{"id":42881,"date":"2019-03-01T16:08:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T23:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42881"},"modified":"2020-11-28T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T17:22:14","slug":"all-quiet-on-the-western-front-1930","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42881","title":{"rendered":"All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You are the life of the fatherland, you boys!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-42885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Poster.jpg 649w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA jingoistic teacher (Arnold Lucy) encourages his entire class of high school students to enlist in the German war effort &#8212; but Paul (Lew Ayres) and his classmates quickly find war to be far more hellish than they could ever imagine.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lewis Milestone Films<\/li>\n<li>Soldiers<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<li>World War One<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that while &#8220;the most famous pacifist film is not as grisly as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front\">Erich Maria Remarque&#8217;s novel<\/a>,&#8221; it &#8220;has enough horror and brutality to drive its anti-war theme home a hundred times over&#8221;. Influenced by a &#8220;rousing pro-militaristic speech by their professor&#8221;, a group of impossibly young and naive German teens quickly &#8220;discover that war has nothing to do with gallantry, duty, or the right cause&#8221; &#8212; instead, they &#8220;suffer through bombings, gassings, massacres, [and] hand-to-hand conflicts&#8221;. Peary argues that while &#8220;the dialogue scenes are static&#8221;, the &#8220;human story is powerful&#8221;, with &#8220;director Lewis Milestone&#8217;s visuals of the battle scenes&#8230; still impressive&#8221;, &#8220;effectively convey[ing] that being a soldier is a terrifying prospect.&#8221; Peary concludes his brief <em>GFTFF<\/em> review by noting &#8220;it&#8217;s unfortunate that films like this are never made when a war is in progress.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>In <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, Peary agrees with the Academy in naming this the Best Picture of the Year, and elaborates on what makes it so enduringly powerful. He writes that while &#8220;the boys enthusiastically enlist en masse, all hoping to be heroes&#8221;, &#8220;once in uniform, they realize that there is no glamour to war&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;instead, there are dictatorial officers, endless marchs, hunger, fatigue, nostalgia for home, rats in the trenches, mud and rain&#8230;&#8221; Indeed, there is &#8220;no heroism. Instead there is confusion, terror, hysteria, madness, amputations, [and] meaningless deaths. All that matters is survival, and those who survive are either insane, without limbs or sight, or unfit to return to civilization where old men still champion wars.&#8221; Most chilling and heart-stopping among <em>many<\/em> powerful moments is &#8220;the battle scene in which Arthur Edeson&#8217;s camera pans while charging soldiers are mowed down by machine-gun fire&#8221; &#8212; a scene &#8220;as impressive as it is terrifying&#8221;, and which &#8220;becomes even scarier when soldiers break through and jump into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat.&#8221; As Peary adds, &#8220;Significantly, not one shot is heroic or glamorizes war; instead we see how vulnerable all soldiers are and want to close our eyes until the fighting stops.&#8221; This almost unbearably impactful film will quickly convince you that war really <em>is<\/em> hell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Powerful direction by Milestone<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42892\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction2-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42893\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42891\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Direction-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Arthur Edesen&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42890\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography4-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment3-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42888\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Cinematography-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Countless memorable moments<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Moment4-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"984\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres.png 984w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres-128x94.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/All-Quiet-Ayres-768x562.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an enduring classic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=1784#classic\">Genuine Classic<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0020629\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1930\/04\/30\/archives\/the-screen-young-germany-in-the-war.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/67079\/all-quiet-on-the-western-front#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nysun.com\/arts\/movies-that-brought-war-west\/48066\/\">NY Sun Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You are the life of the fatherland, you boys!&#8221; Synopsis: A jingoistic teacher (Arnold Lucy) encourages his entire class of high school students to enlist in the German war effort &#8212; but Paul (Lew Ayres) and his classmates quickly find war to be far more hellish than they could ever imagine. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Lewis Milestone Films Soldiers Survival World War One Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary writes that while &#8220;the most famous pacifist film is not as&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42881\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42881"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55476,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42881\/revisions\/55476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}