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 | Death | French | Shell Crater

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

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)

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:

In the first classroom scene, two phrases are written on the blackboard: 1. in Greek, correctly written, the beginning of the Odyssey - Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polytropon hos mala polla (the sentence breaks off, against grammar and sense); 2. Ovid, Remedia amoris, line 91 - Principiis obsta, sero medicina paratur (Resist the first elements [of passion]; it's too late when you resort to medicine). A third phrase appears at the end of the scene: Quidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem (Whatever you do, do it wisely and keep in mind your purpose), an anonymous traditional maxim with biblical echoes.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the attack on the town and the cemetery, for a brief shot Germans are all retreating. In the next shot, they are attacking again and running forward.

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 Taxi! (1932)

Soundtrack:

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Beauty of a Butterfly

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+