"All Quiet on the Western Front"

Alfonso

Alfonso

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Just watched the movie again today and was again so impressed with the combat scenes and realism especially from a movie made in 1930. I especially was impressed with the one attack scene from the French and how they push the Germans back to a second line and then push the French back in a counter attack....wow so well done. Oh and you know you are a gun geek when you are paying attention to see if the proper rifles and arms are being used.
 
Better than "Passchendaele"... that's for sure! ;)

Love the 1930's version, the 70's one wasn't bad either!

Herr Remarque's sister was Guillotined in Germany during WW2 after that Kangaroo court (run by that Fu¢khead Freisler) convicted her of "undermining morale". :(

No doubt it had something to do with her association to the man who wrote "Im Westen nichts Neues".... :mad:
 
I love the 1930s one. All the equipment used is period stuff. The acting and filming is also very good for the time as well.

The 1970s movie is great as well but they are using 1903 Turks ;).

Now see what you have done, I am going to watch the movie again :D. The look on Kat's face when he sees the pigs being tossed out of the train car is priceless, I have to stop myself from making the same facial expression when I see a milsurp I want.

The book is amazing as well so make sure you read it if you haven't already.
 
I wonder how the WWI scenes in "War Horse" are going to turn out? I'm telling one of my woman friends that we' should see 'that horse movie' on Christmas day. I bet her husband knows the real reason I'm going, though. He's ex reserves and pretty sure knows about the battle scenes.
 
So much for spending Christmas with the family :D.

I can see it now, the poster for the movie is King George V pointing at you "I want YOU...to see this movie".
 
Alfonso said:
Just watched the movie again today and was again so impressed with the combat scenes and realism especially from a movie made in 1930.
....wow so well done. Oh and you know you are a gun geek when you are paying attention to see if the proper rifles and arms are being used.
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I would imagine a great many of the actors were vets.

My wife is never impressed when in a war movie I say
"Hey I have one of those"
 
Like this, then you've got to see the Wolfgang Petersen movies, Stalingrad and Das Boot. Definitely not in the vein of Saving Private Ryan. :D
 
Alfonso said:
Just watched the movie again today and was again so impressed with the combat scenes and realism especially from a movie made in 1930. I especially was impressed with the one attack scene from the French and how they push the Germans back to a second line and then push the French back in a counter attack....wow so well done. Oh and you know you are a gun geek when you are paying attention to see if the proper rifles and arms are being used.
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My theory on this (1930's) movie had the realism it did was that there were so many guys still alive to advise and tell how it was like first hand.

I liked the 70's version too--if I recall, "John Boy" Walton was in that one, right? (Richard Thomas)
 
zupermann said:
My theory on this (1930's) movie had the realism it did was that there were so many guys still alive to advise and tell how it was like first hand.

I liked the 70's version too--if I recall, "John Boy" Walton was in that one, right? (Richard Thomas)
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You make a very good point which I didn't think of. I find the savagery depicted "eg) using their shovels etc," in the hand to hand trench scene very disturbingly realistic. Nothing like you see in many movies still to this day (Saving Private Ryan, is an exception). In a way you could almost saythat you are watching real WWI combat through that movie without any exagerations or "fluffing".
 
Alfonso said:
You make a very good point which I didn't think of. I find the savagery depicted "eg) using their shovels etc," in the hand to hand trench scene very disturbingly realistic. Nothing like you see in many movies still to this day (Saving Private Ryan, is an exception). In a way you could almost saythat you are watching real WWI combat through that movie without any exagerations or "fluffing".
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If you want fluffing, I was really annoyed with the newer "Pearl Harbour" versus "Tora, Tora, Tora". In which I still think "the theory" (see above) also applies.

Getting back to "All Quiet on the Western Front", there's the version with Ernest Bourgnine (I think) and Richard Thomas which, as mentioned before, was really good--mainly because it's in color and follows the original story line as I recall it.
 
All Quiet on the Weatern Front is a classic movie and stands the test of time. It was shown to my kids at the local high school as part of a course and they thought it was good. It was the first "anti-war" movie, that is it showed war as it really is, not all glory and patriotism but a dirty, soul-destroying business.
 
One good reason why thses period movies are so good, especially if you watch a french or german one made between the two world wars, is that the extras, all served in their coun tires armies at the time, i saw a couple still pics many years ago showing the making of a WW1 movied in the late 20's, and the caption stated of the pic, showing the extras during the break in filming, that the french are actually french and the german actuatlly german, and they had faced each other during the war etc.
 
Glad this topic came up. The book was excellent as were both movies. One of the best WW2 movies IMO was The Thin Red Line about the war in the Pacific. I am looking forward to seeing War Horse also.
 
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because the Thin Red Line is literary and really a psychodrama? I think it's a classic movie. People had expectations of Saving Private Ryan in the Pacific and that's not what the director is about at all.
 
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