Crying out for a remake...

Rating: 5/10 (16 August 2007)

This film has good intentions, and as an anti-war film in 1957, I'm sure it was groundbreaking. However, in 2007, it doesn't hold up. Stanley Kubrick is a genius and one of my favorite directors. So what's the problem? Simply put - the accents of the actors. American actors, a lot of them from New York, are playing French soldiers in World War I. I just can't get past their wooden and sometimes unintentionally funny delivery of lines - "Youse don' understand, faddah, I don' wanna die!".
If this movie were made today, not only would they cast French actors, but it's likely it would be in French with subtitles, even if it were made by a US studio. Even casting British actors would have been better; somehow it's easier for us Americans to accept British accents for French, Romans, and all sorts of other nationalities.
It's unfortunate because I can see that the direction, cinematography, screenplay, and all the rest are top-notch. But the film as a whole failed me.