures as the first Oscar in that category won by that studio.

Lew Ayres is the student leader of a bunch of German school boys in 1914 who listen to the voice of their school master and enlist in the war that's just been declared. The whole class enlists and that's not hyperbole because in Germany at the time it was the boys who got the education and the girls if they got it, got it separately from the boys.

I'm sure that viewers of All Quiet on the Western Front today probably are asking why that school master and so many of his generation were urging their youth on to such folly. Very simply that their generation had a quick victory in 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War. Every generation since wars were recorded figures their war experience will be the same for their children.

Only it wasn't. On the western front the Allied and Central Powers armies were locked in a bitter stalemate that ran diagonally across France and Belgium from the English Channel to the Swiss border. This went on for a little over four years. In fact had it not been for the fact that America joined the Allied side and the French and British held out until they did, I'm sure an honest armistice would have been declared long before November 11, 1918.

You lived, fought and died in those trenches. Either you were defending or you were attacking the other guy's trenches against murderous automatic weapon fire and long distance artillery batteries. All Quiet on the Western Front was the first great war film of the American sound era and graphically shows that.

And it shows that from the enemy perspective. That's something today's audience can't appreciate, the fact that the film was from the Wilhelmine German perspective. Remember these were the enemy a dozen years before. But the experience in the trenches was universal.

Lew Ayres became a star with this film and it effected him so deeply that he became a committed pacifist which caused later problems in his career. He's the voice of reason and civilization and the voice of a lost generation of Germans who would never have listened to the demagogic appeals of the Nazis.

Louis Wolheim plays the veteran soldier who befriends Ayres and his school boy chums and teaches them how to survive in the trenches. It turned out to be his greatest role. He was a brutish looking man and played mostly those types in silent films. All Quiet on the Western Front would have been the start of a whole new career opening. But Wolheim died the following year just as he was to start filming The Front Page. Adolphe Menjou took the part of Walter Burns in that film which Wolheim was to have.

The third really stand out performance is that of John Wray who some might remember as the brutal prison guard in Each Dawn I Die. Wray plays an officious mail man who is in the German Army Reserve. He gets called up and this little nobody gets rather impressed with himself and his new found authority as a training sergeant to Ayres and his friends. Later on at the front, he gets a view of combat he wasn't quite ready for.

All Quiet on the Western Front with its eternal message of peace and life will be one eternal film, it will be shown and appreciated for many generations to come.

War is Hell - The Gold Standard of the Anti-War/War Film!

[george.schmidt · 10/10 · 27 May 2012]

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) **** The first - and some say best - war film (and film about war - there is a difference) is still the gold standard for showing the perilous hell men face in war with this character-heavy look at the after-effects of a group of gung-ho students who are goaded into enlisting to fight for the fatherland - Germany - without question and tragically paying for it with literally their lives. Based on German writer Erich Maria Ramarque's novel - with six credited screenwriters including future filmmaker George Abbott - and an uncredited Lewis Milestone - the film's director - and winner of Best Director and Best Picture among its four including the aforementioned screenplay adaptation and the beautifully shot cinematography by Arthur Edeson. With a star-making performance of freshly scrubbed, boy- next-door charm and idealism-dashed chutzpah by Lew Ayres as the green recruit whose loss of innocence still stings while his mentor and world-weary mentor Louis Wolheim - terrific - in fact both should've been nominated for their acting - acts as the voice of reason (and doom). For the film vaults: the chilling battle amongst a decrepit graveyard and the penultimate image of beauty being literally destroyed as a shocking symbol of innocence truly crushed. One of the most important anti-war films ever; a must see for every serious film-goer.

A moving and durable WWI classic

[soymilk · 10/10 · 20 November 2004]

As I write, this is probably the oldest film I've currently seen (I haven't seen too many flicks pre-1950s - shameful, I know), but one that still holds astonishingly well to this day; a poignant and hard-hitting anti-war drama that details life in the German side of the trenches of WWI, it has lost none of its knuckle since it first veered onto the screens nearly 75 years ago. It makes its point and pulls no punches doing so, illustrating the impersonal coldness of war and the desolation in rendering an 'enemy' of someone who you'd really have no issues with on an individual basis. This message is particularly well-captured in one especially harrowing scene - I won't divulge in the details, for the sake of those still yet to witness this masterpiece, but needless to say, it's a real tear-jerker. The war depicted here is not one of glory and heroism, but one of hardship, horror and desperation.

(Also, isn't it kinda eerie how those dramatic battle sequences, in which the opposing soldiers become little more than human targets, now, with retrospect, echo the vicious gameplay of a shoot-em-up video game?)

