“The
Dawns Here Are Quiet” is a Soviet film released in 1972.It was nominated for the Best Foreign
Language Film Oscar.It is set in a
village near Finland in 1942.Sergeant
Vaskov (Andrei Martynov) is in command of a unit that is noted for drunkenness
and fraternizing with the village females.His superior solves the problem by taking away his men and sending an
anti-aircraft unit to replace them.An
all-female ack-ack unit!The girls laugh
at Vaskov’s insistence on following regulations.The village becomes like a girls summer
camp.They sleep together in a
barracks.They sing songs.They dance with each other.They take a steam bath together (with nudity,
guys!).But when there is an air raid,
they kick ass.They efficiently use their
KPV multi-barreled heavy machine gun and shoot down a bomber.Rita (Irina Shevchuk) coldly stitches a
parachutist.
Lisa (Yelena Drapenko)
spots two German paratroopers in the woods and Vaskov decides to take her and
four others to track them down before they can do whatever sabotage they are
tasked for.They cross a swamp and set
up a strong defensive position to ambush the pair.Unfortunately, the pair turns out to be eight
pairs.Vaskov sends Lisa back through the swamp for reinforcements. He and the remaining four
will attempt to delay the Germans.The
movie now shifts to “who will survive?” mode.
I
went into this movie with very low expectations.I had never heard of this movie as it
had not been mentioned as a noteworthy Soviet film like “Come and See” and
“Ballad of a Soldier”.The opening
scenes seemed to confirm this.Vaskov is
a buffoon and the girls are giggly.I
was wondering if it was a comedy and whether it was truly a war movie.Not that the first part isn’t entertaining.The ladies are fetching and some are
hot.How often do you get a nude frolic
in a steam bath in a war movie?(A
Soviet war movie at that.)Actually,
only a war movie about the Red Army in WWII could realistically portray female
soldiers like this movie.
The air raid is a seriously good combat
scene, but appeared to be an aberration in an otherwise fluffy movie.Not that the movie was standard up to this
point.Early on a series of striking
flashbacks kicks in.The movie is
crisply black and white, but the flashbacks are in color and slightly
surreal.They are used to give
back-stories to the main characters.For
instance, Zhenya (Olga Ostroumova) had an affair with a married officer.By the end of the film, the five women who go
on the mission have had their characters developed well.It is a heterogeneous group.There is the slut (Zhenya), the
revenge-minded widow (Rita), the mousy (Lisa), the poetry lover (Galya), and
the timid (Sonia).More important is the
character evolution of Vaskov.He goes
from a buffoon to a crafty leader.He
also shows commendable empathy for his charges in a big brotherly way.And he turns out to be quite a warrior, as do
the girls.They participate in
fire-fights using their Mosin Nagant rifles and captured German MP40s.
Vaskov
Zhenya's flash back
Director
Rostotsky served in the army in WWII and went on to become a decorated
film-maker after the war.The movie is
technically proficient.The decision to
show the flashbacks in a different style added pizazz to the movie.The cinematography in the forest scenes is
remarkable.The biggest accolade I can
bestow is that you do not realize without reflection how difficult it must have
been to smoothly film the running about in the forest.There is some POV and even some
hand-held.The lensing contributes to
the fog of war aspect of forest fighting.Rostotsky’s themes are apparent.Female soldiers could be feminine and yet serve the Motherland
effectively.The movie is an homage to
them. They deserved it.
“The Dawns Here
Are Quiet” is a must-see for anyone interested in Soviet war movies.It belongs in the discussion about which is
the best of this subgenre.Having seen
several of the most lauded films, I can say it is easily in the top 5. It could even make my 100 Best War Movies list.
There has been some coverage recently of the famous Christmas Truce during the first winter of WWI. A British company even made a commercial based on it.
Here is the historical background: On Christmas Eve on the Western Front spontaneous cease-fires broke out along parts of the front. They started in some cases with the Germans putting up Christmas trees and candles along their parapets and singing carols like "Silent Night". The British or French responded with their own songs and then the mood caused some brave souls to go into No Man's Land to fraternize. Gifts, food, and drinks were exchanged. In one case, a soccer (football) game was played between a Scottish unit and a German unit. The commercial does a good job of portraying this. It does not attempt to portray the story I tell my class about how the match was between a Scotish unit and a German unit. The Scots won, partly because the wind would blow up their kilts and they were in the habit of not wearing underwear so it distracted the German footballers. Believe that if you want. I want to.
