(Lewis Milestone US 1932, 152 min., 35mm)
Produced with remarkable fidelity to Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, the images of All Quiet on the Western Front are rendered with such realism that the New York Times reviewer Mordaunt Hall proclaimed, “If they were not audible one might believe that they were actual motion pictures of activities behind the lines.” The film offers a glimpse of the horrors of the First World War from a German perspective, with its focus shuttling fluidly between the mechanics of war itself and the details of its everyday consequences on human beings. Director Lewis Milestone challenged cinematographer Arthur Edeson to re-create the trenches of Europe on the backlots and beaches of California, creating one of the most enduring anti-war treatises in history.
Restored by the Library of Congress with Funding provided by The Film Foundation.