The only really noticeable problem with this film comes in the heavy use of US accents, which clash somewhat with the German setting and therefore sound just a little offbeat. Nonetheless, the well-assembled cast more than compensate with some truly impassioned performances, notably from Lew Ayres, who is simply brilliant as Paul, the young protagonist coming of age in this harsh environment. His friendship with long-time solider Katczinsky adds moments of warmth as well as sorrow, and the dialogue exchanged between the close-knit group of soldiers is both absorbing and believable, drawing you closer into their world and experiencing their own frustration and disillusionment along with them. Right from the start, we know what's inevitable for the optimistic young soldiers as they head out to the trenches, but at the same time we value their hope and innocence and yearn that they might be able to retain it all the same, making it all the more tragic as the events of the battlefield lay waste to their youthful spirits.

With its gripping direction and powerful imagery, it's a film that manages to leave a considerable imprint on the viewer, and I speak from experience on that one - upon reaching the end, both myself and the entire party I viewed it with were left speechless, and it took a good couple of minutes before any of us could pluck up the courage to break that uneasy silence. I don't know for sure when I'll be up for watching it a second time, but that final feeling certainly won't be going away from me any time soon, and I can almost guarantee this the kind of film you'll be glad for watching at least once. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' remains one of the must-see movies of its decade, and it's easy to see why, after all this time, it still has such a firm hold on that classic status - it may have arrived on the scene as far back as 1930, but its emotive edge is timeless.

Grade: A+

Probably the greatest war film ever made

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 7 February 2007]

The film begins in a classroom. Outside, martial music is blaring and the professor inside the room is lecturing the boys about their duty to the Fatherland and encouraging them all to as a group in the German army at the outbreak of WWI. The film is exceptional in how it captures the enthusiasm and naiveté of the boys--as they imagine glory awaiting them after they enlist! Even in boot camp, the mood is light and the new recruits are excited about seeing their first action. This perfectly sets the stage for the actual war--not the sanitized or "fun" war of many films but the hellish and pointless mess that was WWI. The rest of the film is brutally honest and harsh and shows how the students die off one-by-one and the remaining students become more and more jaded and emotionally dead due to the fighting.

I love this film and strongly recommend it to anyone who considers themselves to be a film buff. Part of my love of the film is because it was made relatively shortly after the war and the uniforms, trucks, etc. all appear correct for the period. Many years later, a made for TV version of this film appeared with Ernest Borgnine and Richard Thomas. It, too, was excellent but also was perhaps a bit too polished and pretty--lacking some of the grit of the original. Great acting, direction and production all made this original THE best of the anti-war films of the 1920s and 30s.

Other similar great movies I strongly recommend are J'ACCUSE (French), WESTFRONT 1918 (German), THE BIG PARADE (USA--silent) and THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK (USA). All excel at portraying war in a truthful and non-glamorized manner--it's just a shame that their impact of the world as a whole was negligible--particularly in Germany--where Fascism would soon replace the anti-war sentiment of the book ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT. In fact, his books and this film were banned once the Nazis came to power just a few years later.

Still One of the Best Movies of Its Kind

[Snow Leopard · 16 May 2002]

Still one of the most worthwhile films about the hard realities of war, "All Quiet On The Western Front" has numerous memorable images and thoughtful moments. Too many war dramas, regardless of their perspective, resort to distortions of history and overblown characters that make them convincing only to those who watch uncritically. This one works nicely by keeping the characters low-key and by, for the most part, allowing the events and situations to speak for themselves. It's not perfect in this respect, and it is perhaps a movie more to be respected than enjoyed, but it has many notable strengths.

The characters, most of them young soldiers, are played very simply, even plainly, but this is by no means a weakness - rather, it allows the movie to show what war is like for real soldiers rather than for idealized or stereotyped characters. The two most important characters are developed more fully, and are played well. Louis Wolheim's resourceful 'Kat' is the liveliest of the soldiers, and as Paul, Lew Ayres is quite understated but very believable. His character is well-chosen as the focal point of most of the movie.

The close-fighting nature of World War I particularly lends itself to this kind of movie, and the atmosphere is convincing and detailed. The contrast with the civilian scenes is also set up well, although the civilian scenes sometimes seem slightly less convincing. The overall effect is a movie that, while you probably wouldn't call it exciting or fun, is one you won't forget.

pure excellence in the war movie genre

[didi-5 · 10/10 · 2 March 2004]

From the fact it was made in 1930, you could class 'All Quiet on the Western Front' as a war movie museum piece, but Lewis Milestone's film is a seminal piece of anti-war propaganda, focusing on the Great War from the perspective of a group of German soldiers, in particular Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres). Ayres gives a sensitive and powerful performance: by the 2nd World War the actor chose to serve as a medic, where he gained distinction.

Remembered for the sequence with the butterfly at the end in particular, this early talkie manages to set its scene and transmit a powerful message. An involving and clever film which on its recent restoration and cinema re-release has taken on new significance in the 21st century.

