All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) ft. Sarah Duncan
- Thomas Duncan
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
Guest:
Sarah Duncan - Sister of Tom, Daughter of Dana
@thenomadicarchaeologist on IG
Previous Episodes: Zodiac, My Fair Lady, The Artist, Inglourious Basterds, The Great Dictator, Forrest Gump, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Knives Out
Cast:
Lewis Milestone, Director
Maxwell Anderson, adaptation & dialogue
George Abbott, screenplay
Del Andrews, adaptation
Arthur Edeson, Cinematography
Louis Wolheim as Corporal Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky
Lew Ayres as Paul Bäumer
John Wray as Himmelstoss
Arnold Lucy as Professor Kantorek
Ben Alexander as Franz Kemmerick
Scott Kolk as Leer
Owen Davis, Jr. as Peter
Walter Browne Rogers as Behn
William Bakewell as Albert Kropp
Russell Gleason as Mueller
Richard Alexander as Haie Westhus
Harold Goodwin as Detering
Slim Summerville as Tjaden
Background:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) was released on April 21, 1930.
On a rough budget of $1.25 million, All Quiet would make an estimated $3 million at the worldwide box office.
The film was met with significant critical praise at the time and would be nominated for 4 Oscars at the 3rd Academy Awards including best writing and best cinematography (Edeson), winning Best Picture and Best Director (Milestone).
The film has since been recognized by the AFI on the following lists:
In 1990, it was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry.
A sequel to the film, The Road Back (1937), portrays troops from 2nd Company returning home after the end of WWI.
All Quiet on the Western Front currently holds a 98% among critics on RT, a 91 score on Metacritic, and a 4.2/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) follows Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier swept up by patriotic fervor and the persuasive speeches of their teacher who enlists with his schoolmates during World War I. Initially eager for glory, Paul soon confronts the grim realities of trench warfare—mud, hunger, fear, and the constant presence of death. The brutality of combat strips away his youthful ideals, replacing them with disillusionment and a desperate will to survive. Alienated from civilians who cannot comprehend his experiences, Paul finds his only solace in the fragile camaraderie of his fellow soldiers. The film ends with a moment of tragic irony: just as he reaches for the simple beauty of a butterfly on the battlefield, Paul is shot and killed—on a day so quiet that the official report reads, “All quiet on the Western Front.”
Did You Know:
With the loss of limbs and gory deaths shown rather explicitly, this is undoubtedly the most violent American film of its time. This is because the Production Code was not strictly enforced until 1934 and also because Universal Pictures deemed the subject matter important enough to allow the violence to be seen. The scene where a soldier grabs a strand of barbed wire and then is blown up by an artillery shell, leaving only his hands still grabbing the barbed wire, was told to director Lewis Milestone by a former German soldier working as an extra, who saw that happen during a French attack on his position during the war. Milestone used it in the film.
Made for the then considerable sum of $1.25 million. The fact that production began only a few months after the 1929 stock-market crash puts into perspective the enormous gamble taken by Universal Pictures in making this film.
Nazi rabble rousers stormed screenings of the film in Germany, often releasing rats or stink bombs into the theaters, as the wounds of defeat in the First World War still ran deep. This led to the film ultimately being banned by the Nazi party. It wouldn't receive proper screenings in Germany until 1956, though it did play to packed houses in 1930 in neighboring Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands with special trains and buses being laid on to transport Germans to screenings.
The iconic final shot was filmed during the editing process. All the actors had left, so that is actually Lewis Milestone's hand that is seen in the final shot.
Lewis Milestone deliberately made the film without music so as not to take away from the seriousness of the subject. Much to his chagrin, however, some movie theaters added music in of their own choosing, as they weren't used to having films delivered to them without any form of background scoring.
The Greek writing on the blackboard in the schoolroom is the beginning of Homer's "Odyssey": "Tell me Oh Muse of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide".
Best Performance: Lew Ayres (Paul)/Lewis Milestone (Director)/Louis Wolheim (Kat)
Best Secondary Performance: Lewis Milestone (Director)/Arthur Edeson (Cinematography)
Most Charismatic Award: Lew Ayres (Paul)/Louis Wolheim (Kat)
Best Scene:
Teacher's Persuasion
First Battle Scene
In the Blast Hole
French Girls
Hospital
Returning to School
Kat's Death
Favorite Scene: French Girls/In the Blast Hole
Most Indelible Moment: Returning to School
In Memorium:
Bobby Whitlock, 77, American singer, songwriter ("Bell Bottom Blues") and musician (Derek and the Dominos, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends).
Jon Miyahara, 83, American actor (Superstore)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Title card: 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 though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war...
Paul Bäumer: You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all.
Paul Bäumer: I can't listen to that anymore.
Tjaden: Me and the Kaiser, we are both fighting. The only difference is the Kaiser isn't here!
Albert Kropp: [speaking of school] They never taught us anything really useful like how to light a cigarette in the wind, or make a fire out of wet wood, or bayonet a man in the belly instead of the ribs where it gets jammed.
Paul Bäumer: And every day a year, and every night a century! And our bodies are earth, and our thoughts are clay, and we sleep and eat with death! And we're done for because you *can't* live that way and keep anything inside you! I shouldn't have come on leave. I'll go back tomorrow. I've got four days more, but I can't stand it here! I'll go back tomorrow! I'm sorry.
Paul Bäumer: You're just a man like me, and I killed you.
Paul Bäumer: War isn't the way it looks back here.
Katczinsky: Whenever there's a big war comin' on, you should rope off a big field...
Cigar-smoking soldier: And sell tickets.
Tjaden: There used to be some food in the sawdust. Now it's all sawdust.
Tjaden: The replacements are all like that. Not even old enough to carry a pack. All they know how to do is die.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 6.67
Impact/Significance: 9.5
Novelty: 9.33
Classic-ness: 9.5
Rewatchability: 6.17
Audience Score: 7.95 (70% Google, 89% RT)
Total: 49.12
Remaining Questions:
N/A
Comments