All Quiet on the Western Front

One of the first overtly anti-war films, Lewis Milestone's adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) remains one of the best. Erich Maria Remarque's grim novel comes to the screen more or less intact, depicting the horrors of World War I without overselling (or watering down) the message.

At the outbreak of World War I, war fever grips Germany. A group of German students, including Paul Baeumer (Lew Ayres), are convinced by their patriotic Professor (Arnold Lucy) to enlist. Almost immediately after enlisting, however, Paul and his colleagues find that war isn't nearly as glamorous as they thought. In fact it's horrible, a mixture of monotony in filthy trenches and terror in pointless bayonet attacks. Paul struggles to stay alive and retain his sanity as his colleagues die around him, even as the war drags on with no end in sight.

Anti-war films are a tricky proposition for filmmakers. If you focus too much on the message, the film becomes a pedantic lecture - see The Victors or Oh! What a Lovely War. On the other hand, focusing on the "horrors" (or excitement) of combat often negates the point. Flicks like The Dirty Dozen disingenuously couch a "war is hell" message amidst fun, explosive mayhem, and even earnestly pacifist films like Platoon often go overboard on the violence. Which is more memorable about Oliver Stone's opus: Willem Dafoe's callow whining about the madness of war, or the M-16s blazing, explosion-packed battle scenes?

All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the few anti-war films to get it right. From the word go, the Professor's pompous speeches about glory are shown to be a lie. Characters go mad under shellfire, suffer horrendous injury in combat, battle rats with shovels and grow disgusted with a pointless, self-perpetuating conflict. Perhaps the strongest scene is Paul's furlough, where his Professor's class denounces him as a traitor for relating his experiences. It's not a subtle film, with lots of angry denunciations of war, but the point is well-conveyed without being obnoxious. No one is going to watch All Quiet and run out to enlist.

Lewis Milestone had a long career in Hollywood from the silent era through the early '60s, with a decidedly mixed resume. He's in top form here, though, getting across the perfect mixture of seething anger and grim resignation. The battle scenes remain the best screen depiction of World War I, with only Paths of Glory in serious competition, grim, gripping and visceral without playing for sensational effects. Milestone stages other effective set-pieces, especially the opening rally and class lecture, staged and filmed like a silent movie with long master shots and hardcuts to soldiers' fantasies. He makes fine use of symbolism, especially the arresting final image, which has a greater impact than the film's many impassioned speeches.

Lew Ayres makes a fine lead: he perfectly conveys the disillusionment of an entire generation, raised on ideas of nationalist glory turned sour in the trenches. Louis Wolheim gives an standout turn as Katczinsky, the cynical Sergeant who shows Paul the ropes. The entire cast is excellent, however, from Ben Alexander's tragic Kemmerich to Arnold Lucy's pompous Professor.

All Quiet on the Western Front remains a standout war film. It conveys a pacifist message more strongly than any of its peers, and makes a powerful case for War as Hell.