The Ultimate War movie

[patrick.hunter · 10/10 · 12 September 2000]

In 1981, we had a screening at the L.A. County Museum of Art of the newly discovered restored version. I took my girlfriend, who was not as savvy on film history as I was, and warned her not to expect much: that the movie was dated, the acting often awkward and broad, and some of the sound effects just plain weird, and so on. When the screening finished, she leaned over to me and said, "This movie hasn't dated at all." I could only agree, because the effect on both of us--and everyone in that theatre--was overpowering.

It's curious to compare it with the very fine tv version with Richard Thomas. The latter version has more scenes from the book and better acting, yet it's still inferior. It suffers from the lack of detail that so many tv productions had then along with comparatively flat lighting. The first version, on the other hand, has a look that resembles a documentary on World War I. They filmed it only eleven years after the war ended, and it contains a power only possible by those who've lived through an era being dramatized. Also, like CITIZEN KANE and DODSWORTH, it baffles one as to how Hollywood of this time produced such a non-escapist piece of entertainment.

Oscar's Top Prize 1930

[oOoBarracuda · 7/10 · 2 February 2016]

I kicked off my February, which is always Oscar's month, with All Quiet on the Western Front. Director Lewis Milestone's wartime drama took home the Academy's top prize for 1930. Capturing the essence of the individuals directly involved in the conflict, All Quiet on the Western Front, is a magnificent look at the effects of war both on soldiers physicality and mentality. A poignant look at a time when many fighting were just young boys trying to be heroes, All Quiet on the Western Front seems worthy of the gold statuette.

Opening inside a classroom, a professor is convincing a classroom of impressionable teenagers to enlist, revealing the first unfortunate aspect of WWI. In the cloak of patriotism, a group of young men vow to support their country in war. Many of them end up permanently injured, some losing limbs, all of them end up emotionally scarred. The incredible part of this is that it was 1930. Seeing such a raw portrayal was incredible. The shots of each young man's face were well-done and beautifully executed each time. A well-done film, All Quiet on the Western Front is definitely one to see.

A detailed and thought-provoking account of war

[The_Void · 8/10 · 4 January 2005]

Before watching this epic masterpiece, I never quite understood what it is that makes people want to fight a war that was started by some politician, and after watching this film; I'm even more baffled. With it's ambiguous portrait of war, All Quiet on the Western Front never actually condemns (nor condones) the act of war, but through it's portrait; the anti-war message more than shine through. Multiple scenes show the hideousness of war, and through watching this film it becomes apparent that war is futile and a disgraceful waste of human life. We follow the (mis)fortune of a group of young adults who, due to the patriotic words of their teacher, decide to join the war effort. The rest of the film pans out as a sort of coming of age story in the middle of a great feud. We watch the protagonists as they stare death in the face and learn what is and isn't important when you risk your life at every passing moment.

This was one of the first films to announce America as a major film-making nation as with it's epic battle sequences and first class acting, All Quiet on the Western Front impresses on a technical level, as well as impressing with it's detailed and thought-provoking account of war. The film features numerous excellent scenarios, all of which are thought provoking in the context of the film, but also in life on the whole. Consider the part where one young man is told that maths problems are a waste of time as he could stop a bullet at any time, or the sequence that sees a soldier try to save the life of his fellow man that he has stabbed in the stomach (a French soldier, but still a fellow man). Not to mention the classy finish. Whichever way you look at it; this film is a masterpiece. It succeeds on a technical level and also does what films were created to do; entertain and inspire thought from their audiences. There are some films that every film buff must see regardless of their genre preferences. This is one of them.

A little bit of truth for World War I...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 3 March 2015]

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a classic history - drama movie in which we are in World War I and through the experiences of a young soldier we watch the tragedy and the pain of war through the eyes of individuals. This movie is based on a novel by German author, Erich Maria Remarque.

I liked this movie because it shows the truth about war and especially World War I and how difficult are things there for soldiers. We watch their feelings and their emotions when they are in the war, from what they think about life in general and their lives until what they have to do to survive. This movie shows us not something heroic or any kind of hero but the cruelness and the pain of people who are in that war. I have to admit that the direction of this movie which made by Lewis Milestone was very good (won the Oscar for the Best Director) and of course the interpretation of Lew Ayres who played as Paul was simply outstanding.

Finally I have to say that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a must see movie when we talk about history movies. This movie combines very well events from World War I with the true drama of that war and this is something that makes this movie so good.

