All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Directed by Lewis Milestone

Written by George Abbott, Del Andrews and Maxwell Anderson, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque

Starring Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander

At the dawn the 1930s, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to show a realistic depiction of war. With the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as The Hays Code) having been adopted by most motion picture studios in 1930, this film came out at the very beginning of the controversial code’s inaugural year. That, on top of the general distaste for anything anti-war within the first 50 years of the 20th century, it is safe to assume that many elements of this film were digested with much scrutiny. But that is part of what makes this film so phenomenal.

If this film came out today, it most likely would not cause so much conversation. Most people today know the horrors of war from at the very least from a second-hand account. But this came out at the height of the lie that it is an honor and a privilege for young, teenage children to fight and die for their country, and anything less is cowardly.

The film follows the students of a particular class in Germany as their heads are filled with pro-war propaganda delivered to them at the words of their professor. Their faces glow with excitement as the man designated to teach them of the world speaks of the glories of war, while withholding the terrifying realities that await for them.

In the end, all the boys stand up and emphatically declare their loyalty to Germany (pre-Hitler, as this is World War I). One boy does not stand and his friends pressure him into fighting, ultimately sealing his fate. This is eerily similar to the advertisements you see on TV for the U.S. Army and Marines today. It shows only a small portion of what anyone moved to serve their country will experience and glorifies it using epic music and imagery.

This film is impressive in its scale and use of brutal images to show what we can only imagine is as close as a representation to WWI as the censors would allow. It does not shy away from the gore and heartbreak they boys are subjected to. In one brilliantly crafted battle sequence, enemy forces are moving in. We see from the perspective of one of the main character that one French soldier places his hands on barbed wire to try to move over it when a shell hits, filling the frame with dirt. When the dust settles, only his hands remain.

The French soldiers advancing in All Quiet on the Western Front.

The 2nd company in their fox hole.

The sheer size of the battle sequences are impressive and can even compare with that of Saving Private Ryan, with the understandable exception of gore. But where this film really impresses is the character arcs as they quickly learn that they have been lied to. In the beginning, all are eager to sign up and fight for a war that they establish later on they have no idea why or how it started. In the end, the few remaining have grown to become cynical of their position and lose their respect for authority if they are deemed to not be “one of them”.

It was refreshing to see such an old film question why wars are even fought. So many films of the golden age of cinema glorify ever aspect of war and might as well be stamped with “approved by the U.S. Government” stamped on top of the title. To see a film question the morality and purpose of war back then, especially written by a German author, pre-Nazi Germany, made for a spectacular film experience. It perfectly showed the hypocrisy of everyone pushing young people to fight.

After almost 90 years, this film still holds up. And unfortunately is still a relevant look on how governments view war and use the impressionable minds of their young citizens to fight and die for a war they have no stake in. It examines the lies of the “glory” of war. And even in the scenes where there are moment of happiness and laughter, they feel more like a coping mechanism than a legitimate display of the characters moods. And being the third film to ever win the Oscar for Best Picture, it still deserves all of the praise it received back then.

My Rating: A