After nearly 90 years this film still packs a punch

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2019)

An amazing early sound film, this filmic translation of the classic novel really is an incredible effort. Whilst most dramatic films gradually lose their sting over time, this was so well made that as it hurtles towards a century old it remains powerful on every level and the only film I can think to compare it with in holding its own both dramatically and visually as a representation of the futility of war is Kubricks 'Paths's of Glory' from 1958.
Many early sound films struggled to cope with 'natural' dialogue as writers found it hard to make people talk convincingly real. Whilst 'All Quiet' occasionally lapses into melancholy and wooden delivery, for the most part it works extremely well. The lead character of Paul Baumer (played by Lew Ayres) does a fantastic job going from optimistic and eager youth to battle hardened cynic on the edge of a breakdown after seeing things no 18 year old should see.
Despite the technical limitations of sound filming of the time, director Lewis Milestone does an admirable job in keeping this film both visually and narratively interesting. Fluid camera movement, interesting camera placement, realistic film sets and great editing all add to the appeal of this classic anti-war film. Another reason this film has stood the test of time so well is that it was made prior to the Hays code, so it didn't need to sanitize the story to appease the censors (well, not originally anyway). Yes the film suffered butchery in the editing suite upon later rereleases but fortunately the original uncut version survives thanks to extensive restoration by Milestone and Universal Pictures back in 1980, as Milestone wanted the film to be viewed in it's original form before he died.
Another reason to marvel at this film is just how well it catches the savagery and pointless bloodshed of WW1. Whilst many have remarked upon the moving battle at the start of more recent war films like 'Saving Private Ryan' , Peckinpahs 'Cross of Iron' and Samuel Fullers 'Big Red One', here we have the granddaddy of graphic warfare. We see people blown up by mortars, Baumer stuck overnight in a trench with a French soldier he has just knifed to death, people losing limbs, people suffering shell shock, the filthy squalor of life in the trenches, food shortages and Baumer watching as his friends all either die violent deaths or are permanently maimed, leaving him a veteran at just 19 but with the optimism knocked out of him and replaced by dark cynicism and the patriotism sucked out of him.
With an ending that will break your heart as he mentally struggles to cope with how his world has been turned upside down in just a year, this is an extraordinary achievement. It is also surprisingly adult for it's time , and whilst it may look tame in comparison to movies made fifty years later, you have to remember that audiences were not used to seeing the horrors of modern warfare depicted in quite so much detail prior to this, and for many years after too (thanks to the Hays code). So strong was the anti war message that it was banned in Nazi Germany, in France (for its humanising of the Germans) and severely edited in the US for a rerelease in the mid 1930s.
Definitely one of the best war related films ever made and one of the most powerful to come out of pre WW2 Hollywood. An absolute must watch!