Disappointing for such an honored classic

[km_dickson · 5/10 · 7 August 2005]

Disappointing for such an honored classic. This sweeping war epic was another victim of that period of adjustment between silent and talking motion pictures. If it had come out just two years later it could have been great. As it is, Erich Maria Remarque's grim war novel is turned into a piece of bubblegum melodrama by the poor writing and horrible cast. It's the acting, really, that brings the film down more than anything else. Aside from Louis Wolheim as veteran soldier Katczinsky, there is not a single actor who can say a line without striking a pose and giving the hammiest over the top performance. They kill nearly every scene. It's a wonder that Wolheim was able to turn in such a good performance next to these deadbeats. On the upside, it is a great production. The visuals are grand, and the battle scenes are impressive, even by today's standards. Aside from not being able to tell good acting from bad, Lewis Milestone did quite a good job directing the film. In the end the movie pretty much breaks even.

Great acting, great directing make a sincere, emotional film.

[kian_ef · 17 May 2001]

To say that this movie is one of the greatest war films of all time would be an understatement. Naturally, since the picture is based on Erich Maria Remarque's marvelous novel, the screenwriter was given quite a powerful story to begin with. The three main reasons why I consider this movie so forceful are the acting, the cinematography, and simply the sincerity.

Lew Ayres, the man who plays Paul Baumer, convincingly portrays the main character in many ways. First of all, the sheer innocence of his facial appearance adds a poignant touch to the film, because the overwhelming theme of the story is how the war effects all young people of each nation, whether that person dies in the trenches or survives only to lament his days in the war. Ironically, when the film was initially being put together, Remarque, the novelist who won critical acclaim for writing the book, was asked to play the role of Paul. Having seen time in the war the producers must have thought him aptly prepared to play the role. But he declined because he had other commitments and because he felt he was not such a great actor. Lucky for us, because Ayres gives a powerful performance. Other characters with relatively minor roles have major importance in the film because they portray touching, heart wrenching scene s of death. These peripheral characters all help add to the general tone of the film (and the book) because they show how dark and terrible the war can be; and they in turn show how propaganda can be so harmful, because most of the soldiers in Paul's regiment are volunteers who receive a very rude awakening when they discover what the war is really all about. The acting is simply superb, and perhaps this is due to the fact that the famous director George Cukor was an assistant who, although uncredited, came onto the set to help supervise the actors (possibly because director Lewis Milestone's English was not too good).

The cinematography of this film is absolutely magnificent. The film rarely has gory sequences because the director finds other ways to imply death and still have the same emotional effect. One way in which he does this is by showing single body parts (such as a hand or a leg) and allowing these appendages to show the death of the soldier as a whole. Also, the cameraman uses overhead angles at times with great skill and also focuses on the trenches at times as the soldiers fall back into them after being shot (which implies that the trenches are a symbol of hell, because soldiers fall into them to die). In short, the cinematographer Arthur Edeson allows the camera to do the talking and to drive the film, rather than the dialogue (speaking of which, there is relatively little; the actors' facial expressions do the bulk of the talking in the film).

When I say this film is sincere I really can't give you any tangible evidence to prove the point; all I can tell you is to see the film. The film at times overwhelmed me with emotion to the extent that I got goose bumps from watching some of the more agonizing scenes. In a way, this movie is much like a silent film. This stands to reason because it came at the very beginning of the 'talkie' age, only three years after The Jazz Singer (1927). Also, Milestone directed silent films before this one, and he seemed to know that less focus on dialogue and more focus on acting would bring about an overwhelmingly emotional and well, sincere, film. The film obviously had an effect on its star, Mr. Ayres, because once World War II began and he was drafted into the war, he conscientiously protested serving in the army because of his opinions towards war. I believe he admits that his opinions stem from his work in this movie. Certainly this is a powerful admission, because his protest caused him and his films to be blacklisted in Hollywood, and his career suffered greatly because of his ideals. So if you don't believe my words about the power of this film, believe his.

All Quiet on the Western Front

[phubbs · 10/10 · 22 February 2015]

Based on a novel and probably one of the most realistic war films I have ever see. WW1 is the setting for this unusual look at life for German troops on the front line. Its unusual because its a 30's American film focusing on German soldiers and not the more obvious Allies of Britain, France and Russia.

Starting off much like 'Full Metal Jacket' the film covers a group (a class fresh out of school) of young German lads ready to join the ranks and fight for their country. From here on we follow them through harsh training and into battle where they very quickly realise the horrors of war. One by one they are killed off as the film becomes more and more tragic, and all this in a 1930's film!

The first thing that hits you are the amazing visuals and hard work clearly put into the film, its incredible! The realism of the trenches, war torn no man's land, the uniforms for both sides and the brilliant special effects, mainly revolving around some pretty big explosions near actors, are all superbly created. By today's standards everything still looks good whilst the old black and white imagery only helps the film appear more realistic and authentic. The film could easily be the 'Saving Private Ryan' of its day, its almost as good as real footage.

Of course the actors are of a different era so one can expect performances without the type of grit that we are used to today. Some scenes are almost slightly pantomime-esque with some slightly funny moments of comedy and slapstick which do lighten the mood (mainly at the start before the characters enter the war). I think we all know sequences of corny acting and dialog tend to add to the charm of old movies like this, they are easily forgiven.

