All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Director: Lewis Milestone

Screenplay: George Abbott

Adapted from: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 

Production Company: Universal 

Rating: N/A

Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, and Ben Alexander

My Rating: 4.5 our of 5 stars

I must admit, I've been looking forward to this one. In 6th grade, our History teacher showed us the 1970s remake and I remember being moved by it. When I started this project, I reached out to my best friend, Erin, and my husband to ask them to mark any of the films they wanted to watch with me. Both wanted to see this one. Unfortunately, due to busy schedules, my husband couldn't watch it (though I'll make him watch it another time) but my best friend was able to come over and watch with me - getting it all in just in time for her to go pick up her daughter from daycare. 

Another thing that might excite a potential viewer is that fact that this particular film was banned in a number of countries in Europe and Australia - some bans only having been lifted by the 1980s! If there is anything that makes someone want to watch a movie, it's that it made the government mad. The most obvious and high profile of adversaries of the film are the Nazis who, for obvious reasons, weren't super stoked about a anti-war film that featured German soldiers questioning the very idea of why they were laying their lives down for someone else's conflict. When the film was released, Goebbles and the Brownshirts disrupted many German viewings and attacked audience members - particularly if they were perceived to be Jewish. They called it a 'Judenfilm!' and by December 11th Germany had banned it. 

The obvious opposition to the movie was that it portrayed war realistically - that is, it's not all glory and brotherhood, and heroics. WWI was millions of men dying for a cause most of them didn't understand nor care about. It didn't make war look glorious, it made war look sad, depressing, and miserable. Because that's what war actually is. For many governments this conversation was uncomfortable and even threatening. So, it was best silenced.

At the beginning of the film, Professor Kantorek gives a moving speech about the importance of fighting for the Fatherland, duty, and the glorious honor of war. This moves the boys to join up and insist. We see, even now, in America how this rhetoric is still used to get people - especially the poor - to join the military and fight battles that America deems important all over the globe. Most war movies, even when realistic, play to these tropes. They romanticize war. All Quiet on the Western Front does the opposite. There's nothing glorious about men crying, weeping, and moaning in terror as they wait to be buried alive by canon fire. There's nothing enticing about starving nearly to death on the front lines, living in trenches, and having your buddy's leg blown off 2 feet from you. It doesn't feel heroic to lie in a ditch with a man you've just stabbed as he cries out for his mother and slowly dies. 

Then, in the jarring and iconic last scene, our protagonist, Paul - a man who has been through it all from boyish optimism to hardened soldier - is shot and killed unceremoniously while reaching out to touch a beautiful butterfly. No glorious homecoming. No parade. You are left remembering his dying mother and thinking about how much she loves her son, and how devastated she'll be when she gets the telegram that tells her he was sacrificed for the 'Fatherland'. 

I don't think I need to tell you at this point this was an excellent film. It's one that stands the test of time, its message as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. Yes, it's kind of silly to hear people who sound like they are from the wheat fields of Kansas being 'German' infantrymen. But forgetting that, I'd consider this one of the 'must watch' films of the 20th Century. The rhetoric cuts to the bone, it lays open the realities of war and makes you watch. It pulls no punches. 

There is a scene nearing the end where the main character, Paul, goes back to that classroom where Professor Kantorek is still giving his 'For the Fatherland!' speech to a new crop of young boys. It's one of the best scenes in the film. He asks Paul to talk about the glories of war as he's on leave from the Front. Instead of telling the class that war was glorious, honorable, and justified he tells them the truth. 

'You still think it's beautiful and sweet to die for your country, don't you? We used to think you knew. The first bombardment taught us better. It's dirty and painful to die for your country. When it comes to dying for your country, it's better not to die at all. There are millions out there dying for their countries. And what good is it?'

They call him a coward. He goes on and touches on something that I think is so relevant today. It brought to mind trying to talk to people suffering the Dunning-Kruger Effect - especially in the wake of the Trump Years. 

'There's no use talking like this. You won't know what I mean. Only, it's been a long while since we enlisted out of this classroom. So long, I thought maybe the whole world had learned by this time. Only now, they're sending babies, and they won't last a week. I shouldn't have come on leave. Up at the front, you're alive or you're dead and that's all. And you can't fool anybody about that very long. And up there, we know we're lost and done for, whether we're dead or alive. Three years we've had of it. Four years. And every day a year, and every night a century. And our bodies are earth. And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death. And we're done for, because you can't live that way and keep anything inside you.'

