All Quiet on the Western Front

A teacher gives his class a speech about country and honour, and the boys enlist together. At the training camp Sergeant Himmelstoss is waiting for them. By the time they reach the front, nothing they were taught is of any use. For Paul Baumer and his friends the war means waiting in a trench, hunger and dying in turn. Lewis Milestone directed, from Erich Maria Remarque's novel. Lew Ayres plays Paul, Louis Wolheim plays the veteran Kat and John Wray plays Himmelstoss. Around 2,000 extras were used, among them the future director Fred Zinnemann. It was previewed in Los Angeles on 21 April 1930 and went into general release on 24 August. Against a 1.2 million dollar budget it took 3 million in worldwide rentals. At the 3rd Academy Awards it won both Outstanding Production and Best Director, the first talkie war film to win Oscars. In Germany things went differently. At the Berlin screenings in December 1930, groups organised by Joseph Goebbels threw stink bombs and sneezing powder into the auditorium. The German authorities banned it on 11 December 1930 and the ban held until 25 April 1952. It entered the National Film Registry in 1990 and sits 54th on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 98 percent with a 9.2 average. Who it is for: anyone who wants to see where anti-war cinema starts. Who it is not for: viewers expecting a modern pace. The film carries the heavy rhythm of the early sound era and some scenes feel long today.