Make no mistake though this film is a history lesson and seeing as it was made about 12 years after WW1 actually ended its amazing people watched! especially as it followed the Central Powers (the enemy). Being so close to the war is obviously why its so accurate. The harrowing sequences of men being mown down by machine gun fire, one after another without a chance, the screams of the young troops as they go crazy from the constant shelling, the mud, barren landscapes, bodies, barbwire and of course the famous bleak depressing ending for the main lead nailing home how cheap life was.

I think the main point in the film is how the lead protagonist Paul Baumer (like his friends) starts out as a patriotic young German wanting to go off and fight for his country. Encouraged, motivated and inspired by his surroundings whilst being practically lied to by his school teacher Professor Kantorek into doing what is thought to be right, to save the Fatherland. Baumer then returns to his home town towards the end of the film only to find his school teacher spouting the same nonsense to more young boys, trying to get them to join up and fight.

He is invited in to speak of the glory of war but instead rages how its all lies and there is nothing but misery and death for all who join up. He is shunned by his old teacher and branded a coward by the young boys, so he returns to the front line. Not long after this the film ends with his pointless needless death. A strong message which we all know of now, yet at the time people just didn't understand or realise, war was glorious and made men of the young.

10/10

WW! from a German soldier's viewpoint

[dfwesley · 9/10 · 13 December 2016]

I was in high school when I first saw this great war film and I am now a senior, senior, citizen and have seen it a few more times. ALL QUIET remains right at the top of my list of outstanding war pictures. Here was a unique depiction of life in the trenches from an enemy point of view, a novel approach.

Lew Ayres gives a memorable performance as Paul Baumer, the sensitive German soldier, and has a fine supporting cast. The vivid battles in the trenches remain in my thought, and though they lack the technological know how of today, are indelible.

One of the most touching scenes is when Baumer kills the Frenchman in the shell hole and remorse overcomes him. Another tragic part is when his buddy is dying in the hospital and is visited by his comrades. A lighter scene is when the company has an over abundance of food due to its losses and the men become satiated. They are so comfortable that they are inclined to philosophize about the causes of war and its solution.

When Paul loses his friend, his depression grows and his death at the hands of a sniper is a fitting end to it all. The remake, with Ernest Borgnine, was satisfactory, but could not approach the quality of the original which I often find to be true.

The Beauty of a Butterfly

[evanston_dad · 10/10 · 10 November 2005]

There are few moments in film history as moving as the last shot of this film, when a soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I is able to shut out the carnage around him to focus on the unlikely beauty of a butterfly that has landed only inches in front of him. The power of this image is an example of what set this film apart from all of the movies that had preceded it and ushered in a new era of sophistication in the art form.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is one of the first movies to feel like a movie. The camera takes part in the action: it moves in and out, frames people in close up. Some of the most memorable images come when the camera tracks along with the soldiers as they charge the enemy trenches. And though sound in cinema was in its infancy, this movie makes terrific use of it.

Compare this movie's version of combat to the films that would come out ten years later with the outbreak of WWII, and it almost takes your breath away with how ahead of its time it seems. Easily one of the best war movies ever made, and one of the best movies ever made, period.

Grade: A+

Great WW1 movie

[grantss · 9/10 · 20 April 2015]

World War 1 and a young German, Paul Baumer, enthusiastically joins the Army. With romantic notions of war and idealistic dreams in his head he undergoes training and then is sent off to the Western Front. In due course the romantic notions are replaced by the harsh reality of war and he becomes disillusioned with it all.

Great World War 1 movie, made when the war was still fresh in everyone's minds.

Might well be the first anti-war war movie, as it depicts the grim realities of war, rather than the romantic, heroic non-existent version of it.

Harrowing, shocking, original, unpredictable, and just as relevant today as in 1930.

Surprisingly good production values for 1930.

Solid performances all round.

Far far better than the 1979 remake.

All Quiet in the Western Front is a haunting look into a life of a soldier in the trenches of World War 1.

[ironhorse_iv · 9/10 · 25 January 2015]