There have been two movies that have focused on the event. "Oh! What a Lovely War" has an extended scene about it. Watch it here:
The movie "Joyeux Noel" is based on the incident. It really enhances the tale, but in a very entertaining way. Here is the "Silent Night" scene:
This
year my Christmas selection is the movie “Silent Night”.It was made for television (Hallmark) and
released in 2002.It was directed by
Rodney Gibbons and stars Linda Hamilton.It is based on a true story that is set in the Battle of the Bulge at
Christmas time in 1944. You can watch the entire movie on You Tube.
The
movie begins with an elderly German named Fritz reminiscing with a young
American about his grandfather who he had met in the war.The movie then proceeds into flash back
mode.Fritz (Matthew Harbour) and his
mother Elizabeth Vincken (Linda Hamilton) are refugees from the fighting in the
Ardennes.Elizabeth thinks their cabin
in the woods will be a safe haven from the war.They plan on a quiet, uneventful Christmas eve.That is ruined when three American soldiers
barge in.One of them is wounded (Michael
Elkin as Pvt. Ridgin).Sgt. Blank (Alain
Goulem) is very distrustful of Elizabeth (and any German for that matter), but Pvt. Rassi (Romano Orzari) bonds
with Fritz.Three is a party, six is a
movie as three Germans arrive to complicate matters.Rassi bluffs them into surrendering, but then
the forceful Mrs. Vincken insists that the opposing sides agree to a truce and
leave all the weapons outside.The deal
is reluctantly agreed to with Blank and Lt. Klosterman (Martin Neufeld) both
wink-winking.Klosterman is a hard-core
Nazi who implies that Elizabeth will be held accountable for not warning them
about the Americans.He also wonders why
Fritz is not in the Hitler Youth at the ripe old age of 12.Sgt. Mueller (Mark Antony Krupa) helps with
Ridgin’s wound.
A
shared meal and conversations encourage empathy and camaraderie among the
soldiers.The sergeants make a
connection over singing “Oh Christmas Tree” and Blank and Klosterman debate
Nazism.Next comes trimming the
Christmas tree and the obligatory singing of “Silent Night”.It all comes to a screeching halt when
Klosterman notices Rassi has an Iron Cross souvenir.Klosterman’s decorated brother was stripped
when he was killed.Not a good moment
for Ridgin to enter with a pistol. It's a "Midnight Clear" scenario. The
interlude comes to an end the next morning when an American MP arrives.Or is he?
“Silent
Night” is a sweet little Christmas movie and should leave a warm spot even for
Scrooges.It is decidedly made for TV
and if you are looking for action…The
acting starts out weak, but the actors seem to calm down and play it more
naturally as the movie proceeds.Hamilton is the only star and she anchors the film. It would be interesting to know whether the real Elizabeth Vincken was critical of the Nazi regime. In the movie, she openly questions the war and flat out tells Klosterman she will not allow her son to serve.The other actors are no names who emote adequately.The characters are stock (ex. the scrounger), but
well-developed.The dialogue is fine if
a bit Hallmarkish.At least it’s not
mawkish.The movie is not overtly
religious, but it won’t turn you into an atheist. There is certainly a strong theme of we are all humans after all.The ending has a nice twist to it.
“Silent
Night” is not in a league with “Joyeux Noel” or “A Midnight Clear”, but it is a
nice choice if you want something that combines war and Christmas.See the spoiler report below on how much of the
story is true.
Grade=B-
HOW
TRUE IS IT?The
basic scenario is true, but the details are enhanced for our viewing pleasure
and so we won’t fall asleep.The Vincken’s
did take refuge in a cabin.Three
Americans did join them and one of them was wounded.Unlike the movie, the Germans did not speak
English.Who wants to read subtitles in
a made for TV movie?The three Germans
knocked before being invited in by Elizabeth.She did require them to leave their weapons outside and they did agree
to a truce.One of the Germans did help with
the wounded American.The group shared a
meal of stew.The next day the two trios
parted without incident.Overall,
acceptable artistic license for a movie that was not meant to be an important
historical retelling.