He speaks as an expert. He speaks as someone literally coming directly off the Front, and because he's not saying what the boys or their Professor want to hear, he's a liar. A coward. Soldiers are only of use to them - the people seeking to glorify or wage war -  if they are parroting the company line, if they are happy to die for God and Country. Once a soldier questions his position, questions the necessity of the war and death - he's a liar, a coward. So, too, this logic applies to experts. In the age of 'expert shopping' we keep the ones we agree with and throw out the rest as liars, corrupted, bought off, take your pick. 

Excellent film. Highly recommend. 

I give 5/5 stars. Watch it.

The Broadway Melody (1929)

The Broadway Melody

Director: Harry Beaumont

Production Company: MGM

Music By: Nacio Herb Brown

Lyric by: Arthur Freed

Rating: N/A

Staring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

And so we have the Academy's first 'talkie' Best Picture. Not only a talkie, but a musical! It was a tall order for director, Harry Beaumont, who utilized various techniques to achieve the best sound on set. This meant a process of trial and error that made for very long shooting days. For instance, it took more than 3 hours for Bessie Love to shoot a very small ukulele scene. 

In fact, sound in movies was so new that they produced a silent version of The Broadway Melody for viewing in many theaters across the country that didn't, yet, have the equipment to show non-silent films. Regardless, it was the top grossing movie of 1929 which probably helped push it into the winner's spot at the 2nd Annual Academy Awards. Let's just say, The Broadway Melody will not be making it into the top 10 of any lists. 

While I can appreciate the craft of making the picture - especially with little experience to go in in sound - it's a hokey, sappy musical with songs that are just 'meh'. It's cliched and melodramatic and I have to admit I got bored through the middle. 

Another love triangle flick, but this one is less engaging than Wings. Two sisters fight over the same man, make up, and all is well in the end - oh, and they are performers so music has an excuse to flit in and out of scenes. If it feels like I don't have much to say about this movie, it's because there isn't much to say. If you are looking for a 20s era musical to watch, see Show Boat and call it a day. 

I'd give it 2/5 stars if only because I appreciate it's technical merit and thought Bessie Love and Anita Page were lovely.

Wings (1927)

Wings (1927)

Director: William A. Wellman
Written by: Hope Loring and Louis S. Lighton

Production Company: Paramount Pictures

Rating: N/A

Starring: Clara Bow,  Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The first Academy Award winner for Best Picture (and only silent film to win the honor) is a WWI war/romance epic written specifically for Clara Bow - Paramount's biggest star at the time. And that's interesting because her part, Mary, while providing a lot of comedic relief was not the real, narrative draw of the movie for me. 

But first, some background. Filmed in San Antonio at Kelly Field, while most pictures of the day took a month or two to film, this one took nine months. That's nine months on location in San Antonio with a lot of downtime for the hyper-attractive cast. Director William A. Wellman is quoted as saying it was an 'Armageddon of magnificent sexual Donnybrook.' Later it was noted, whether earnestly or as a joke, that by the time the production left town all the elevator girls at the famous Saint Anthony's Hotel (where the cast stayed) were pregnant. 

On top of the star-studded cast - including a small part for Gary Cooper in his early career - the director had real, WWI arial combat experience which helped him create a film by which all other arial combat films were be measured for many decades. On a $2 million budget ($29.24 million adjusted for inflation), Wellman produced a 2.5 hour epic that really is still watchable and impactful in 2022. 

I watched the film with my 8-year-old son who is deep into the YouTube, special-effects, has always

had the internet at his fingertips generation to yet be named. He was intrigued by the idea of a movie with no dialogue at all. He even asked me, 'If they can put music on it, why not speech?' The idea that there just simply did not exist the technology to make movies as he knows them awed him. Some of my favorite interjections from my son as we watched were, 'I'm not used to movies like this, but at least it does have good music.' And, a personal favorite, 'Is Gary Cooper like the olden-times Leonardo DiCaprio?' It's 2022, and I must interject that Leo's allure stands the test of time. After a few viewings of Titanic, my son understands what it is to be starstruck by DiCaprio.