Unlike other war films at the time, that seem more romanticize. This film shows the tragedy of the 'Great War' in detail. This detailed thought-provoking war film is a great watch. It's a must watch to anybody over patriotic or looking for heroism, because in its depiction of the horror of war, All Quiet on the Western Front presents a scathing critique of the idea of nationalism, showing it to be a hollow, hypocritical ideology, a tool used by those in power to control a nation's people. Directed by Lewis Milestone, and based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. The movie tells the story of six German soldiers who volunteered to fight in World War I, and it chronicles their demise intellectually, spiritually, and physically as the war drags on and on. All Quiet on the Western Front is considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare. Without spoiling too much of the film, it's seem so real. The movie is an intense watch, even with today's standards. The movie is pretty gory, and graphic for a film of the 1930s with scenes with machine guns and poison gas. Lots of unromantic visions of fear, meaninglessness, and butchery. It's a hard watch to certain people. Due to its anti-war message, a lot of countries banned it, like Australia, Italy and Austria. The worst had to be, Nazi Germany. Since the movie perceived anti-German messages, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party banned the film in their country in the 1930s and early 1940s. During its brief run in German cinemas in the early 1930s, the Nazis led by Joseph Goebbels disrupted the viewings by setting off stink bombs and releasing white mice in the theaters. It wasn't until 1952, when West Germany re-released the film in theaters without much protest. It's weird that Universal Studios would product the film like this, at the time because it's tell the war in German perspective, the enemy. This was indeed, rare to do in film, even in today's open world. Show the war in the eyes of the enemy. While, the movie is set in Germany, the movie is pretty English in speaking for the mostly English speaking audience. The movie is worth watching in German dubbing. It's a must-do. If you can't speak German, the film has a lot of visual symbolism to tell the story of the war. A good example of this is, Kemmerich's boots (Ben Alexander). You really see the emotional disconnection that war cause, because when Kemmerich is on his deathbed, the most pressing question among his friends is who will inherit his boots. It's disturbing. In Remarque's view, this pragmatism has a hugely destructive impact on a soldier's humanity; main character, Paul Bäumer (Lew Ayres), for instance, becomes unable to imagine a future without the war and unable to remember how he felt in the past. Another great scene with Paul is that with the dying French soldier. You really see, how Paul is trying to keep his humanity alive, while also keeping himself alive. Great acting from him and all the actors. Another symbol in the film is butterflies. You see it, throughout the film. It derives in part from Remarque's childhood hobby of collecting insects and mounting them in a case. In the film, it seems to represent the innocence and joy of nature. In the film final iconic scene, where a soldier is shot while trying to grab a butterfly. This scene is different from the book, and was inspired by an early scene showing a butterfly collection in Paul's home. The scene was shot during the editing phase, so the actors were no longer available and Milestone had to use his own hand, instead of the main actor. Some of the faults of the film could be the film's opening prologue. It felt a little detracting, as if they were trying to appeal to everybody, without trying so hard, not to offend people. Another is the mid-scene with the French women. Yes, I guess, it was there, so the movie wasn't too depressing, but it slow the movie, way down. For the most part, the movie is very accurate to the war. Overall: Does an all time, classic stand the test of time? Yes. I think it's better than the 1979 remake. The black and white film footage really makes the war very eerily to watch. In 1930, it really deserve to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing and others. In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Since the movie is still own by Universal Studios, most copies of the film are well preserved. Watching in HD Blu-Ray DVD is in the way, to go, when watching this film. If you really like this movie, read its sequel, 'The Road Back', which shows members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war. It's a must read. Anyways, All Quiet in the Western Front is one of, if not the, most effective war films ever made and it works.

"For death is not an adventure..."

[luis_neiva · 10/10 · 8 May 2015]

All Quiet on the Western Front is the first great non-silent anti-war movie and arguably the most powerful one to date. Based on the critically acclaimed homonymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it portraits the transformations a young German soldier suffers during the World War I: the innocence before the war and the promise of everlasting glory, the shock with reality and the realization of his own mortality and of the hypocrisy of war and finally the return to the world away from the trenches, a world that didn't stop to wait for him.

Full of symbolisms, violence and impressive camera work, the whole film is a cinematographic masterpiece. The viewer is placed directly in the battlefield to the point he can almost grasp the blood-soaped earth of the trenches and smell the rotten corpses in no-man's land.

There's two layers I can find in this movie: the first one tells us about the physical destruction endured in a war – hunger, dirt, explosions, amputations, diseases, death… The film does not try to hide the truth, war is ugly and dirty, it is constant suffering and painful. If the first layer is strong enough to create a strong impression on the viewer, the second one is even more powerful: the psychological breakdown the soldiers experience is masterfully portrayed. The excitement turns into doubt, the doubt into disgust, the disgust into anger and the anger into complete numbness. A young promising student is gradually transformed into a soulless killing machine.

Also the acting deserves to be mentioned. The entire cast delivers stand up performances, especially Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres who depict masterfully two generations united by war.

The only flaw I could find on this is the strong American accent on the few German words spoken, fact that can distract a bit especially on the beginning of the movie.

Overall, this is an overwhelming experience and a mandatory watch to every war film lover!

Timeless Anti-War Sentiment

[gcd70 · 7/10 · 6 July 2008]

From Erich Maria Remarque's classic novel comes this timeless piece of anti-war sentiment which would have been mightily powerful in 1930, yet is so much more subtle now in light of recent films on the same subject.

