This American war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name premiered
on April 21, 1930 - making it the oldest film we've reviewed here on the show, at least,
so far. Produced on a budget of $1.5 million dollars, (a considerably large sum in the
wake of the stock market crash) the black and white film earned slightly more than break-even,
but did very well critically, winning the third ever "Best Picture" Oscar. The un-rated
narrative follows a group of German school kids who join the army during the first Great
War, and face disillusionment following the horrors of the battlefield. The naive soldiers
are convinced to enlist after their teacher suggests, "Is a little experience such a bad
thing for a boy?". The ensemble cast includes Lew Ayres, Richard Alexander, Loius Wolheim,
John Wray and plenty of other names folks under 70 probably don't recognize, with103-year-old
Arthur Gardner as the only surviving member of the cast or crew. Steeped in dated quaintness,
the acting from the trope of boys is awfully overdone and hammy at times, occasionally
even eliciting an unintended laugh or two. Individual monologues and conversions however
are mildly intriguing, especially late in the film, when we follow a single solider
instead of twenty. Although its contributions to cinema, especially the war-genre, are still
influencing pictures, the 136-minute film, is at times, a very boring one. As I've mentioned
in other reviews of decades-old movies... being critical of this picture's style and
pacing is inherently unfair, as that was mostly expected at the time - but such a forgiveness
doesn't make the film any more entertaining or captivating. Indeed, nearly the first 90
minutes of this picture rolls on without any true protagonist or story: just a sequence
of loosely connected scenes following an entire group of nameless, near-identical individuals.
For an 84-year-old film, the action of the fights and battles are particularly impressive,
and very well-done: maintaining a realism and urgency to them. The
high-pitched and garbled sound effects during these scenes may have been realistic back
in the day, but they sound more like listening to a dying cassette deck into a washing machine
now. The poor sound quality also makes it extremely difficult to identity who's talking
in several scenes, since director Lewis Milestone rarely punches in for a close up. Otherwise
though, he makes fine use of the wide four-by-three frame with long tracking shots, in between
slow dips to black that bookend every scene. Throughout it all, we're witness to the horrors
of war, from fending off a mischief of rats, to eating too much food, to senselessly running
straight into a machine gun. Limited by the technical shortcomings of its era, the inconsistent
frame-rate during some action sequences is unfortunate and distracting. The film's opening
title cards inform us that David Broekman is responsible for the musical score, but
I honestly don't recall ever hearing one - the movie is instead covered by an unsettling
blanket of silence... living up to its name rather appropriately. Decidedly sympathetic
towards the German forces, this picture still shares some rather poignant themes about duty
to country, and the meaningless of war. I only wish it could have had a narrower focus,
or a less laborious pace. A touchstone in American cinema, I'm glad I watched this one
at least once... but I'm afraid that was enough for me. "All Quiet On The Western Front".
"Futility of war... eventually examined." Now, here's what you had to say in the YouTube
comments.
A NINE and a FIVE for "All Quiet On The Western Front"... you applauded this film's abilities
to showcase the soldiers of war in a sympathetic manner, and its ability to still entertain
today, you thought it was AWESOME. Well, I guess I'm alone on this one, but I didn't
really enjoy this one. I appreciate its pioneering efforts and technical accomplishments... but
the story and characters were virtually absent until the final act, so I'll score this an
ALRIGHT.