No time to love ,all the time in the world to die.

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2004)

SPOILER:The conclusions in this movie and that of "a time to love and a time to die",another Remarque's novel which Douglas Sirk transferred to the screen in 1958,are incredibly similar,very powerful and poignant.In the 1930 film ,Paul tries to catch a butterfly and in the 1956 one,Ernst tries to catch his wife's letter which the current sweeps along.END OF SPOILER
"All quiet on the western front" is one of the strongest works against war that has been done.Its predecessor was Abel Gance's ".These two works are,IMHO,much better than the overpraised Jean Renoir's "la grande illusion" ,but there's no accounting for taste.
At least ten sequences of Milestone's movie and probably more are milestones: the brainwashing at school by the hothead teacher displays the responsibility schooling had on young minds just before WW1,and not just in Germany;the contrast with the symmetrical scene when Paul has his furlough is all the more shattering;the postman,who has become a sergeant,and does not recognize his former young friends anymore;the assault course during which he humiliates them (Kubrik did not improve on it with his "full metal jacket" ,more than half a century later);the young soldier dying on his bed while one of his mates covets his leather boots;the evening with women,the only haven of peace in a world gone mad;the pointless and infuriating discussion of the old -who lead the young to the war- ,claiming to give a piece of advice to Paul who goes back to the front.The list is endless.Suffice to say that "all quiet on the western front' is a great novel (which was burnt ,as all Remarque's works were ,by the Nazis during the auto-da-fés) and its adaptation for the screen was a complete success.Made at the beginning of the talkies era,it never shows its age.