“Tank Battalion” was released in 1958 and played on a double bill with
“Hell Squad”.Whatever happened to
double bills?Another reason life today
sucks compared to in the 50s.TB has the
distinction of having three actors that later appeared in the original “Star
Trek” series – Frank Gorshin, Leslie Parrish, and Barbara Luna.It is a black and white movie.It opens with piano music.Is this a romance? We are in Korea in 1951 and we are treated to
real footage from the war.The footage
may be real, but the tank is decidedly not.That is the most spacious and pristine tank interior I have ever seen.Was anyone at the drive-in movie stupid
enough to think that was whatthe inside
of a tank looked like?Crew banter:“You know, a guy could get killed in this
war”.Thus speaks the comic relief of
Gorshin (playing “Skids”).We see the
war through the crew’s periscopes.It’s
more war footage.The tank is alone and
has to return for repairs.The crew
talks about dames.Back at their base,
Sarge’s girl (Alice – Leslie Parrish)waits – she is hot!Their
commanding officer is an ass who has an eye for Alice.Skids is putting the moves on a nurse named
Norma (Regina Gleason).“My temperature
is rising rapidly”.Egg Charlie’s is the
local bar.There is a bar girl named Nikko
(Barbara Luna).“Man, that babe is a
human atom bomb.”“Give me a shape like
that and I would never drop it”.What?One of the crew (Danny) wants to make an
honest woman out of Nikko.There is a
laughable fight in the barracks.Gorshin
does some impressions.The three
romantic duos go on a picnic!They have
to act this out because they could not find any picnic footage.Instead of ants, they are bothered by commie
infiltrators.Danny wimps out and can’t
kill a captive, but Sarge does not mind murdering the “monkey” in cold
blood.Some other monkeys are sneaking
around the sound stage.They stab a
sentry because he is looking at a picture of his girl.Idiot!The girls are having a sleep over with their clothes on, dammit.The commies sneak in and … steal some
supplies.Commies are gay.Nikko stabs a lingerer.Enough with this stage courtesy of Home
Depot.It’s time for Operation
Spider.Something about a joint
operation to reach the 38th Parallel. It will change the course of
the war, naturally.More footage – some
of it is repetitive.Did they film
anything on their own besides the interior of the tank?They get lost so we don’t ever get to see the
battalion of tanks.It’s like they only
had one tank to make the movie.This
movie obviously inspired “The Beast”!A
grenade damages a tie rod and they are crippled.They are surrounded by commies, but worse
they have to undergo taunting.They draw
straws for who will make a run for the mechanic.Corbett (Edward G. Robinson, Jr. – you heard
right) draws the short straw and refuses to go.Danny mans up and Nikko will not be going to live in America.Corbett realizes Nikko is now available and
makes the run.He runs like a guy with
palsy.This throws off the aim of the
monkeys.Why doesn’t the tank fire any
shells at the commie machine gun?Corbett returns with the mechanic, but he gets killed.Corbett remembers that he can fix things and
repairs the tank.A commie with a flame
thrower!Cool.Thetank drives off and they hurl a grenade that gets pay back on the
bastards.The end.Did they run out of film?Did Operation Spider succeed?
This movie is incredibly bad.Possibly the worst war movie I have ever seen, not counting
“Braveheart”.It must have cost a couple
of dollars to make.The ladies are easy
on the eyes, which is the only plus.The
plot makes little sense.A conflict is
developed between Sarge and Caswell and then dropped.The dialogue is predictably lame.The acting is horrible, but what do you
expect from that cast.It is fun to
watch Gorshin, however.And fun to
imagine the reaction of Edward G. Robinson, Sr.Junior slept with Marilyn Monroe so he didn’t care what anyone said
about his acting.
Grade =F-
P.S. Check out that poster. They are fighting Yankees from the Civil War!
“So
Proudly We Hail” was inspired by the nurses in the Philippines at the beginning
of WWII.Director Mark Sandrich read a
story about ten nurses who escaped from Corregidor.He and screenwriter Alan Scott ( who received
an Academy Award nomination for his script) interviewed the ladies and even
hired Eunice Hatchitt as technical adviser.Hatchitt did a lot of eye-rolling over the petulant behavior of the
three leading ladies in the film.The
movie was based on the book by Juanita Hipps (“I Served on Bataan”).The “Angels of Bataan” served first on Bataan
and then Corregidor before the lucky few were evacuated and the unlucky majority
were imprisoned for the rest of the war.The movie had the cooperation of the War Department, the Army Nurses
Corps, and the American Red Cross.The
movie was a box office hit and was nominated for four Oscars (Best Supporting
Actress, Cinematography, Original Screenplay, and Visual Effects).
