All Quiet on the Western Front

[Brian S]

Anyone seen this lately? Only $11.88 on DVD for probably authentic uniforms, pickelhauben, etc.

Hadn't seen it in years


<LI>During the film's German release, the Nazis (not yet in power) interrupted screenings by shouting martial slogans and releasing rats into the theaters.
<LI>Facts from IMDB.com
<LI>To ensure authenticity, director Lewis Milestone instructed the studio to try to find out if there were any German Army veterans living in the Los Angeles area, so he could have them authenticate German uniforms, equipment, etc. So many of them were found that Milestone cast a lot of them as German officers in the film, and had them drill the extras playing German troops. (The scene where they are laying communication wire in the forward trenches was led by a former German soldier whose job during the war was to do exactly that.)

[AOK4]

Just to put everything in its context: the movie was forbidden in France too.

[Peter_Suciu]

The 1979 remake is on DVD as well. Both are very well made and worth having, however the uniforms and helmets are more realistic in the original film.

[Erich B.]

Aqotwf

That's probably because the uniforms and helmets used in the earlier version were original.
Erich

[Greeves]

I've never seen the movie but...

I've read the book 3 times. Definitely one of the best of its genre. I've heard nothing but good things about the movie so it's high up on the "to see" list now.

[JensF.]

The old movie from 1929/30 is one of the best movies I know. VERY realistic and mostly original weapons and equipment. Also very good actors. The 1979 movie is not as good as the old one. Wrong weapons and a Kaiser with Wehrmacht Long Service Awards and a Silver Woundbadge
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=40200

[Peter_Suciu]

The old movie from 1929/30 is one of the best movies I know. VERY realistic and mostly original weapons and equipment. Also very good actors. The 1979 movie is not as good as the old one. Wrong weapons and a Kaiser with Wehrmacht Long Service Awards and a Silver Woundbadge
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=40200

It did win an Oscar for Best Picture but it is still an extremely, extremely dated movie. And unlike earlier films like Birth of a Nation or Intolerance it hardly is revolutionary. In fact All Quiet on the Western Front suffers from the same problem as a lot of early "talkies," in that the acting is completely flat.

The actors were mostly silent screen stars and their body language and facial expressions are decent but almost forced for a film with sound. You can see that they were really use to not talking!

There is a LOT more to a film than just original weapons. The acting is really superior in the 1979 remake. This one too suffers from a host of problems but it has held up as a decent portrait of WWI. Personally I like both films a lot but as a film buff, almost as much as a history buff, I tend to look at films and not just uniforms on screen.

[Brian S]

Hah, that's a good one, the Kaiser with a silver wound badge.

Interesting GOOF for the 1930 film;

When Paul is with the dead French soldier in the shell hole, the arms move to different positions on the dead body between night and day.

[Tim Tezer]

It's dated, but I think the original is still a great movie. But if you are reading this forum regularly and you haven't read the book, SHAME ON YOU!! It's one of the greatest books about war ever written, and the most exruciatingly realistic portrayals of life at the Western Front in WW1 that you will ever find. For anyone who is interested in WW1, the book is a must-read.

Tim

[VerKuilen Ager]

For the readers in the house, here's something close to the first edition. In those days, most European publishers printed novels (and a great deal of non-fiction) in a paperback edition first and moved up to hardcover if the book did well. So, the original version was quite a bit more modest than the later editions with the well-known "sturmtruppe" illustration on the dustjacket.

[J.von Canon]

Forbidden...

Just to put everything in its context: the movie was forbidden in France too.

The film is "forbidden"in Israel also...

[Greeves]

It's dated, but I think the original is still a great movie. But if you are reading this forum regularly and you haven't read the book, SHAME ON YOU!! It's one of the greatest books about war ever written, and the most exruciatingly realistic portrayals of life at the Western Front in WW1 that you will ever find. For anyone who is interested in WW1, the book is a must-read.

Tim

I fully agree (see my previous post). As an aside, another excellent portrayal of life on the Western Front (as seen from the British perspective) is Siegfried Sassoon's "Memoirs of and Infantry Officer".

[Paul B]

All Quiet...

As an aside, I remember reading on the website of a US-based WWI re-enactment group that a former German Army quartermaster was hired as a technical consultant to the costumes department. He did a pretty good job, I think....

Just to be different, however....(please note, that the following is just my opinion, and as such is not meant to offend anyone who disagrees...it's more an opinion on fiction sublimating into fact than a criticism of All Quiet per se)

I think the film is, in cinematic terms, a masterpiece. The novel, in literary terms, is also a masterpiece -but neither of them are history, nor were they meant to be. Remarque's combat experience was nowhere near as extensive as readers of the novel might believe and there is also an infamous episode involving him being photographed wearing decorations that are, at best, "uncomfirmed"...

My point isn't to attack Remarque's war record -one day on the Western Front is one day's more real combat than I've ever seen- but merely to state that All Quiet doesn't give an exclusive view of the German soldier's experience in WWI. Ernst Junger found combat horrifying and exhilerating at the same time, Rommel drew hard, professional lessons from his war experience, Hitler formed his political ideals....and many more forgotten soldiers suffered highs and lows, endured or just fought to survive. Even among the veterans, some looked back with an intense pride whilst others just wanted to forget.

I don't blame Remarque for this -he wrote a novel, not a memoir- but we must guard against it helping to form historical viewpoints. In the UK the work of literate junior officers like Sassoon and Graves has unjustly influenced our perspective of the British Tommy's war, and to an extent Remarque's book has done the same.

It's still a very good book. though...

Just my rant for the day, all the best

Paul.

[Brian S]

Paul, completely agree with your scholarly assessment. For me, the film is truly a masterpiece for its age. Being that it was filmed only a few years after the fact, so much was readily available to make the film appear so "there". Although filmed in California, the props and equipment and overall feeling of troops marching from the homeland, was very convincing.

As for political overtones, undertones, I think most of us abhor war but welcome our freedom and are thankful for the sacrifices past, present and future.

[Bob Lembke]

WK I Veteran's Opinion of &quot;All Quiet ----&quot;

My father fought in storm units (Garde=Reserve=Pionier=Regiment, and detailed to Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr)), wounded four times, flame-thrower pioneer, and he hated Remarque's book, as defeatist. I can't remember him mentioning the film, but he generally also hated Hollywood movies. But he was one of those odd fellows who loved WK I. His father, a General Staff officer, hated it from day one, being really smart, and knowing it was going to be a long disaster, not a six week wonder. He told my father he would break his neck if he volunteered, telling him to let the war come to him, that there would be enough war for everyone.

Re: the following: "I don't blame Remarque for this -he wrote a novel, not a memoir- but we must guard against it helping to form historical viewpoints. In the UK the work of literate junior officers like Sassoon and Graves has unjustly influenced our perspective of the British Tommy's war, and to an extent Remarque's book has done the same."

Paul Fussel has interesting observations on these memoirs. The title of this book is something like Memories of the Great War. (I'm too lazy to look at a shelf behind me.)

Bob Lembke