Review of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Chris O — 21 Aug 2010

What's remarkable about this film is that it's a very early talkie that holds up incredibly well by today's standards. Featuring some truly heartbreaking images, the film is a shamelessly anti-war piece of sentiment that achieves a startling level of impact.

Since it was made in 1930, some performances are either completely stiff or over-the-top, naturally, yet they're never entirely distracting from the overall experience. At its core is a theme that would later be echoed by the likes of Patton and The Hurt Locker: War is a drug. This theme is not hammered in as strongly as the aforementioned films, yet it's still there.

These young men that we see suffering, living, dying together in the trenches are men that we get to know on a personal level that stay with us long after the film is over. All Quiet on the Western Front is a film to be cherished, and has deservedly achieved a level of very high acclaim, even in today's world.