All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

All Quiet on the Western Front  

All Quiet on the Western Front  DVD

Rated: NR

Starring: Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, et al.
Director: Delbert Mann

Reviews 
From All Movie Guide  
Years after directing the classic Marty (1955), Delbert Mann became a creator of prestige TV movie projects, none more daunting than his adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front (1979). Richard Thomas stars as Paul Baumer, a teen who, at the urging of zealously patriotic teacher Kantorek (Donald Pleasence) enthusiastically enlists to fight for Germany in WWI, accompanied by several school chums. After training at the hands of the sadistic Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), Paul and his friends head for the front. There, they discover that war is a bloody, deadly business, although they are heartened by the presence of their commander, wily veteran Stanislaus Katczinsky (Ernest Borgnine). When a French soldier jumps into the bomb crater where Paul has taken refuge one night, he is forced to stab the enemy, then must watch the man die in agony. This incident and the violent deaths of his friends convince Paul that war is a senseless exercise. One of the most respected anti-war novels ever written, the book resulted in the German citizenship of author Erich Maria Remarque being revoked by the Nazi Party. Though a 1930 film adaptation by Lewis Milestone was widely beloved by fans of cinema and the source material, Mann's TV movie was well received, earning a Golden Globe and Emmys for Borgnine and Patricia Neal, who played Paul's mother. Karl Williams

Taken from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front is a devastating portrait by Delbert Mann (Desire Under the Elms, Marty) of a small group of German soldiers throughout the World War I.

The star-studded cast is headed by Richard Thomas (The Waltons) as Paul Baumer, and includes such award-winning actors as Ernest Borgnine, Ian Holm, and Patricia Neal. As both narrator and star, Thomas occasionally seems to reincarnate his familiar John-Boy persona, but creates a character that has many more levels than that television alter ego. Watching Paul as he watches all of his high school buddies die is a highly emotional experience. He returns to his home a different person, conflicted in his feelings about the Army and war, evolving from an idealistic schoolboy to a fearful and humble veteran.

The scenery and costuming in this period piece are well done, and surely contributed to its winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for TV. Also contributing to the greatness of the film are the exceptional cinematography and special effects that, while realistically gruesome, truly emphasize the horrors of war. --Zachary Lively --This text refers to the DVD edition.

Like the 1930 version of this film, All Quiet on the Western Front is about a young German boy, Paul, who eagerly signs up to fight for the "Fatherland" during WW1. During the 4 years he fights in the War, he learns that war is not as heroic as his teacher made it out to be. This movie is very well acted and it is a touching movie, even for a war film. Like the 1930 version, it is an interesting WW1 flim seen through German eyes.

All Quiet on the Western Front 
Erich Maria Remarque  A. W. Wheen (Translator)

All Quiet on the Western Front

Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other—if only he can come out of the war alive.
"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

The War Times Journal has a different perspective on this film: by Lewis Milestone, 1930. With Lew Ayres. One of the Golden Age's great overrated films, All Quiet gives a very Americanized view of the German war machine, and an inaccurately pacifist one at that. The portrayal of a group of strong young Germans in 1914 engaging in a waffling "why are we here" discussion is questionable at best. The German Army of this period had 100 years of straight victories behind it, and the regiments that marched into Belgium and France were utterly confident of another victory. In any case, the strict discipline of the units would have made any type of talk considered to be defeatist an astronomical rarity so early in the war. In these respects and many others, the movie falls gravely short of reality. It is a modestly good anti-war film, but one that is unconvincing because it fails to accurately portray its subject.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque would be an excellent choice. It is also about WWI. It is a very powerful story. Hitler banned it in the 1930's because he feared that it would not allow him to build up his armies. It is based on German soldiers, who were at that time the "enemy" of us Americans.

May be the classic WWI anti-war movie. You might want to watch it first to determine if it is age appropriate, because it has war related violence in it, if I recall correctly, it's an old film, so not too graphic, but a very powerful film. It's a hard core lesson, but definitely anti-war.

The movie may be old but it has lost none of its power. Hopefully your sons won't be turned off by the black- and-white picture. The book is not too difficult, either, and perhaps your 12-year-old could understand it if you read it with him.

It's been many years since I have seen it, but it is based on a German novel, and is a classic antiwar movie.

Is the classic German novel and film about the futility of WWI. There is an extensive English literature on the subject: many came back from the war totally disillusioned.

TV Guide Review on the the 1930 film:

Set during WWI and told from the German point of view, the story centers on Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres). A sensitive youth, Baumer is recruited by a war-mongering professor (Arnold Lucy) advocating "glory for the Fatherland." Paul and his friends enlist and are trained by Himmelstoss (John Wray), a kindly postmaster turned brutal corporal, then sent to the front lines to taste battle, blood, and death. Paul comes under the protective wing of an old veteran, Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim), who teaches him how to survive the horrors of war.

