All Quiet on the Western Front movie storyline. This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals.
As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about “the enemy” and the “rights and wrongs” of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American epic pre-Code anti-war film based on the 1929 Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander.
All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, it made the American Film Institute’s first 100 Years… 100 Movies list in 1998. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,500 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film.
In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress’ National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director. Its sequel, The Road Back (1937), portrays members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war.
About the Production
In the film, Paul is shot while reaching for a butterfly. This scene is different from the book, and was inspired by an earlier scene showing a butterfly collection in Paul’s home. The scene was shot during the editing phase, so the actors were no longer available and Milestone had to use his own hand as Paul’s.
Noted comedienne ZaSu Pitts was originally cast as Paul’s mother and completed the film but preview audiences, used to seeing her in comic roles, laughed when she appeared onscreen so Milestone re-shot her scenes with Beryl Mercer before the film was released. The preview audience remains the only one who saw Pitts in the role, although she does appear for about 30 seconds in the film’s original preview trailer.
The film was shot with two cameras side by side, with one negative edited as a sound film and the other edited as an “International Sound Version” for distribution in non-English speaking areas. A great number of German Army veterans were living in Los Angeles at the time of filming and were recruited as bit players and technical advisers. Around 2,000 extras were utilized during production. Among them was future director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons, Julia), who was fired for impudence.
The original international Sound Version of the film, lasting 152 minutes, was first shown in Los Angeles on April 21, 1930, and premiered in New York on April 25, 1930. This version has intertitles and a synchronized music and effects track. A sound version with dialogue was released in NYC on April 29, 1930. A 147-minute version was submitted to the British censors, which was cut to 145 minutes before the film premiered in London June 14, 1930. The film went on general release in the US on August 24, 1930. The sound version was re-released in 1939, though cut down to ten reels.
Later re-releases were substantially cut and the film’s ending scored with new music against the wishes of director Lewis Milestone. Before he died in 1980, Milestone requested that Universal fully restore the film with the removal of the end music cue. Two decades later, Milestone’s wishes were finally granted when the United States Library of Congress undertook an exhaustive restoration of the film in 2006. This version incorporates all known surviving footage and is 133 minutes long.
All Quiet on the Western Front(1930)
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, Scott Kolk, Owen Davis Jr, William Bakewell, Russell Gleason, Richard Alexander, Harold Goodwin, Slim Summerville
Screenplay by: George Abbott
Cinematography by: Arthur Edeson
Film Editing by: Edgar Adams, Milton Carruth
Art Direction by: Charles D. Hall, William R. Schmidt
Music by: David Broekman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: April 21, 1930 (United States)
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