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sabotai · 12-04-2011, 11:21 PM

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray
Length: 130 Minutes
Genre: War
Based On: The novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque

1929-1930 Best Picture
1929-1930 Best Director
1929-1930 Nominated for Best Writing
1929-1930 Nominated for Best Cinematography

An anti-war movie that's very nor subtle with its anti-war message.

The movie is told from the German side in World War 1. It starts off with a classroom of high school students. The teacher is preaching about serving your country. He gets all of the kids worked up and they all march off to join the army. The training sequence of scenes reminded me a lot of Band of Brothers. The instructor is a strict disciplinarian and tries to make the recruits give up.

But just as quickly as they got there, they were sent to the front lines where the movie really begins. As the movie goes on, soldiers drop off one by one as they try to survive in the trenches and carry out missions. The film shows several scenes where soldiers are sitting, just waiting for the combat to begin again. Like I said, the movie doesn't pull any punches, and the soldiers who aren't killed seem to have their spirit killed. In the middle of the movie, there is even a philosophical discussion over the causes of war, and near the end one soldier returns to his old classroom to talk about the horrors he had scene, much to the dismay of the same teacher who convinced him to join in the first place.

All Quiet on the Western Front was way ahead of its time several areas. The themes, the content of the dialogue. Not so much in the acting and camera work as extreme close ups and exaggerated emoting is a constant in all post-silent movies. Although I don't mark these things against the movie, they still stand out to me regardless of how many silent and early talkies I watch.

The movie was received well in the US, but not so much in Europe. In Germany, they saw a lot of anti-Germany messages in the movie, and the Nazi's banned it when they came into power. The film was also banned in several other countries. However, not in Japan where it won the 1931 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Film (Sound).

My Rating: 8/10
IMDB User Rating: 8.1 / 10 (26,810 votes)
Netflix Rating: 3.6 / 4 (302,110 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% critics, 85% audience

12-04-2011, 11:21 PM	#209
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Directed by: Lewis Milestone Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray Length: 130 Minutes Genre: War Based On: The novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque 1929-1930 Best Picture 1929-1930 Best Director 1929-1930 Nominated for Best Writing 1929-1930 Nominated for Best Cinematography An anti-war movie that's very nor subtle with its anti-war message. The movie is told from the German side in World War 1. It starts off with a classroom of high school students. The teacher is preaching about serving your country. He gets all of the kids worked up and they all march off to join the army. The training sequence of scenes reminded me a lot of Band of Brothers. The instructor is a strict disciplinarian and tries to make the recruits give up. But just as quickly as they got there, they were sent to the front lines where the movie really begins. As the movie goes on, soldiers drop off one by one as they try to survive in the trenches and carry out missions. The film shows several scenes where soldiers are sitting, just waiting for the combat to begin again. Like I said, the movie doesn't pull any punches, and the soldiers who aren't killed seem to have their spirit killed. In the middle of the movie, there is even a philosophical discussion over the causes of war, and near the end one soldier returns to his old classroom to talk about the horrors he had scene, much to the dismay of the same teacher who convinced him to join in the first place. All Quiet on the Western Front was way ahead of its time several areas. The themes, the content of the dialogue. Not so much in the acting and camera work as extreme close ups and exaggerated emoting is a constant in all post-silent movies. Although I don't mark these things against the movie, they still stand out to me regardless of how many silent and early talkies I watch. The movie was received well in the US, but not so much in Europe. In Germany, they saw a lot of anti-Germany messages in the movie, and the Nazi's banned it when they came into power. The film was also banned in several other countries. However, not in Japan where it won the 1931 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Film (Sound). My Rating: 8/10 IMDB User Rating: 8.1 / 10 (26,810 votes) Netflix Rating: 3.6 / 4 (302,110 votes) Rotten Tomatoes: 97% critics, 85% audience Last edited by sabotai : 05-22-2018 at 04:43 PM.