All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

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

Director:

Delbert Mann

Writers:

Paul Monash (screenplay), Erich Maria Remarque (novel)

Stars:

Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Thomas	...	Paul Baumer
Ernest Borgnine	...	Stanislaus Katczinsky
Donald Pleasence	...	Kantorek
Ian Holm	...	Himmelstoss
Patricia Neal	...	Paul's Mother
Paul Mark Elliott	...	Josef Behm (as Mark Elliott)
David Bradley	...	Albert Kropp (as Dai Bradley)
Matthew Evans	...	Friedrich Muller (as Mathew Evans)
George Winter	...	Franz Kemmerich
Dominic Jephcott	...	Peter Leer
Mark Drewry	...	Tjaden
Colin Mayes	...	Westhus
Ewan Stewart	...	Detering
Michael Sheard	...	Paul's Father
Katerina Lírová	...	Paul's Sister

Storyline

Paul Baumer is a young German who, along with his graduating high school classmates, enlist in the German Imperial Army during the First World War. Originally thinking war would be a great adventure, Paul and his friends discover exactly the opposite as the war drags on and one by one the members of the class are killed in action until only Paul remains.

---

Plot Keywords:

war violence | trench warfare | world war one | hand to hand combat | bayonet charge | 

---

Taglines:

They left for war as Boys, never to return as men.

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hallmark Hall of Fame: All Quiet on the Western Front (#29.1)

Filming Locations:

Czech Republic

Company Credits

Production Co:

Norman Rosemont Productions, Marble Arch Productions, ITC Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min (DVD) 129 min (1980 cut) 157 min (Uncut Edition)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Patricia Neal played Richard Thomas' mother in this movie. She also played his mother in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971).

---

Goofs

The Kaiser is not wearing the correct decorations. Apart from the fact that he is wearing ribbons rather than medals (Wilhelm II. generally preferred medals to ribbons), one can actually see two of those ribbons sporting swastika-bearing eagles - clearly recycled props from a WW II movie.

---

Quotes

Muller: Himmelstoss...there's a latrine down the road. Why don't you go take a jump?

---

Alternate Versions

A 129 minute version was given a cinema release in Europe in the early-1980s.

---

Connections

Version of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

User Reviews

Very good

This is a very good anti-war movie. It shows how the young and naive are being brain-washed to think that somehow it is their duty to kill and die. Big words like Fatherland, Kaiser, God, Patriotism. But it is always the young generation that does the dying, whilst the old men discuss strategy over a beer. War has lost whatever legitimacy it ever may have had when the leaders left the front line to lead from the back, safe in their headquarters miles away from the killing. Sending young boys to their death whilst claiming it is eventually for the Good is the ultimate cowardice. Some get their come-uppance, such as Cpl Himmelstoss, but most live their lives in the comfortable cocoon of their self-righteousness – the school teacher, the father, the Kaiser himself.

But sometimes a young soldier sees through the scam, as when Paul kills a Frenchman by sheer instinct, only too late realising what he has been forced to do to someone who might have been his brother. But even then the cultural impregnation is too strong for him to follow his true human feelings and draw the only logical conclusion. And of course in the end he pays the price himself. Destroyed - for what?

That is the lesson that we all should take to heart, to this very day.

A very good film based on an exceptional book.