EXCELLENT BOOK, MOVIE COULD BE BETTER

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2018)

I absolutely love this book and have read many times, so was expecting to feel a similar love for the film. Although there were parts that were gut wrenching (the guy who discovers his leg has been amputated, the madness that ensues after repeated shelling), I had a major problem with the acting. Because sound was so new in film, many of the actors were doing a lot of exaggerated movements and making faces after every line. Lew Ayres was the biggest culprit. He yelled many of his lines, constantly posed for the camera, and in several instances, he started to say the wrong lines and came off sounding like he was reading it. He's not very good at sound movies and it's really a plum role for an actor. He only redeemed himself when he came back home and gave his little monologue in the classroom. He spoke with passion and resolve and was believable for the first time in the film. I was very disheartened to see how badly acted most of this film was because the story is a heartbreaking statement on the horrors of war and the pointlessness of it all.
Another pet peeve is the way so many of the actors smile throughout the film as though they were on a Broadway stage. It wasn't written that way in the book and there are certainly other ways to show satisfaction with comfortable boots than having the actors grinning as they march into certain death. It's ridiculous.
Someone else mentioned that if this film had been shot a couple years later, it would have been better and I agree completely. Sound was so new that the early years were filled with silent actors who brought that same dramatic, expressive sensibility to the screen. I know there's also a silent version of this film which might work better with the way it's acted.
I can't express enough what a complete shame it is that Milestone couldn't have directed these guys better or else cast others in the role who understood the importance of the subtleties in each character and the changes wrought by the war. He had a very large budget for the time and was able to reshoot all of the mother's scenes so why not have the actors do more than one take? Why not notice that the dead French soldier has a different expression every time the camera is on his face? If Paul is dreaming of home, you don't need Ayres to have a dreamy look on his face. Also, bread submerged in water would fall apart. There are so many little things that should have been be caught.
I know there's a remake of the film from the 70s, but this movie really only works in black and white. This was shot 11 years after the war's end which is only fitting. I would have loved to see a German version of this movie as it would be interesting to see how they approached it. Great story, but film rendition is ruined by shoddy acting and sloppy blocking.