All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)

All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American pre-Code epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Slim Summerville, and William Bakewell. The film 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 1997. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,501 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film.[5][6] In 1990, it was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7][8] The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director, and it is the first Best Picture-winner based on a finished novel. Due to being a film published in 1930, it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026, following the expiration of the copyright on the novel in 2024.[9][10] A sequel to the film, The Road Back (1937), portrays troops from 2nd Company returning home after the end of WWI. Early in World War I, Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech to his male German students about the glory of defending the fatherland. On the brink of becoming men, the boys, led by Paul Bäumer, are moved to enlist in the army as part of the new 2nd Company. Their romantic delusions are quickly broken during their brief but rigorous training under the abusive Seargeant Himmelstoss. The new soldiers arrive at the chaotic combat zone, where they find themselves under attack by artillery even before they reach their post. Their unit is composed of older, unwelcoming veterans, and, having not eaten since morning, they pay Corporal "Kat" Katzinsky for a meal of stolen hog with their tobacco, alcohol, and soap. The boys' first mission with the veterans is a harrowing experience, during which one of them is killed. Another dies after—his nerves frayed following several days of consistent bombardment—he frantically tries to escape from the trenches. There are heavy losses on both sides, but no ground gained, after the boys' first major battle, and when 2nd Company is sent back to the field kitchens for a breather and a meal, each man receives double helpings, simply because of the number of dead. After eating, they begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of this war, and of wars in general. More and Source -> Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film)

LicensePublic Domain