All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

“All Quiet on the Western Front” is a 1930 pre-Code epic anti-war film directed by Lewis Milestone, written by Maxwell Anderson (adaptation & dialogue), Del Andrews (adaptation), George Abbott (screenplay) and C. Gardner Sullivan (supervising story chief), based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque.

Early in World War I, patriotic schoolteacher Professor Kantorek urges his students to defend the German fatherland. Inspired by his speech, the boys eagerly enlist in the army. Among them is the thoughtful Paul Bäumer, whose friends include Albert Kropp and Tjaden. Their excitement soon fades when they endure brutal training under the harsh Sergeant Himmelstoss, whose cruelty destroys their romantic ideas about military glory.

Before reaching the front lines, the young soldiers experience terrifying artillery bombardments. Assigned to the 2nd Company, they find themselves among hardened veterans who treat them coldly. The most capable of these is the resourceful Corporal Stanislaus “Kat” Katzinsky, who teaches Paul how to survive by finding food and avoiding unnecessary danger. Their first battles are chaotic and horrifying, with soldiers dying suddenly amid exploding shells and collapsing trenches.

A major assault causes heavy casualties on both sides yet gains no ground, revealing the futility of the war. When the exhausted survivors are relieved, they receive double rations because so many comrades have been killed. Later Himmelstoss arrives at the front and is forced into combat alongside the men he once bullied. During one attack Paul becomes trapped in a shell hole with a wounded French soldier he has stabbed. Forced to listen to the man die through the night, Paul is overcome with guilt and realizes the enemy is simply another frightened human being.

Paul and Albert are later wounded by artillery and sent to a Catholic hospital. Paul recovers, but Albert loses a leg and sinks into despair. Granted a furlough, Paul returns home but finds civilians naïve and patriotic. When he visits Kantorek’s classroom and describes the truth about the war, the students angrily accuse him of cowardice.

Unable to bear their ignorance, Paul returns to the front. The company is now filled with boys even younger than his class had been. Kat remains his closest companion until a bomb shatters his leg. Paul carries him toward help, only to discover another fragment has already killed him.

Devastated and alone, Paul returns to the trenches. One quiet day he notices a butterfly drifting above the parapet. Reaching out to catch it, he is instantly killed by a sniper. The story ends with the silent image of a military cemetery filled with the graves of soldiers lost to the war.

Cast:

• Louis Wolheim – Corporal Stanislaus “Kat” Katczinsky, an older soldier who was a cobbler
• Lew Ayres – Paul Bäumer, a student and writer, who is the leader of the boys
• John Wray – Himmelstoss, a mailman who becomes the boys’ drill sergeant
• Arnold Lucy – Professor Kantorek, who encourages the boys to enlist
• Ben Alexander – Franz Kemmerick, the boy who is blown up, has his leg amputated, and dies
• Scott Kolk – Leer, the boy whose ultimate fate is not shown
• Owen Davis Jr. – Peter, the boy who is shot in the head and killed after getting Kemmerick’s boots from Mueller
• Walter Browne Rogers – Behn, the boy who is blinded and then shot and killed in no man’s land
• William Bakewell – Albert Kropp, the boy who is hit by shrapnel and has his leg amputated at the same time Paul is injured and hospitalized
• Russell Gleason – Mueller, the boy who is injured by shrapnel shortly after getting Kemmerick’s boots
• Richard Alexander – Haie Westhus, an older soldier who was a peat-digger, who Paul is told died trying to save a messenger dog
• Harold Goodwin – Detering, an older soldier who was a farmer with a cherry orchard
• Slim Summerville – Tjaden, an older soldier who makes it to the end
• G. Pat Collins – Lieutenant Bertinck, an officer in Paul’s company
• Beryl Mercer – Frau Bäumer, Paul’s mother
• Edmund Breese – Herr Meyer, a friend of Paul’s father
• William Irving – Ginger, an army cook
• Raymond Griffith – Gérald (or Gérard) Duval, a French soldier who Paul stabs and then watches die for hours when trapped in a shell-hole
• Yola d’Avril – Suzanne, the French woman who sleeps with Paul
• Poupée Andriot – the blonde French woman, who sleeps with Leer
• Renée Damonde – the brunette French woman, who sleeps with Albert
• Heinie Conklin – Joseph Hammacher, a soldier with a head injury who Paul and Albert meet in the Catholic hospital
• Bertha Mann – Sister Libertine, a nurse at the Catholic hospital
• Marion Clayton – Erna Bäumer, Paul’s sister
• Edwin Maxwell – Herr Bäumer, Paul’s father

At the time of his death in December 2014, Arthur Gardner, who appeared uncredited – a student, was the last surviving member of the film’s cast or crew.

„Im Westen nichts Neues“ (Im Westen nichts Neues) ist ein epischer Antikriegsfilm aus dem Jahr 1930 unter der Regie von Lewis Milestone, geschrieben von Maxwell Anderson (Adaption & Dialoge), Del Andrews (Adaption), George Abbott (Drehbuch) und C. Gardner Sullivan (leitender Story-Chef), basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Roman des deutschen Schriftstellers Erich Maria Remarque aus dem Jahr 1929.

Während des Ersten Weltkriegs beschließen Paul Bäumer und seine Klassenkameraden an einem deutschen Gymnasium, sich freiwillig zum Militärdienst zu melden, nachdem ihr Lehrer sie in patriotischen Reden dazu aufgefordert hat, ihr Land zu verteidigen und sich mit Ruhm zu bedecken. Einige sind begeistert, andere wollen einfach nur nicht auffallen. Die Teenager erkennen schnell, dass der Krieg nicht nur Gutes mit sich bringt: absurde Disziplin, Desorganisation an der Front, Unterernährung, unerträgliches Warten unter tödlichen Bombardements, grausame Kämpfe, enorme Verluste. Es gibt nicht genug Ärzte, und die Verwundeten sterben, ebenso wie die Toten.

Als Paul nach drei Jahren an der Front zurückkehrt, motiviert der Lehrer, der diese jungen Menschen zum Kriegseintritt überredet hatte, andere. Paul sagt ihm, dass Krieg nichts Gutes habe, und rät den anwesenden Jugendlichen, nicht auf den Lehrer zu hören. Dann kehrt er an die Front zurück, die zu seinem einzigen Lebensinhalt geworden ist.