 Relive the drama, conflict and power of one of the most influential anti-war films ever made - All Quiet on the Western Front. Universal's first Best Picture Academy Award® winner is now available in its original glory with a digitally remastered picture restored by the Library of Congress. Follow a group of idealistic young men as they join the German Army during World War I and are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat. The hard-hitting, timeless masterpiece returns with stunning visual enhancement to its deserving place in film history! Unlike most "message" films which date themselves almost immediately, Lewis Milestone's low-key unpolished and deeply-felt screen adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque anti-war novel has lost little of its original impact. Years after its release it was still being banned in countries mobilizing for war. The plot follows a group of young German recruits in World War I through their passage from idealism to disillusionment. As the central character Paul Baumer declares, "We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed--that's all." All Quiet is an anthology of now famous scenes: Ayres trapped in a shell crater with a man he has killed; the first meeting of the recruits and the veterans; infantrymen being mowed down to machine-gun visual rhythms; a moonlight swim with French farm girls; Ayre's pacifist speech to his astonished schoolmates; and the final shot of the soldier's hand reaching for a fatal butterfly. Storyline: This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality. Written by Michele Wilkinson, University of Cambridge Language Centre, Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman on February 2, 2012 -- It may as something of a surprise to younger folks who are virulently anti-war and who currently protest against conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but anti-war movements are probably as old as war itself. Many probably associate the idea of "anti-war protest" with the Vietnam War, since that seemed to be the movement that first raised the issue to huge, nightly news consciousness. But even that formulation seemingly forgets an earlier generation's epochal conflict—World War II—and famous anti-war spokespeople like Charles Lindbergh, or (in a different, and perhaps not applicable, way) Neville Chamberlain. Younger kids especially have probably never even heard of All Quiet on the Western Front in either its original novel form or its first film adaptation from 1930, but in its day, the property was as iconic as anything out there in mass media. Author Erich Maria Remarque (that odd middle name was a self-chosen homage to his mother) had been drafted into the German Army during World War I, where he indeed was sent to the Western Front, was badly injured, and then was returned home. It took Remarque several years to establish his literary career, and in fact many publishers rejected All Quiet on the Western Front, but once the book did appear in 1928 and 1929 (first as a newspaper serial and then in novel form), it was an instant sensation. The book's anti-war sentiment proved to be problematic for the Nazi regime which would soon sweep into power in Germany, and Remarque's book were banned by Josef Goebbels. There was in fact a spurious propaganda war against Remarque by the Nazis, who insisted that his "decadent" views were the result of him coming from Jewish ancestry, something for which there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever. But in 1929, anyway, Remarque was a hot property and Hollywood came calling rather quickly, with the Universal film written (including by Broadway legend George Abbott, believe it or not), shot and in theaters not much more than a year later. The film, much like the book, was an instant sensation, ending up winning the Best Picture Oscar (the first non-musical talkie to secure that award) and becoming one of the most legendary motion pictures of the early talkie era. All Quiet on the Western Front is a remarkably prescient film from any number of standpoints. The film begins with a rabble rousing teacher who proselytizes his students about the supposed glories of war, convincing several of them to immediately enlist in an effort to defend the Fatherland. This group of young recruits is starry eyed for about a collective nanosecond before their rude awakening is exacerbated first by their training Commander, Himmelstoss (John Wray), their town's former postmaster, who attempts to whip them into some sort of shape in a rather martinet manner. The recruits are basically schooled only in how to line up and march in formation before they're told they're off to the front. That leads to one of the most harrowing sequences in the film, when the group of young men arrives at what can only be termed Hell on Earth, a rain drenched nightmare of chaotic gunfire, shells exploding, panicked horses and general bedlam. Director Lewis Milestone stages