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.

  

Animal Crackers (1930)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Animal Crackers (1930) – V. Heerman

The Marx Brothers tore into my living room tonight.  However, at first, I wasn’t so sure about it – their film seemed rather too scripted.  But then, as I loosened up (and the movie did too), I fell into its rhythm.  I never quite guffawed, but I appreciated the chaos and the well-timed reaction shots of Margaret Dumont.  Perhaps the jokes were just too familiar for laughing out loud and they always do fly by fast: elephant in my pajamas and so on.  Groucho is Captain Spalding, recently returned from Africa, and Dumont is hosting a party in his honor.  At said party, a famous painting is to be unveiled – but then it is replaced with a copy and another copy and then all three paintings are stolen (by Harpo, of course).  Except when it’s Chico -- who also plays the piano … wittily.  The censors apparently struck out some jokes but not the Marx spirit which is subversive enough to come through anyway. The result is not quite up there with Duck Soup but it still makes you want to take everything less seriously.

L' Âge d'Or (1930)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

L' Âge d'Or (1930) -- L. Buñuel

Buñuel's first feature (after Un Chien Andalou) has the loose random feel of a surrealist classic but still manages to enclose a plot of sorts within its tangents (a couple desirous of sexual coupling is prevented by various civic religious and bourgeois leaders...although this might not be an exact fit with what transpires). More to the point, there are some amazing dirty jokes (or puns? allusions?) and some astonishing digs at organized religion (especially the abrupt ending). Gaston Modot is a real bastard...and our hero. A cow also sleeps in a bed.