Maxwell Anderson adapted the screenplay and Lewis Milestone directed a film which makes no apologies for being totally against sending young boys to their death for national pride, or whatever other crazy, high and mighty idea the powers that be may have.

We follow young Paul Baumer and his school pals through the unforgiving trenches of World War I as they fight for the fatherland. The results are of course tragic. Before Paul's first leave of absence, only two of about fifteen boys remain alive, and only one has both his legs.

Paul does much soul-searching throughout the film, and he is amazed at how euphoric he feels about life after the death of a close friend. He also finds he cannot stand being home, having become a creature of war, he cannot function in the normal world.

Ayres performance is a moving one, and it is a great shame we are unable to get further into the mind of this young man via Milestone's film. Remarque's superb novel enabled us to delve deep into the psyche of a young man at war, with more than just the enemy confronting him. Alas screenwriter Anderson found it impossible to convey this on celluloid. The support cast do a most commendable job too (especially Louis Wolheim).

Seeing this at a repertory theatre is recommended, if possible.

Thursday, January 22, 1998 - Video

Youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth ...

[ElMaruecan82 · 10/10 · 3 April 2012]

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is Lewis Milestone's epic adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's best-selling novel, the name of the author might sound unfamiliar so let's only say that he was a German World War I veteran.

The film was made 12 years after the end of the most barbaric and devastating massacres that prefaced Contemporary History with bloody letters and won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Directing. I could use so many superlatives to describe it but watching Milestone's war/epic left me cold with all the self- glorification and enthusiasm that only serves as a desire to hide the awareness of our own mediocrity. I will only say that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a masterpiece because it's the first movie to make a political statement, and a courageous one, not pacifist but humanistic. If only for that, Milestone's film is a milestone on the field of cinematic intelligence.

"This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war."

If not an accusation, it does admit that a generation was destroyed. If not a confession, the film demonstrates that it takes war to realize life's value just as it takes jail to value freedom. And if not an adventure, it still conveys the strange exhilarating feeling of an escape from the world's lies and politicians' vanity, to reach a point where people can become fully themselves, as said Louis-Ferdinand Celine, a French WWI veteran and author: "Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth" in 'Journey to the End of the Night'.

More than an accusation, confession or adventure, the story is a tribute to a lost generation, the year of the release is even more significant because those who survived the War were not only alive, but young enough to have kept intact memories. "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a tribute to a youth sacrificed by greed, profit and patriotic glory in the altar of trenches, where every mile cost thousands of bodies. The film starts with boys whose eyes harangued by the patriotic speech of their school professor, burn with the intensely proud flame to fight in the name of Germany and desire of victory... and eventually to leave school. The first bombing will shatter all these beliefs, as they'll understand that whether you fight for French Motherland of German Fatherland, Mother Earth is the ultimate destination.

Most of the actors were not professional except for the extraordinary performance of Louis Wolheim as Kat, a mentor for the boys and for us. The actors were as inexperienced and youthful, as the boys who were listed and criticizing the acting on that level is like stamping on an ant when you can admire its strength: the cast embodies the tragedy of a War that dug a big hole in a whole generation. The last shot of the boys walking and turning their faces at us, juxtaposed with the sight of a mortuary, is like a warning for the years to come. But history taught us war is indeed a fever that just strikes everybody, nobody wants it until it happens and everybody wants it until they make it.

It's only at war that the soldiers can question its meaning, its origin, and only at war that the ranks, medals and protocols make no difference whatsoever. The most zealous drill sergeant starts sobbing at the first shell wheezing, highlighting one of war's few consolations: to reveal the true value of people in life and make everyone equal in death. In a powerful scene, Paul, the central character stabs for the first time a French soldier, and as he spends some time hidden with the body, he talks to him and realizes that they're both comrades, brothers, victims of the same political vanity and full of the same desire to live. All that separates them is a uniform, and to Death, even uniforms don't make a damn difference. The merit of "All Quiet on the Western Front" is to be told from German perspective, from the enemy, the other, and what better lesson for empathy than inviting an audience to comprehend that the other side, like in "Das Boot" for WWII, shared the same trauma?

And Milestone's film renders the most horrific aspects of war without any other special effects than an extraordinary editing and directing. 68 years before "Saving Private Ryan"'s iconic opening, Milestone showed soldiers hit by a volley of machine-gun fire, falling but with such a fast-paced directing that we never see them hitting the ground. Some shot show shadowy soldiers jumping from below as to suggest a human submersion, the atrocities and pointlessness of War never seemed so raw and real as in "All Quiet on the Western Front", because it showed what a slaughter World War I was, whether Spielberg's point was only to show that the second one was a good war.

When the few survivors came back to their hometown, they realize that the attitude and the enthusiasm toward the war were unchanged. Civilians and military, Family, the teacher, the boys in the classroom didn't learn anything. "And our bodies are earth, and our thoughts are clay, and we sleep and eat with death!" says Paul but he only receives insults and incomprehension. But he knows, and we know from his experience that he's the one who owns the truth, because in his mind are all his friends dead in the trenches, in the battlefield, in a lousy hospital.

