Click here for the review of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Best Picture winner at the 1930 (late year) Oscar ceremony.

One of the best war movies ever made, and still very much underappreciated due to its age and lack of TV showings. (I think TCM may have shown it once or twice in as many years).

It also follows the book quite closely, and shows a lot of violence during the war, unlike future movies which would be hampered with the Code.

Finally, 2 scenes that have stayed in my mind since I saw it first 10 years ago.
1) and
2)

It's funny you mention those two scenes Eoxixis (or perhaps it isn't) because those are the two indelible images that stick in my mind from my only viewing of the film 3 years ago.

It's been over twenty years since I've seen this. My memory is dim, but I seem to remember that the sound was problematic, understandable since this was in the earliest days of sound in movies. But it certainly captured the bleak attitude of the book, and pulled no punches, which was unusual in those days.

The later version, made in the 70's, was a decent adaptation of the book, but it was terribly miscast. I couldn't look at Richard Thomas without thinking of The Waltons, and Ernest Borgnine just didn't look or sound like a Prussian sergeant to me.

Borgnine was fine, but Thomas was a bad choice. Still, if you look at the era in which it was made, he was still being projected as a possible future "big star." Never really panned out. The John-Boy legacy hung around his neck like an albatross.

so how many WWI movies can you guys name?

If you want to name WWI movies, please start a thread elsewhere.

Seriously? is it that off topic? I only asked because this was the first line of your review:



I couldn't think of any others, thought you would know of some(since you brought it up in your review) And you only post in threads involving your reviews. Its not like I just said something about Avatar.

He mentioned Sergeant York. The Big Parade and The Grand Illusion are All Quiet on the Western Front's biggest rivals for best World War I film. At the moment, I like The Big Parade slightly better as a film, but All Quiet on the Western Front is more definitive as a World War I film, if that makes any sense. It's the most effective antiwar film I've ever seen. It's no wonder it was banned in a lot of countries around World War II, especially Nazi Germany.

Starting about 40 minutes in, there is a long battle scene that's one of the greatest in movie history, with a bunch of "Jesus Christ!" moments. I love the speech at the beginning where the teacher is inspiring his students to go to war, and you can see the images filling the kid's heads.

I would rank Grand Illusion and Paths of Glory ahead of All Quiet.

Both versions resonate with a quiet power and earnestness but I would agree with Kubrick's Path's as being the most powerful for me personally. As one who is quite obsessed with Great War history and one who has visited the Somme, Ypres, and Verdun many times, I have watched both versions of All Quiet endless times. I agree with the original director on the 1930 version concerning the power of no score but have to confess the score in the 1979 version has really permeated my senses (it along with the music to the BBC World at War series(on WWII) in the 70's defined that internal frame of reference for both wars as a young boy) The scene where the trains are being unloaded of the wounded as the fresh trained recruits await to get on.... the music and the droll command..."Board the train"....just haunting. I wish Remarque's WW2 novel, " A Time to Love and a Time to Die" would be tackled by a Peter Jackson or Speilberg...capturing the horrors of the east during the Soviet push to Berlin.

James, I think we are about the same age, but I have followed and trusted your reviews for the better part of the last decade. Your sensibilities and perspectives are really a unique guide for one who loves cinema. Thanks for reviewing "All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)". It spurred me on to join the forum finally.

Well welcome to the forum Zachodni

One of the greatest war movies of all time. Should not be rated g!!!