All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
152 mins | Drama | 24 August 1930
Cast:
Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray [ More ]Director:
Lewis MilestoneWriters:
George Abbott, Del AndrewsProducer:
Carl Laemmle Jr.Cinematographer:
Arthur EdesonEditors:
Edgar Adams, Milton CarruthProduction Designers:
Charles D. Hall, W. R. SchmittProduction Company:
Universal Pictures Corp.
The opening title card reads: "Carl Laemmle presents All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque ." After the opening credits, the following written prologue appears: "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. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even thought they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war..."
The 4 Jan 1930 Exhibitors Herald-World announced that the production starting date was 18 Nov 1929.
According to contemporary sources, the silent version with synchronized sound ran 15 reels. Var reviewed the silent version when it opened in Paris in early Dec 1930 under the title A L'Ouest Rien de Noveau . The reviewer noted that a scene in which a French solider was killed in a foxhole was cut from the French release. Sequences with ZaSu Pitts as "Paul's mother" were not in the sound version, which was viewed. In the sound version, Beryl Mercer portrayed the mother. The sound version was reduced to 10 reels for reissue in 1939.
All Quiet on the Western Front won Academy Awards in the Outstanding Production and Directing categories.
The film print for All Quiet on the Western Front was fully restored by The Film Foundation, an organization founded in 1990 by director Martin ...
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The opening title card reads: "Carl Laemmle presents All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque ." After the opening credits, the following written prologue appears: "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. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even thought they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war..."
The 4 Jan 1930 Exhibitors Herald-World announced that the production starting date was 18 Nov 1929.
According to contemporary sources, the silent version with synchronized sound ran 15 reels. Var reviewed the silent version when it opened in Paris in early Dec 1930 under the title A L'Ouest Rien de Noveau . The reviewer noted that a scene in which a French solider was killed in a foxhole was cut from the French release. Sequences with ZaSu Pitts as "Paul's mother" were not in the sound version, which was viewed. In the sound version, Beryl Mercer portrayed the mother. The sound version was reduced to 10 reels for reissue in 1939.
All Quiet on the Western Front won Academy Awards in the Outstanding Production and Directing categories.
The film print for All Quiet on the Western Front was fully restored by The Film Foundation, an organization founded in 1990 by director Martin Scorsese.
More
Less
Paul Bäumer, a young German schoolboy, along with his friends, is inspired by his schoolmaster to "save the Fatherland" and joins the Kaiser's forces. Their illusions are soon dispelled, however, by the cruel realities of battle, relieved only by a brief romantic interlude with some French farm girls and the humorous interjections of Katz and Tjaden. When Paul, the only survivor of the group, returns home, he finds the professor still haranguing his young scholars to join the conflict; and when Paul denounces this attitude, he is proclaimed a coward by the youths. Tiring of the false impression of war at home, he returns to the front to instruct his new comrades in warfare. As the sole survivor of this group also, Paul reaches over the top of a trench to catch a butterfly and is killed by an enemy sniper. ... Quiet reigns on the front ... + −
Paul Bäumer, a young German schoolboy, along with his friends, is inspired by his schoolmaster to "save the Fatherland" and joins the Kaiser's forces. Their illusions are soon dispelled, however, by the cruel realities of battle, relieved only by a brief romantic interlude with some French farm girls and the humorous interjections of Katz and Tjaden. When Paul, the only survivor of the group, returns home, he finds the professor still haranguing his young scholars to join the conflict; and when Paul denounces this attitude, he is proclaimed a coward by the youths. Tiring of the false impression of war at home, he returns to the front to instruct his new comrades in warfare. As the sole survivor of this group also, Paul reaches over the top of a trench to catch a butterfly and is killed by an enemy sniper. ... Quiet reigns on the front lines. + −
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