ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) (1930)

Cast

Plot

The classic anti-war film of the classic anti-war book. The story follows a group of naive young patriots from school in Germany through the horrors of WW1 and their gradual annihilation in the trenches. As the angry, bewildered boys witness death and mutilation all around them, all ideas about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about waste and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality. A film classic which won 1930 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director.