Review of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) by Forrest P — 20 May 2010

Though it lacks some of the sheer bite and finesse of more modern war epics, All Quiet On The Western Front is certainly a must-see.

This war film puts audiences directly into the trenches of WWI, one war that has had fewer movie renditions. What really sets this film apart is honestly the cinematography, which seems far ahead of its time in this film effort. I was impressed with just about every camera movement in this picture, especially the many pans across the men lined up along the trenches.

And the battle scenes are truly spectacular. There is even a moment in the film in which a soldier is bombed and the audience sees that only his hands remain. Though this gruling image is atypical of the film, it had a lasting impact on me. The battle scenes were splendidly filmed. This film had a marvelous director, and a lot of the battle scenes were successfully able to put a contemporary audience in the middle of the action. Though I think such films like Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Apocalypse Now were able to fit the audience in a little more neatly--especially with the depiction of everyday life during the war--these battles cannot be underappreciated. The sights and sounds of the bombs bursting around the characters were incredible.

However, points in this story were still fairly weak. This movie came out just three years after the first feature-length film with talking--The Jazz Singer--so I'm sure the newness of dialogue could be a contributing factor, but the screenplay in this film was a little mediocre. A lot of the lines didn't feel like real things people would say. The characters make long musings about the ideals and ethics of war that I think would have struck the audience (especially a contemporary audience) better if they had been hinted at rather than said outright.

But, aside from that, there's not a whole lot to complain about with this picture, especially when the audience is able to follow the character Paul about halfway through the picture.

All Quiet On The Western Front has aged, but the themes it explores and the level of direction are on par with any war film I have seen. This film is brilliant; not perfect, but it doesn't have to be.

8/10.