All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) – L. Milestone

Adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s famous novel, Lewis Milestone manages to capture the way that some boys’ hopes for adventure and excitement are quickly destroyed by the real horror of war.  Lew Ayres leads the cast of kids playing schoolboys in Germany who are pushed by a teacher to enlist in the infantry during WWI and sent to the Western Front (France).  Although the basic training scenes show them having fun and engaging in a “battle” with their former postman, now drill sergeant (John Wray), once they are shipped out, they are confronted with real death and misery.  The film (which cost over one million dollars, an enormous sum at the time) excels in locating the characters within a sea of extras in the trenches and no man’s land in between.  Of course, a camaraderie develops among the boys and the older guys in their troop (Louis Wolheim excels as the fatherly Sergeant) and the anecdotal structure helps us to see these relationships play out in a number of settings and situations (from the army hospitals where they recover or die to the French farmhouse where they meet some girls as well as on the field of battle).  Although some scenes may seem clichéd at this point in time, All Quiet was responsible for creating these tropes for the first time.  The camera takes us through the war with memorable tracking shots, long shots, and some gory and horrible scenes that cannot be unseen.  A powerful anti-war statement that helped to convince star Lew Ayres to be a conscientious objector in WWII.  The film won Oscars for both Best Film and Best Director in the third year of the awards.