What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
All Quiet on the Western Front is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#54)
10 Top 10's (#7 Epic)
I saw All Quiet on the Western Front a first time when I was attempting to complete this project previously. I think I have also seen the 70s version (which, if I'm not mistaken, sets it in a different war that the First World War). I remember liking it and thinking it was powerful on the first viewing, an opinion that remains true today, after watching it a second time instantly on Netflix. This film is a marvel for the year in which it was released: it contains a potent anti-war message and intensely realistic action that laid the groundwork for many a war film to follow it. While some may feel that the film is dated (and, yes, it is), there are elements of the film that will endure, forever timeless, which is why I think the AFI saw fit to rank this film on its original list and rightly so.
All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of several young German boys, urged to enlist in the army and fight for their country against the Allies in the first world war. The viewer then watches as the boys transform, from wide-eyed, patriotic innocence to cynical and world-weary veterans, conditioned by the hardships of battle and the constant exposure to death. The plot is no more complicated than that, and while the cast is led by Lew Ayers, it is otherwise an ensemble of unknowns, who made this film almost 80 years ago.
All Quiet on the Western Front is as powerful as it is because it broaches and utilizes many controversial aspects. There are reviewers before me who criticize the film's datedness, attributing its perceived quaintness and time capsule quality to the fact that it predates the atrocities of even World War II and the future beyond. I would argue that it is precisely this quality that makes the film intensely more resonant than any other element, a quality that lends a spookiness to the proceedings because modern viewers know what history produced. Consider the stroke of genius in telling the story from the German perspective; after all, they led the Axis powers into World War I and later produced one of history's greatest tyrants, but the soldiers that fought for their side were naive young men just like those in any other army that fought in the Great War or other wars before or since. The acting ensemble was also superb; yes, they were a bit "theatrical" (what does one expect for 1930), but they were also unadulterated in their performances and portrayls of the fear, anguish, guilt, and other emotions brought on in a war. I imagine these portrayals may have been quite shocking to contemporary viewers.
In fact, it's the realism of this piece that is its single most impressive element. The battle scenes are actually quite intense and so creatively filmed. The information on the movie's Spout page indicates that Director Lewis Milestone pioneered the sweeping crane shot to capture panoramic scenes of death and destruction. That may be true, but I was most impressed with the cinematography and inventive uses of lighting and sound to make the atmosphere of battle so real, so palpable and made even more impressive by its digital remastering. I sometimes marvel at how early filmmakers had to be so much more creative and resourceful in their application of the motion picture, and this film should stand up as a testament of such pioneering filmmaking.
Surprisingly, the film did not make the AFI's Revised list (even if it registered on one of the ten top 10's - though is it really an epic?). It was replaced by M*A*S*H (originally number 56 and the next film on my AFI countdown, as I've already reviewed The Sound of Music). I wonder why. This is a film that I would argue is a great American film and in many ways propelled filmmaking technology forward as much as Milestone's predecessors, including D.W. Griffith.
Now, granted, the film isn't perfect. Aside from its eighty years of age, it's nearly three hours long and drags tangibly in spots. Some of the acting and written dialogue is really very cheesy too, but this is a film from the early days of talkies, so I think some forgiveness is owed the picture.
The ending is perfection, though. If I could rank movie endings as the AFI did films, I would put the ending to All Quiet on the Western Front amongst the top ten at least. It was another brilliant stroke of genius on the director's part and all at once encapsulated the themes of the story in the loss of innocence and contrast of the beauty of life to the ugliness brought on by war (and resulting death).
As ratings go, I'm inclined to award the antiquated but awesome All Quiet on the Western Front with an 8.5, between minor flaws/very good and perfectly entertaining, though I would say I love the film because I love the concept and the decidedly avant garde message during a decade when anti-war statements might have been construed as unpatriotic. As to the test, however, this one's not a keeper for me. As I indicated, the film drags, and I've already seen it repeatedly. I highly recommend the film, though, to anyone who likes watching war films, who likes exploring early cinema, who likes comparing and contrasting filmmaking techniques, or who can relate to the film's themes. It's undeniable that this film was far ahead of its time in all of those respects.