George_Chabot's Full Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Director Lewis Milestone brought a faithful adaptation of popular author Erich Maria Remarque's antiwar novel to the silver screen.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer, well played by Lew Ayres, a schoolboy who, driven by his bombastically patriotic teacher, enthusiastically joins the Kaiser's army with thousands of other young men. The irony of the teacher, too old to participate, but still egging the inexperienced young men on to go "do something for your Fatherland!" is not dimmed though the film is old. Neither is Baumer's response, when, home on leave, he is asked to say a few inspiring words to the class by his old teacher... Paul ends his little speech by saying, "When it comes to dying for your country, it's better not to die at all!" ...not exactly what the teacher wanted the class to hear!
Back at the front,the boys grow old too soon, having seen and experienced too much in too few years. The ranks thin, Paul is soon left with few friends. He lies for hours in a shell hole, with a French soldier he has stabbed, finally apologizing to the grinning corpse. Finally, Paul's mentor "Kat" is killed by a stray shell fragment as Paul carries him back to the German lines. Irony follows irony -- the day was quiet until a sniper's bullet found the hapless Paul Baumer, sitting in his trench alone, contemplating a butterfly -- the day when the official activity report read "all quiet on the Western Front."
Finally, the ending is an indictment of war itself... all of the young men are now dead; the faces of the dead boys look back at the viewer accusingly as they endlessly march into eternity.
This movie should be seen by all war movie fans, as should "To Hell and Back", "Sergeant York", "Saving Private Ryan", "Platoon", and "Patton".
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