I absolutely love this book and have read many times, so was expecting to feel a similar love for the film. Although there were parts that were gut wrenching (the guy who discovers his leg has been amputated, the madness that ensues after repeated shelling), I had a major problem with the acting. Because sound was so new in film, many of the actors were doing a lot of exaggerated movements and making faces after every line. Lew Ayres was the biggest culprit. He yelled many of his lines, constantly posed for the camera, and in several instances, he started to say the wrong lines and came off sounding like he was reading it. He's not very good at sound movies and it's really a plum role for an actor. He only redeemed himself when he came back home and gave his little monologue in the classroom. He spoke with passion and resolve and was believable for the first time in the film. I was very disheartened to see how badly acted most of this film was because the story is a heartbreaking statement on the horrors of war and the pointlessness of it all. Another pet peeve is the way so many of the actors smile throughout the film as though they were on a Broadway stage. It wasn't written that way in the book and there are certainly other ways to show satisfaction with comfortable boots than having the actors grinning as they march into certain death. It's ridiculous. Someone else mentioned that if this film had been shot a couple years later, it would have been better and I agree completely. Sound was so new that the early years were filled with silent actors who brought that same dramatic, expressive sensibility to the screen. I know there's also a silent version of this film which might work better with the way it's acted. I can't express enough what a complete shame it is that Milestone couldn't have directed these guys better or else cast others in the role who understood the importance of the subtleties in each character and the changes wrought by the war. He had a very large budget for the time and was able to reshoot all of the mother's scenes so why not have the actors do more than one take? Why not notice that the dead French soldier has a different expression every time the camera is on his face? If Paul is dreaming of home, you don't need Ayres to have a dreamy look on his face. Also, bread submerged in water would fall apart. There are so many little things that should have been be caught. I know there's a remake of the film from the 70s, but this movie really only works in black and white. This was shot 11 years after the war's end which is only fitting. I would have loved to see a German version of this movie as it would be interesting to see how they approached it. Great story, but film rendition is ruined by shoddy acting and sloppy blocking.

Proof that Hollywood was making left wing anti war propaganda since it's birth.The movie has gotten stellar reviews but rankly, it's dated. The exposition is overly dramatic and heavy handed as is the direction.Plus the young soldiers all have freaking Brooklyn accents! They are supposed to be German! A movie like this would never make money today and it would get summarily panned.If you want to see a great war film, try Hacksaw Ridge or Saving Private Ryan.

All Quiet on the Western Front is the first great non-silent anti-war movie and arguably the most powerful one to date. Based on the critically acclaimed homonymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it portraits the transformations a young German soldier suffers during the World War I: the innocence before the war and the promise of everlasting glory, the shock with reality and the realization of his own mortality and of the hypocrisy of war and finally the return to the world away from the trenches, a world that didn't stop to wait for him.Full of symbolisms, violence and impressive camera work, the whole film is a cinematographic masterpiece. The viewer is placed directly in the battlefield to the point he can almost grasp the blood-soaped earth of the trenches and smell the rotten corpses in no-man's land.There's two layers I can find in this movie: the first one tells us about the physical destruction endured in a war – hunger, dirt, explosions, amputations, diseases, death… The film does not try to hide the truth, war is ugly and dirty, it is constant suffering and painful. If the first layer is strong enough to create a strong impression on the viewer, the second one is even more powerful: the psychological breakdown the soldiers experience is masterfully portrayed. The excitement turns into doubt, the doubt into disgust, the disgust into anger and the anger into complete numbness. A young promising student is gradually transformed into a soulless killing machine.Also the acting deserves to be mentioned. The entire cast delivers stand up performances, especially Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres who depict masterfully two generations united by war.The only flaw I could find on this is the strong American accent on the few German words spoken, fact that can distract a bit especially on the beginning of the movie.Overall, this is an overwhelming experience and a mandatory watch to every war film lover!

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a classic history - drama movie in which we are in World War I and through the experiences of a young soldier we watch the tragedy and the pain of war through the eyes of individuals. This movie is based on a novel by German author, Erich Maria Remarque.I liked this movie because it shows the truth about war and especially World War I and how difficult are things there for soldiers. We watch their feelings and their emotions when they are in the war, from what they think about life in general and their lives until what they have to do to survive. This movie shows us not something heroic or any kind of hero but the cruelness and the pain of people who are in that war. I have to admit that the direction of this movie which made by Lewis Milestone was very good (won the Oscar for the Best Director) and of course the interpretation of Lew Ayres who played as Paul was simply outstanding.Finally I have to say that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a must see movie when we talk about history movies. This movie combines very well events from World War I with the true drama of that war and this is something that makes this movie so good.