The film is emotionally draining, and so realistic that it will be forever etched in the mind of any viewer. Milestone's direction is frequently inspired, most notably during the battle scenes. In one such scene, the camera serves as a kind of machine gun, shooting down the oncoming troops as it glides along the trenches. Universal spared no expense during production, converting more than 20 acres of a large California ranch into battlefields occupied by more than 2,000 ex-servicemen extras. After its initial release, some foreign countries refused to run the film. Poland banned it for being pro-German, while the Nazis labeled it anti-German. Joseph Goebbels, later propaganda minister, publicly denounced the film.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT received an Academy Award as Best Picture and Milestone was honored as Best Director. Originally released with a running time of 140 minutes, the film has suffered many cuts over the years with some prints running as short as 90 minutes. The most recent videotape release restores the film to 130 minutes of running time. An interesting, but now-forgotten, sequel titled THE ROAD BACK, directed by James Whale (THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN), was made in 1937. The original was remade as a television movie in 1979, with Richard Thomas unsuccessfully trying to match the timeless power of Ayres's performance

The Western Front 
Part One of the Great War summaries, The Western Front gives an overview of the fighting in France and Belgium between 1914 and 1918. Illustrated with maps and a stereo image.(War Times Journal)

This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. [This story] will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells were destroyed by the war ....

• The Western Front ran some 300 miles across the face of Western Europe, from Belgium to Switzerland. The front consisted of opposing trenches, sometimes only yards apart. The trench warfare of World War I lasted for three years and took several million lives. The Battle of the Somme, an attack by the Allies trying to break through the German lines, took more than four months. The Allies gained only six miles. British and French casualties were 95,675 Britons killed and 60,729 Frenchmen killed. The defense cost the German army 164,055 soldiers killed.
  
  
• Overall German casualties during the War (wounded and killed) were 7,142,558, some 65% of all German soldiers who were mobilized. French casualties were 6,160,800, an astounding 73% of all men mobilized. British Empire casualties were 3,190,235, "only" 36% of men mobilized. U.S. casualties were 350,300, a "minimal" 8% of mobilized personnel. Counting all combatants over the entire War, 65 million men were mobilized, 8.5 million killed, 21.2 million wounded, and 7.7 million taken prisoner or missing in action.
  
  
• The trenches were muddy ditches often flooded with water. The bodies of dead and wounded men and animals fouled them. Corpses lay in the no man's land between the trenches. Enemy snipers, rats, lice, and stench from the decaying bodies contributed to the misery of the trenches. Toward the end of the war the German soldiers had little food.
  
  
• An attack was preceded by bombardments, some lasting for days. In order to mount an attack, soldiers carrying rifles and packs had to go "over the top." Once in the no man's land they faced barbed wire entanglements, machine guns, bombardment (often by their own misdirected guns), grenades, poison gas and fire from the opposing trenches.
  
  
• The First World War was the first conflict in which air planes were used to attack enemy positions. See The Dawn Patrol.
  
  
• The First World War was primarily between two European alliances. The "Central Powers" consisted of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The "Allies" were Britain, France and Russia. Various smaller states and areas outside of Europe were also involved. Turkey was an ally of the "Central Powers" and lost most of her empire as a result. British, French and South African troops conquered German possessions in Africa. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks sued for a separate peace.
  
  
• The Western Front was in stalemate until the U.S. entered the war. Fresh troops and abundant hardware and supplies from the U.S. tipped the scales decisively in favor of the Allies. An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany in June 1919. For a description of the causes of World War I, see World War I Trenches on the Web and Learning Guide to Paths of Glory.
  
  
• Some amputees feel "phantom limb" pain which seems to be coming from the removed limb.

1. [Standard Questions Suitable for Any Film].
2. During the battle scenes, did you want the Allied soldiers to win or did you want Paul and his German friends to win? What does this tell you about the mental process by which a person reads a book?
   
   
   Character Development
   Peace/Peacemakers
3. Remember the pair of comfortable leather boots owned by Paul's friend Hans. Paul brought them back from the hospital after Hans died. How many soldiers wore those boots before they were finally lost? What was the author of this story trying to tell us by focusing on these boots?
4. What is the significance of the way in which Paul died?
5. What does this film tell us about the need for peace? Courage in War
6. When Paul returned home on leave, why did the school boys think him a coward?
7. Were Paul and his friends courageous? Was any one of them a coward?
8. Compare the courage of a soldier who risks his life with the approval and upon the demand of his society and the courage of a man like Ben du Toit in A Dry White Season who risks his life for his community and his vision of the world, but who does it virtually alone and persecuted by his community and his government. Who has the greater courage?
   
   
   Ethical Emphasis
   (Teachwithmovies.org is associated with Character Counts and uses The Six Pillars of Character to organize ethical principals.)
   
   The Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues are designed to maximize the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. Additional questions are set out below, organized according to those aspects of The Six Pillars of Character raised by this movie.
   
   Trustworthiness (Be loyal — stand by your family, friends and country)
   
9. [Quick Discussion Question:] When the German school master was trying to motivate his students to enlist in the army, did he say anything that would be different from what would be said by a recruiter for the Allied Armies talking to young men in France, Britain or the U.S.? What does this tell you about patriotism?
10. When Paul went home on leave, how do you think he felt about the way his friends and family thought about the war?
    
    Respect (Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements)
11. How can war be reconciled with the moral imperative to respect others and to deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements.
    
    Citizenship (Do your share to make your community better; Cooperate)
    
12. Could you think of a better way for Paul to have helped his country other than to go to war?
    
    Caring (Be kind; Be compassionate and show you care; Express gratitude; Forgive others; Help people in need)
    
13. What does Paul's sympathy and concern for the dying enemy soldier demonstrate?
14. When should the value of caring for another human being prevail over the dictates of war?

Lesson Plans

• SCORE Teacher Guide
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• All Quiet on the Western Front