51. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

Directed By Lewis Milestone


Synopsis

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"... or not really.

Review

All Quiet On The Western Front is a truly great film, it does have its flaws but the good point vastly outnumber the flaws. Firstly it is based on a great novel, which helps it have a good plot with well rounded characters. Secondly this is the film which makes the best use of sound until now, the sound of bombardments and machine guns follow you throughout the film and through them you get a bit of the notion of what it is like to be there.

On the minus-side the acting is not that great in some parts, mainly due to the younger actors, Paul, although he has his good moments also has some really bad throwbacks to Griffith's melodramatic overacting. In the whole scope of the film this is quite minor however. Also, there are plenty of things here that were done in Vidor's Big Parade and therefore it is not so original as it is sometimes said. Still, All Quiet has the advantage of being the grittier film, while Big Parade had plenty of moments of relaxation and even comedy, All Quiet is relentlessly brutal, which helps it put across its message.

The message os the film is another interesting thing; firstly, it chooses to show WWI through the eyes of the Germans. Secondly, it is uncompromising in its anti-war message. This is represented in pretty interesting ways, for example Paul only becomes the main character towards the middle of the film, for the simple fact that every one of his coleagues is either dead, injured or gone. Paul returns home on leave just to feel disgusted by the beligerent ideas of those who never saw battle, disgusted by nationalism and couch generals. A great film, and you can buy it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

Quotes from IMDB:

Paul Bäumer: You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all.

Paul Bäumer: We live in the trenches out there. We fight. We try not to be killed, but sometimes we are. That's all.

Tjaden: Me and the Kaiser, we are both fighting. The only difference is the Kaiser isn't here!

Paul Bäumer: And our bodies are earth. And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death.

Paul Bäumer: War isn't the way it looks back here.