All Quiet on the Western Front – Trailer [1930] [3rd Oscar Best Picture]

All Quiet on the Western Front Original Trailer

Quick Plot

The first truely Classic War film based on the novel by German writer Erich Maria Remarque. The plot revolves around a group of German schoolboys, who  sign up just as WWI is beginning and the story is told through their eyes. For the first time the true horrors of War are laid out for the audience rather than the heroic and almost glamourous depictions which were common in earlier War Movies.  

The film follows the “Boys” through their rigorous basic training which entailed plenty of drill marches and little else through to their posting to the front and the scene is set perfectly by the mayhem and driving rain. You can tell its going to be gritty (by 1930s standards) when one of the recruits is killed before they see any proper action.

This harsh realistic depiction of trench warfare continues right up to the final scene when Paul sees a butterfly just beyond his trench and as he stands up to get a better look he is shot and killed by an enemy sniper.

It was released on 24 August 1930 and probably reflected the mood of America at the time following the Wall Street crash of a year earlier.

There was a remake in 1979, which never managed to hit the heights of the original.

Classic Final Scene