Despite a little dating around the edges this is a truly superb example of its genre and a cinema classic.

A a film that remains one of the most powerful screen comments on the horrors of war.

The film's centerpiece battle runs only eight minutes, yet its hellfire feels twice as long as Saving Private Ryan's D-Day onslaught.

The film made Ayres a star.

...a bitter indictment of the insulated powers that induce naive young men to kill one another.

An ambitious epic of tremendous sweep and scope.

This uncompromising drama makes a bleak statement of war fighting in trenches, stressing the inanity of WWI (or any war) for both sides; perhaps the most memorable moment is the one in which Lew Ayres reaches out for a butterfly to disastrous effect.

There are few war films that can match the brilliance of Lewis Milestone's anti-war classic. It's a feast for the ears with a passionate soul.