IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
A group of German solders fight on the front line in France at the end of World War I.A group of German solders fight on the front line in France at the end of World War I.A group of German solders fight on the front line in France at the end of World War I.
- Awards
- 1 win
Hans-Joachim Möbis
- Der Student
- (as H.J. Moebis)
Aribert Mog
- Undetermined Secdondary Role
- (uncredited)
Gustav Püttjer
- Hamburger
- (uncredited)
André Saint-Germain
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Vladimir Sokoloff
- Meal Orderly
- (uncredited)
Ilse Trautschold
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Emil Wabschke
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film was banned by the Nazis after they came into power in Germany in 1933.
- GoofsThe depth of the trenches is inaccurate. In several scenes where the soldiers are standing up, their heads are higher than the top of the trench, making them easy targets for snipers and also allowing the French to monitor troop movements.
- Quotes
Woman in rationed food line: What are you doing? Back of the line!
Another Woman in rationed food line: What's wrong with the old cow? Cutting in line!
Man in rationed food line: Leave the woman alone.
Woman cutting in rationed food line: My Adolf is dead.
Woman in rationed food line: Think you're the only one? That's no reason to cut in line. Go to the back!
- ConnectionsEdited into A Hellish Chaos (2017)
Featured review
Director G.W. Pabst uses sound well in this, his first sound film. There's the noise of continual bombardment, which adds to the visual realism. Moreover, sound serves continuity. Whistling continues from one scene to another in one transition; in another, the music of a band playing at a canteen turns into the drumbeat for marching soldiers. Also endearing of this antiwar statement is that it is not exciting, unlike other supposedly dovish pictures that end up romanticizing battle. There's the screaming Frenchman between trenches. An artillery firing line is too short, hitting patriot trenches. A return home on leave has a soldier discovering that his wife trades sex to get by.
The framing, editing and visual quality are adept, as one would expect from Pabst, if not from an early sound film. I especially liked the framing and fluidity of the staircase goodbye. There's a surveying moving camera, as there is in "All Quiet on the Western Front". The long battle sequence at the end is the climax of the salient film-making. There is a very long take from an unmoving position, as if the camera were a hidden soldier observing; it is unexciting, yet my attention was not discouraged.
The framing, editing and visual quality are adept, as one would expect from Pabst, if not from an early sound film. I especially liked the framing and fluidity of the staircase goodbye. There's a surveying moving camera, as there is in "All Quiet on the Western Front". The long battle sequence at the end is the climax of the salient film-making. There is a very long take from an unmoving position, as if the camera were a hidden soldier observing; it is unexciting, yet my attention was not discouraged.
- Cineanalyst
- May 13, 2005
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Details
- Runtime1 hour 15 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.20 : 1
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