Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5920 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 123 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Taken from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front is a devastating portrait of a small group of German soldiers during World War I. In this 1979 made-for-TV version the star-studded cast is lead by Richard Thomas (The Waltons) as Paul Baumer, strongly supported by screen veterans Ernest Borgnine, Ian Holm and Patricia Neal. As both narrator and star, Thomas occasionally seems to reincarnate his familiar John-Boy persona, but does at least succeed in creating a character that has more levels than his television alter ego. After watching all of his high school buddies loose their lives, Paul returns home a changed man, conflicted in his feelings about the Army and war, and altered from an idealistic schoolboy into a fearful and humble veteran.

Although Lewis Milestone's 1930 films remains the cinema's definitive version, director Delbert Mann (Desire Under the Elms, Marty) has done a workmanlike job bringing the novel to the screen. The scenery and costuming in this period piece are well done, and surely contributed to its winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for TV. Also exceptional are the cinematography and special effects that, while realistically gruesome, truly emphasise the horrors of war. --Zachary Lively, Amazon.com

DVD Description

All Quiet On The Western Front is an acclaimed remake of the devastating war story--about a generation destroyed--written by novelist Erich Maria Remarque. It tells the tragic tale of a group of young German recruits during World War I. Directed by Delvert Mann and starring Richard Thomas.

Synopsis

In 1914 a group of fresh-faced and idealistic German schoolboys are goaded by their chauvinistic schoolmaster to troop off to the 'Glorious War'. With the fire and patriotism of youth they sign up, however, their disenchantment begins during the brutal basic training. Later, as they board the train to the frontline, they see first-hand evidence of the terrible injuries already suffered there--their first glimpse of the harsh reality of war. Once in the trenches, the boys begin to fall one by one…

Customer Reviews

Best WW1 movie ever, best TV movie ever
The most brilliant aspect of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is the way in which the film remains strictly faithful to the wonderful novel of the same name, creating complexity of the war experience through a duality of the main character's emotional journey and the in-your-face horror of life in the trenches. Director Delbert Mann did such a great job with re-creating the battlefield that this film has become standard educational material for schoolchildren learning about 'The Great War.'

What is almost as remarkable is that this was a made-for-TV film, a category which usually guarantees lower than cinema quality. Not here. With a generous budget Mann and his team have recreated as close as possible the repugnance and terror of war on an epic scale, and imbued it was a cast of stars including Donald Pleasance, Richard Thomas, Ian Holm, and Mann's old sparring partner from their Oscar winning classic Marty, Ernest Borgnine.

The First World War has never been as accurately and as effectively depicted in film as the Second, but this classic effort, which remains one of the best kept secrets of the movies, deserves much great er exposure, especially given the fact that the last veterans of this terrible conflict as passing away, and given world circumstances the old adage of this being "the war to end all wars" seems more laughable than ever. Classic viewing, couldn't reccomend it highly enough. It's the story of a young man coming to terms with a vicious reality previously shrouded in a jingoistic myth, so even those with a dislike of history or military film genres can enjoy this epic. Lest we forget.

All quiet on the western front
1914 and a room full of German school boys are goaded by their chauvinistic schoolmaster to sign up and troop off to the 'glorious war'.
Following the boys through their brutal basic training to the horrors they encounter in the trenches on the frontline,this film really captures the reality of war.
Strong performances from Richard Thomas [John 'boy' Walton] and Donald Pleasence amonst others here but the film does lose a bit of realism due to each actor speaking perfect English but then again it might have lost some credability if "zay adopted a fake German accent".

The Trenches From A Different Point Of View
This film has brilliantly documented the horrors of the Western front from the Germans side. It is not Pro German or anti-French or anti-British it is just anti-war which makes it such a beautiful masterpiece.