this all with some incredible technical prowess, especially considering the limitations of the early talkie production methods. It's worth noting how often Milestone utilizes tracking shots and a fluid, moving camera, something distinctly at odds with the "point and shoot" ethos that was de rigeur in those days when capturing sound was a technical nightmare. Notice, too, Milestone's excellent use of montage, albeit sometimes rather briefly, including a fantastic sequence late in the film where we follow several "owners" of a pair of elegant boots that pass from one soldier to the next as each meets their fate. All Quiet on the Western Front is also much more of an ensemble piece than was the standard in those star based days, with a group of really measured and nuanced performances by a coterie of young actors portraying the recruits thrust into the madness of battle. While not necessarily the chief character, or in fact even the first billed in terms of star wattage, quite a bit of the emotional content of the film revolves around Paul Bäumer (Lew Ayres in one of his first major roles), a young man whose idealism is tested over and over again as the film progresses, including an incredibly harrowing sequence late in the film where the young soldier knifes a French fighter to death but is then trapped in a foxhole with the corpse for a night. The film's iconic final moment (which won't be spoiled here for those who haven't yet seen it) also falls to Paul, and remains one of the most moving metaphors for the timeless quest for peace and beauty within the ravages Man seems to always bring upon himself that has ever been caught on celluloid. The thirties are often thought of as a decade of escapism, at least in terms of the film industry. This was the time of the first big musicals, the silly romantic comedies and the paper thin dramas, at least in the first years of the decade, when talkies were still a newfangled contraption and people were struggling to overcome the horrors of the Depression. It's almost unbelievable that a film as harrowing and visceral as All Quiet on the Western Front could have been produced as early as 1930, and it's a lasting testament to the vision of producer Carl Laemmle and the technical mastery of director of Lewis Milestone (who won an Oscar for his work). What's especially impressive about this film is how it really doesn't feel all that dated, aside from a few tangential issues, most of which have to do with that era's more declamatory, theatrical acting style, which may strike younger viewers as being unnatural (which, frankly, it probably is). But far outweighing these concerns is the fact that over and over again this film delivers gut wrenching moments that bring the horrors of war fully home to the audience. While this shock value may indeed have been higher in the thirties, the fact that it still packs such a wallop after decades of audiences being exposed to everything from The Sands of Iwo Jima to The Longest Day to Patton to Apocalypse Now to Platoon speaks volumes about how profound an achievement All Quiet on the Western Front really is. All Quiet on the Western Front has lost little if any of its impact now some 80-plus years after its original release. Is the film dated? Inarguably, especially with regard to some of the overly "indicating" acting styles, but that is a fairly minor qualm when thrust up against this film's towering achievement. Rarely have the horrors of war been so brutally and (as strange as this may sound) poetically rendered. When the film was released, a famous review stated that the League of Nations should dub the film into all available languages and show it in all nations until the word "war" had been erased from the dictionaries. That may sound like hyperbole, but it gives some indication of just how powerful All Quiet on the Western Front really is. Universal has done some spectacular restoration work on this title. Is it perfect? No, but it's darned close, certainly the best I've ever seen this title look and sound. Supplements are a little light on this release (why not a commentary for a film this iconic?), but otherwise this is another "must have" title for any serious collector. Highly recommended. Cast Notes: Louis Wolheim (Kat), Lew Ayres (Paul [as Lewis Ayres]), John Wray (Himmelstoss), Arnold Lucy (Kantorek), Ben Alexander (Kemmerich), Scott Kolk (Leer), Owen Davis Jr. (Peter), Walter Rogers (Behn [as Walter Browne Rogers]), William Bakewell (Albert), Russell Gleason (Mueller), Richard Alexander (Westhus), Harold Goodwin (Detering), Slim Summerville (Tjaden [as 'Slim' Summerville]), G. Pat Collins (Bertinck [as Pat Collins]), Beryl Mercer (Paul's Mother). IMDb Rating (03/13/15): 8.1/10 from 43,484 users IMDb Rating (02/24/12): 8.1/10 from 28,283 users Top 250: #218 IMDb Rating (10/15/07): 7.9/10 from 12,794 users Top 250: #237 IMDb Rating (08/07/04): 8.2/10 from 5,652 users Top 250: #151
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