At its core, Wings is a war story with love on the side. It's a buddy flick. In fact, there is some debate about whether or not it features the first LGBTQIA+ kiss in major motion picture history. But that's a topic we'll get to in a moment. To paraphrase Bill Hader's Stefon from SNL, this film has everything. Love triangle (quadrangle?), war, mistaken identity, drunkeness in Paris, the love of brothers in combat, thrilling arial battles, emotional character arcs, it's all there and it all stands up to the test of time. 

*PLOT SPOILERS*

The film follows Cadets Jack (Rodgers) and David (Arlen), two young men from the same town who are both in love with the local beauty, Sylvia. Sylvia's heart belongs to David, but a miscommunication on the part of Jack leaves him believing she's left him a token (her picture in a locket) as he goes off to war to remember her by. Meanwhile, Jack's girl-next-door type buddy, Mary has been in love with him for ages though he's completely oblivious. David, from the richest family in town, resents Jack and Jack resents him right back. At basic cadet training, they scuffle then come to like and respect each other - eventually becoming the best of friends and closest allies. Mary enlists as an ambulance driver where, by chance she meets up with Jack who is on leave in Paris. Only, Jack is drunk as a skunk seeing bubbles in the air as he is wined and dined by a beautiful French woman. Mary, utilizing her skills and wiles coerces him back to his room so that he won't be thrown in the brig for drunkenly ignoring the order to return to camp for that great 'push' into occupied territory in a few days time. When MPs rush into Jack's room looking for him, Mary is changing her clothes and the situation looks as if she was sleeping with a Cadet, so she's fired and sent back home. Just before Jack and David get in their planes for the final push forward to defeat the Germans, Jack drops his locket and the picture falls out. David notices that Sylvia has written a message to him. Fearing Jack will see it, and will be heart broken to know that Sylvia doesn't love Jack, but rather him, David rips up the picture, angering Jack just before they get into their planes and go into battle. In the tragic conclusion, David is shot down behind enemy lines, steals a German plane and tries to return to the American line only to be shot down by Jack who does not realize his friend is flying the plane. David then dies in Jack's arms. When he's gathering David's things to send home, he sees a note from Sylvia and realizes what David did to protect his feelings. Upon return home, Jack seeks forgiveness from David's family - which they grant - and runs off to find Mary. They kiss under a shooting star and live happily ever after. The end.

The infamous 'kiss' shared between Jack and David as David lays dying is the potential 'first' LGBTQIA+ kiss in major motion picture history. I'll be honest with you, I could read this kiss either way. In canon, it's probably meant to be a platonic kiss between two best friends. However, in the age of fanfiction I absolutely believe this story would get the Captain America and Bucky Buchanan treatment. That is to say, if you wanted these two to be forbidden lovers, all the ingredients are there. I'll let you decide. 

*PLOT SPOILERS END*

To say this film is good is an understatement. It's great. I can't say I've seen the other two nominated films, but I can say I understand why this movie was nominated and won. These arial battle scenes are beautiful and terrifying. They never felt hokey or overly amateurish even as we have computer technology to make actual, up close, life arial combat look 100% authentic today. 

Emotionally, it hits all the right notes as well. You are invested in Jack and David's friendship, their battles, their hardships, and their happiness. When David ripped up the picture Jack had been carrying around of Sylvia, I literally gasped. 

If I had any negativity to spread, it would be about Jack in general. His character is immature and somewhat annoying. In fact, David and Mary probably could do better. That said, I think the intention was to portray him that way. He had to grow. He had to learn. He became a better man through the course of the war through grief and sacrifice. 

I also want to mention something I noticed and appreciated while watching the movie. David is wealthy and he comes from a wealthy family, but he's never really portrayed as a snob. His parents are warm and loving. His dad isn't the evil rich guy pushing his kid to 'be a man' like you often see. They were scared. They were sad to see him leave for war. They were also proud of him. And David didn't ask for favors or seek accommodations. The war touches everyone and, at least in this story, there was no special treatment for those with wealth. 

It might shock you to know that the negatives for the first Academy Award winning film were lost. The closest they could find in the vaults was a spare that was intended for the Cinémathèque Française which was badly decayed. The version I watched, digitally remastered and re-orchestrated, was restored in the mid-90s. Thank god for modern technology. 

I highly recommend the film. I give it 4/5 stars. Liam gives it 4/5 stars. It's available for rent on Amazon Prime for $3.99.