All Quiet on the Western Front

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Gamarekian, Barbara; Times, Special To the New York (October 19, 1990). "Library of Congress Adds 25 Titles to National Film Registry". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved May 18, 2020. All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, it made the American Film Institute's first 100 Years...100 Movies list in 1997. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,501 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film. [5] [6] In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [7] [8] The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director. It is the first Best Picture winner based on a novel. Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005): 14-15. Box Office Information for All Quiet on the Western Front, Box Office Mojo; retrieved April 13, 2012. Noted comedienne ZaSu Pitts was originally cast as Paul's mother and completed the film but preview audiences, used to seeing her in comic roles, laughed when she appeared onscreen so Milestone re-shot her scenes with Beryl Mercer before the film was released. The preview audience remains the only one who saw Pitts in the role, although she does appear for about 30 seconds in the film's original preview trailer.

In the film, Paul is shot while reaching for a butterfly. This scene is different from the book, and was inspired by an earlier scene showing a butterfly collection in Paul's home. The scene was shot during the editing phase, so the actors were no longer available and Milestone had to use his own hand as Paul's. Kael, Pauline (1991). 5001 Nights at the Movies. New York, N.Y.: Picador. p.18. ISBN 978-0-8050-1367-2 . Retrieved July 12, 2021. Schleh, Eugene P. "Books About Film and War". Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 8.1 (1978): 11-14. The new soldiers arrive by train at the chaotic combat zone. One in the group is killed before the recruits can reach their post, to the alarm of one of the new soldiers (Behn). The new soldiers are assigned to a unit composed of older, unwelcoming veterans. Having not eaten in days, they pay cigarettes to Corporal "Kat" Katzinsky (who has stolen a slaughtered hog from a field kitchen) in exchange for a meal.Higham, Charles. Select List of Banned Films in "Film censorship: the untold story". The Bulletin, November 20, 1965, p.18. They hear that they are to return to the front the next day and begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of the war and of wars in general.

The film was shot with two cameras side by side, with one negative edited as a sound film and the other edited as an " International Sound Version" for distribution in non-English speaking areas. Without diluting or denying any ... criticisms, it should be said that from World War I to Korea, Milestone could put the viewer into the middle of a battlefield, and make the hellish confusion of it seem all too real to the viewer. Steven Spielberg noted as much when he credited Milestone's work as partial inspiration for Saving Private Ryan ... Lewis Milestone made significant contributions to [the genre of] the war film. [14] a b "Review: 'All Quiet on the Western Front' ". Variety. May 7, 1930 . Retrieved February 3, 2017. Top 10 Epic". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008 . Retrieved June 13, 2008.

A great number of German Army veterans were living in Los Angeles at the time of filming and were recruited as bit players and technical advisers. Around 2,000 extras were utilized during production. [9] Among them was future director Fred Zinnemann ( High Noon, From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons, Julia), who was fired for impudence. American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 11 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008 . Retrieved June 18, 2008. Various edited versions have been distributed on video, including a Japanese subtitled Laserdisc with a running time of 103 minutes. The US Laserdisc from 1987 and the first US DVD, released in 1999, use the same unrestored 131-minute British release print. Since 2007, there have been numerous international releases of the 2006 Library of Congress restoration on DVD and Blu-ray. [16] The latter format additionally contains a 133-minute restoration of the international sound version, albeit mislabelled as the "silent version". [17] Reception [ edit ] Critical response [ edit ] "17 London Papers Go Wild!" All Quiet on the Western Front ad from The Film Daily, 1930 The Nazi campaign was successful and German authorities outlawed the film on December 11, 1930. A heavily cut version was briefly allowed in 1931, before the Nazis came to power in 1933 and the film was outlawed again. The film was finally re-released in Germany on April 25, 1952, in the Capitol Theatre in West Berlin.