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Movies / On DVD / All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front

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All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

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Reviews Counted: 31

Fresh: 30

Rotten:1

Average Rating: 8.6/10

Consensus: Director Lewis Milestone's brilliant anti-war polemic, headlined by an unforgettable performance from Lew Ayres, lays bare the tragic foolishness at the heart of war.

Runtime: 2 hrs 12 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: Still widely regarded as the best war film ever made, director Lewis Milestone's adaptation of the Remarque WWI novel is clearly his masterpiece, a searing indictment of the insanity of war.... Still widely regarded as the best war film ever made, director Lewis Milestone's adaptation of the Remarque WWI novel is clearly his masterpiece, a searing indictment of the insanity of war. Starring Lew Ayres as the young Paul Bauman, the film focuses on the fates of the boy and his classmates, who have enlisted to fight in the German army during WWI. Still on fire with the patriotism instilled by their teacher, Kantorek (Arnold Lucy), they arrive for training, eager to face death. When they reach the front lines, the realize that the German troops have few supplies and no food. Sgt. Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim), briefs the recruits on how to avoid getting killed, but on the first night, one of them gets shot. The carnage of the battle shocks the boys, and some are driven mad. Day after day, the recruits huddle in the trenches, frightened, starving, and unable to gain ground, realizing that it is not glorious to die for one's fatherland. This powerfully affecting film is brilliantly directed and written, and generally well acted despite some dated elements. Milestone's magnificent crane and tracking shots of the battlefields surely owe something to the work of Karl Freund, arguably the finest cinematographer in film history. [More]

Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Russell Gleason, John Wray

Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Russell Gleason, John Wray

Director: Lewis Milestone

Director: Lewis Milestone
Producer: Carl Laemmle
Composer: David Broekman

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Feb 6, 2007

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for All Quiet on the Western Front

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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From such grisly materials the popular cinema is rarely drawn. The film is monumental in the courage that risked its manufacture.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
02/17/09
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/16/07
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine

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

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/16/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A harrowing, gruesome, morbid tale of war.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/16/07
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Deserves its reputation as a classic.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
10/16/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: House Next Door | comment Comment
07/03/07
Rob Humanick
House Next Door

The film made Ayres a star.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/22/07
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
02/09/07
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

An ambitious epic of tremendous sweep and scope.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/04/07
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]

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.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/25/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

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.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
10/05/06
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

The film's strength now derives less from its admittedly powerful but highly simplistic utterances about war as waste, than from a generally excellent set of performances (Ayres especially) and an almost total reluctance to follow normal plot structure.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Heavy stuff, especially for 1930.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/25/05
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/24/05
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
07/04/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Classic early talkie is still anti-war effective.

comment Comment
06/02/05
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

A Classic and then some

comment Comment
05/12/05
Clint Morris
Moviehole

Classic anti-war drama

comment Comment
08/10/04
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

No review available.

comment Comment
05/23/04
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

comment Comment
02/24/04
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
 
 
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