But the tragedy of life is that as usual, it's not the dead but the living that need to be awakened.

Strong anti-war message in early movie

[barryrd · 6/10 · 31 July 2011]

All Quiet On the Western Front is an anti-war movie that follows a group of German schoolboys who enlist in World War I without any hint of the dire consequences that lie ahead. They expect to repeat the experience of the previous generation who conquered the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. As the war drags on in the disease-plagued trenches of Europe, the youths come face to face with the cruelty of war. Before long, they realize that the bravura of going to war is a total mirage and the war isn't going to be short and sweet.

The story shows the reaction on the German side but the onset of war was received in much the same on the British side with people reacting in a frenzy of false hope for a quick victory over the "Huns", only to come face to face with the reality of a lengthy war. This movie is a very sober view of that war, made 12 years after WW I was concluded. It was awarded an Academy Award for best picture and Lew Ayres was named the best actor.

While the dialogue, imagery and acting deliver a strong anti-war message, the script is flat and the movie seems "staged". It also shows a great unease among soldiers in battle. The dialogue of the soldiers is unashamedly anti-war. It seems highly unusual that men in battle would allow themselves this luxury with discussions about the merits of war during their timeouts on the battlefield. Can soldiers adopt this mindset and still fight effectively? We even see the leading character, Lew Ayres, nurse and talk to the French soldier he has shot in battle.

While this movie conveys the reasons for not waging war, it doesn't take into account the fact that people in the warring countries of Europe were fired by nationalism and the belief that they were acting in their country's interest. Soldiers have to at least rationalize their mission or turn a blind eye to any doubts they might have.  I have never fought in a land war or any other kind of war so I can only surmise how people might react. I can certainly understand that soldiers would come to hate it and never want to see it repeated.

The movie was well received in its time and shows the revulsion that many people must have had for the war. The anti-war message clearly resonated with audiences

Sadly, has not aged well

[Tito-8 · 4/10 · 24 April 1999]

I can understand how this film would have been so well-received back when it first came out, but quite simply, time has not been kind to this movie. In my opinion, this film is far too slow-moving and simplistic to be considered a masterpiece, much like most of the early films that are considered classics today. This film was far too tame to have an impact on me, and I must confess that I found it to be frequently boring as well. I can certainly appreciate the effort that was put forth, and I can recognize that a great deal of talent worked on this film, but by today's standards, this movie just doesn't measure up.

One of those works of art that come only once every few years

[greenmesamountaina · 10/10 · 5 September 2017]

In the early 20th century, war changed from a game of professionals to an all-out contest of whole nations. Generations of young men were fed into the meatgrinder that was WWI; the first really technological war on a mass scale. No general staff understood what modern weapons would mean. These weapons created a war of stalemate and trench warfare, both sides evenly matched, and no breakthrough possible, with the ordinary soldier suffering the most. That is the story that 'All Quiet on the Western' Front tells.

It tells it from a German perspective because it was adapted from Eric Maria Remarque's novel based on his experiences as a combat soldier in the German Army. The book is itself a testament to the grueling fate of soldiers of both sides. Interestingly, another book came out of Germany about the war, Enst Junger's "Storm of Steel" which paints the same bleak picture of the war, but concludes with patriotic pride that the millions of dead were worth it as a test of strength.

The film 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is one of those works of art that come only once every few years. The reasons are several. 1. It follows the book fairly closely, and the book was good. 2. The realism was first rate for a film of that or any other period. 3. The acting, while not always modern, is well done in the major parts. The actor who plays 'Kat' dominates the film and the film's hero, 'Paul', played by Lew Ayres, although his performance is also good. 4. The direction was superb, and the movement of the camera during the battle sequences is amazingly good for that era. 5. The sound effects of the warfare scenes are quite good, as good as I've ever heard in that kind of film.

It's also interesting that America was able to produce a film from the standpoint of what was an enemy nation only 12 years before. But is seems less an accomplishment when you consider that the soldiers in the film question the war and all wars. If they'd been in the American Army, there would have been censorship problems about those sentiments coming from American soldiers. Nevertheless, the film is an admiral anti-war statement-- the futility of war at all times and for all nations. Hitler and Goebbels certainly knew the film's power-- it was banned from showing in Germany after the Nazis took power there in 1933.

It's not banned anymore. If you feel a film that old will be too dated, you will come to understand that really good filmmaking happens in all eras. If you haven't seen this film yet, you have a remarkable experience ahead of you.

Have people learned the lessons of this film? I hope so, for the weapons of war are much more terrible than before. That fact is what has stopped war. But this film, and the knowledge it imparts played a small part too.