Still works after over 70 years!

Rating: 10/10 (28 May 2002)

A bunch of young enthusiastic German schoolboys volunteer for WWI believing it to be a noble and fun thing to do for their country. They quickly find out that war is a living hell.
One of the first (and best) anti-war films ever made. It has problems--the sound recording is not that good and the acting is bad--the guys are either overacting or pretty wooden and there is some howlingly bad dialogue. But it still works.
Lewis Milestones' direction helps. The battle scenes are long, vicious and pretty graphic (for 1930) and he really makes you feel all the pain and agony the soldiers endure. There are many unforgettable scenes: a young man, his eyes shot out, screaming and stumbling in a battlefield; a young soldier trapped in a crater with a corpse of the enemy; the sequence where the soldiers are being driven mad by nonstop bombing from the enemy and a final scene that packs a real wallop.
It's also interesting to see flashes of male nudity (this was pre-Code) and Lew Ayres so young and full of life. It's hard to believe such an old film can still work so strongly but this does. I can imagine the impact this had in 1930.
See the full 130 minute version...avoid the edited 105 minute one. Good luck finding a clear print with good sound.