Regular Price $14.98

Starring: Lew Ayres,  Louis Wolheim,  John Wray,  Arnold Lucy,  Ben Alexander, 
Directed By: Lewis Milestone, 
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 1930-08-24
Studio: Universal Studios
Format: Black & White,  Closed-captioned,  DVD-Video,  Full Screen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about All Quiet on the Western Front

Amazon.com essential video
This 1930 film, No. 54 on the AFI's Top 100 list, still holds up as a surprisingly forceful and honest antiwar drama. Indeed, the modern sensibility is almost as startling as the sometime stagey acting of Lew Ayres, which can be excused by the fact that, three years after the introduction of sound, actors were still applying stage techniques to talking pictures. Ayres plays a German college student during World War I, who is brainwashed into enlisting in the Army (along with the rest of his class) by a zealously inspirational college professor. Once in uniform and on the front lines, however, he quickly discovers that the glory of the Fatherland is of little concern to a soldier dodging bullets and explosions, whose comrades are dying in his arms. As powerful in its way as Platoon almost 60 years later, it remains a classic tale of young soldiers' confrontations with the possibility of imminent and arbitrary death. Director Lewis Milestone shows a surprising range of techniques in this film from the formative years of moviemaking with sound. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews for All Quiet on the Western Front

3.5 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:

A compelling adaptation of Remarque's classic novel, All Quiet on the Western Front offers striking images--including battle scenes that look great today--and a wonderful ending that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the book.All Quiet on the Western Front

War/Antiwar
I have read the story both in English and in German. It is a classic tale describing the uselessness of warfare from the viewpoint of the soldier who is caught in the middle between two warring nations and/or cultures. He, as does most everyone, wants to be a hero, but what is heroic when you are cold, wet, and hungry. His death came, although the movie doesn't make this clear, after World War I is over. In reply to a dispatch from Berlin asking how things were came the answer: "All (is) quiet on the Western Front." The movie does a fairly good bringing out Remarque's intent. Very similar in theme to "The Red Badge of Courage."All Quiet on the Western Front

Culpability...
True. The blood and gore of modern war films are absent, but so are the orchestrated scores, the heroes, and with them, the implicit glory of combat. The trench warfare and Maschinengewehr machine guns might be dated (along with the black and white format and by-modern-standards-poor sound), but the nationalist pride and civilian attitudes complicit in warfare are not. A film for every generation.

Of note: this format is the only I've seen, so I cannot vouch for any so-called remastering or improvements over earlier releases, only the film itself. That being said, I would consider $10 a fair bargain for a good DVD of a great film.All Quiet on the Western Front

Still a Classic
I probably saw "All Quiet on the Western Front" for the first time in the mid 50's. I was a young boy at the time and saw it as an adventure film. I later saw it several times and, of course, its powerful anti-war atmosphere really struck home during the Vietnam era. I am now in the process of re-reading books and re-watching films from my younger days. The idea is to see the effect they have on me now. Both the book and the movie of "All Quiet on the Western Front" have more than held up. Set aside any prejudices you have against black and white movies. Set aside any prejudices you have against a slightly old-fashioned theatrical style of acting. This is a very powerful film about human beings trapped in the horror of war. What is going on Iraq now is exactly what these young men experienced in WWI.All Quiet on the Western Front

An Historical Icon
This is a 1930 film production, faithfully based on Eric Marie Remarque's WWI novel by the same title. Considering the infancy of talkie film making when this was created, it is an absolutely remarkable piece. Many of the battle scene techniques have been recycled to this day.

I read the novel 3 or 4 years ago, and had forgotten that it was told from the German viewpoint (such is the universality of the war experience). The story is critical of war - though I personally believe that at times it becomes a necessity, when greedy/evil people want to force their will onto other nations. Still, the film powerfully makes the point regarding comfortable old men fighting armchair battles, while teenagers die in the mud. The WWI trench warfare battlefields were a particularly grim environment. I thought this was one area in which the movie, though making a gallant effort, could not convey the reality as well as the book does.

Filmed only a decade after WWI, this movie has huge historical value. Aside from the moral implications, it is a rare glimpse into the homes, hospitals, streets, and battlefields of almost a century ago.

A very important historical piece that is worth the time.All Quiet on the Western Front