All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

Erich Maria Remarque (novel)
Maxwell Anderson (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 August 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

At last....the motion picture!

Plot:

A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Plot Keywords:

German | Soldier | Wound | Eyes | Heroism

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Louis Wolheim	...	Kat Katczinsky
Lew Ayres	...	Paul Bäumer (as Lewis Ayres)
John Wray	...	Himmelstoss
Arnold Lucy	...	Professor Kantorek
Ben Alexander	...	Franz Kemmerich
Scott Kolk	...	Leer
Owen Davis Jr.	...	Peter
Walter Rogers	...	Behn (as Walter Browne Rogers)
William Bakewell	...	Albert Kropp
Russell Gleason	...	Mueller
Richard Alexander	...	Westhus
Harold Goodwin	...	Detering
Slim Summerville	...	Tjaden (as 'Slim' Summerville)
G. Pat Collins	...	Lieutenant Bertinck (as Pat Collins)
Beryl Mercer	...	Mrs. Bäumer - Paul's Mother

Also Known As:

Im Westen nichts Neues (Austria) (Germany) [de]
À l'ouest rien de nouveau (France) [fr]
All'ovest niente di nuovo (Italy) [it]
Intet nyt fra vestfronten (Denmark) [da]
Länsirintamalta ei mitään uutta (Finland) [fi]
Na zachodzie bez zmian (Poland) [pl]
Nada de Novo no Front (Brazil) [pt]
Ouden neoteron apo to dytikon metopon (Greece) [el]
På västfronten intet nytt (Sweden) [sv]
Sem Novidade no Front (Brazil) [pt]
Sin novedad en el frente (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

UK:145 min (cut) | UK:147 min (BBFC submission before censorship) | Germany:136 min | USA:133 min (restored version: Library of Congress) | 138 min (copyright length) | Spain:128 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | West Germany:12 (re-rating) | Austria:(Banned) (1931-1945) | Germany:(Banned) (1931-1945) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2003) (uncut) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | USA:Unrated | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

RKO-Pathé Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Lewis Milestone's attention to detail - and desire to be as authentic as possible - was such that the chief sanitary inspector of Orange County, California, insisted that production be halted while he check on the sanitary conditions of the trenches built for the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Paul is with the dead soldier in the pit, the arms move on the dead body between night and day.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Man cleaning doorknob: Thirty thousand.
Maid: From the Russians?
Man cleaning doorknob: No, from the French. From the Russians we capture more than that every day.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Entrenched: The Making of 'Gallipoli' (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

All Quiet on the Western Front

A detailed and thought-provoking account of war

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.