All Quiet on the Western Front

Besides Kubrick's Path to Glory imo the best movie on WWI and one of the best (anti-)war movies of all time. The true excellence of this movie is not only in the war scenes and the acting but in the characterization of the soldier's nature and the nature of war. On top, you get a feel for the war of the trenches - without bombastic and shallow theatrical music like recently in Nolan's (imo far overrated) "drama" Dunkirk who tries to make drama with dramatic music where enough drama already should be. The only "sound-effects" in All Quiet on the Western Front are those of war - the screams of the soldiers, the "singing" of flying shells and the many explosions and the sounds of guns. Whereas the remake with "Sonnyboy" Richard Thomas (playing Paul Baumer) from 1979 is also a good one, the adaption from 1930 of Erich Maria Remarque's epic is imo the more intense and superior one. Fantastic movie, especially for all young who never watched this piece, watch.

The horrors of war, The Great War, seldom better summarised by: 'It's dirty and painful to die for your country, when it comes dying for your country it's better not to die at all. There are millions out there dying for their countries, and what good does it do?'. And yet the wars continue, death and destruction sustained, lessons seldom learnt, the cries remain unheard.

World War 1 and a young German, Paul Baumer, enthusiastically joins the Army. With romantic notions of war and idealistic dreams in his head he undergoes training and then is sent off to the Western Front. In due course the romantic notions are replaced by the harsh reality of war and he becomes disillusioned with it all. Great World War 1 movie, made when the war was still fresh in everyone's minds. Might well be the first anti-war war movie, as it depicts the grim realities of war, rather than the romantic, heroic non-existent version of it. Harrowing, shocking, original, unpredictable, and just as relevant today as in 1930. Surprisingly good production values for 1930. Solid performances all round. Far far better than the 1979 remake.

From the fact it was made in 1930, you could class 'All Quiet on the Western Front' as a war movie museum piece, but Lewis Milestone's film is a seminal piece of anti-war propaganda, focusing on the Great War from the perspective of a group of German soldiers, in particular Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres). Ayres gives a sensitive and powerful performance: by the 2nd World War the actor chose to serve as a medic, where he gained distinction. Remembered for the sequence with the butterfly at the end in particular, this early talkie manages to set its scene and transmit a powerful message. An involving and clever film which on its recent restoration and cinema re-release has taken on new significance in the 21st century.