Colbert, Goddard, and Lake
The
film opens in May, 1942.Eight nurses
are in the Philippines.Lt. Janet “Davy”
Davidson (Claudette Colbert) has been wounded.Suddenly they are on a cruise ship.We’ve jumped to the end of the war and Davy has lost her will to
live.A doctor prescribes flash
backs.We are introduced to our trio of
celebrity nurses as they sail to the Philippines.Davy is the mother hen, Joan (Paulette
Goddard) is the slutty one, and Olivia (Veronica Lake) is the vengeance –minded,
Jap hating war widow.Davy is
romantically involved with Lt. Summers (George Reeves eight years before
Superman) and gets to bathe him so the ladies in the audience might consider
joining the nursing corps.Meanwhile
Joan is flirting with a hayseed named Kansas (Sonny Tufts).Olivia is being unsociable, even with the other
nurses.What a bitch!They don’t realize the Japs killed her
husband.At a Christmas party on board
the ship, a Chaplain gives a speech to the audience telling them to have faith
in the things America stands for.
When
they reach Bataan, they are assigned to a hospital.Olivia gets herself assigned to the Japanese
prisoner ward.Will she cold-bloodedly
murder?John shows up.Unwounded. What the…?John and Davy go on a moonlit walk and spend
the night in a dugout – wink, wink.The
Japanese show up before the girls can bug out.Olivia lets her peek-a-boo hair down and pulls a grenade out of her
bra.That is not a euphemism.
Put that hair down, put those hands up
At
the new hospital, John ( what is this guy? a hospital groupie?) gives Davy a
monkey that of course is named Tojo (because they look alike).The head nurse’s son dies after having his
legs amputated.She represents all the
moms who have lost sons in the war.The
damned war keeps intruding on the romantic subplots.“I don’t know if that’s an air raid warning
or mess call.Either way it’s a warning”.LOLThose bastard Japs even bomb the hospital with the huge red cross on it.We wouldn’t do that.
The
gals are evacuated to Corregidor.So is
John, who has finally managed to get himself wounded.A doctor removes his shrapnel (“it’s probably
good American steel” – non-Greatest Generation, this is a reference to scrap
iron sold to Japan before the war).The
hospital is located in the Malinta Tunnel.There is a plug for Red Cross blood.One nurse gets the “heebie jeebies”.Davy and John honeymoon by a howitzer before he goes on a suicide
mission to get quinine.“I’ll be back”.Liar.Joan says goodbye to Kansas.“So
long, kid”.
Davy and John in the Honeymoon Suite
“So
Proudly We Hail” is better than you would expect.It is fairly realistic in depicting the lives
of nurses in the Philippines.They were
in fact very sexy and had romances with soldiers.Actually, according to the movie, two thirds
of nurses had affairs and one third were married to soldiers who were killed in
the war.And they were able to keep
their hair perfectly coiffed.The movie
is entertaining in a 1940s war movie aimed at females sort of way.There
is some pretty good humor and some of it is even intentional.The dialogue is better than average for this
type.It is only occasionally schmaltzy.The speeches did not make me throw up in my
mouth.Surprisingly, the movie deserved
its visual effects nomination.The bombing
scenes are well done.There are some
effective pyrotechnics.The acting is
good and no one embarrasses themselves.The
three ladies are fine (and I do mean fine).Goddard got a Best Supporting Actress nod.She plays 1940s trollop well.Colbert
is her usual solid self. Lake is not much of an actress, but I don’t think
anyone cared. Excuse me, is that a
grenade in your bra? Oh, and there are
some men in the cast as I recall.One of
them played Superman.
Classic
or antique?Classic because of the
recognition for the nursing corps.This
is what sets it apart from other wartime war movies.It could have been much worse.
It all began in the summer of
2010 after I saw the movie “Julie and Julia”.That is a movie about a young woman who decides to blog about trying all
of Julia Childs’ recipes.I was looking
for something to create a blog about and had recently gotten a copy of Military
History magazine’s “100 Greatest War Movies” issue.Add this to my lifelong love of war movies
and the project took shape and I was off and running. The initial idea was to
review the 100 on a weekly basis.That
quickly proved too ambitious for a full-time teacher and soccer coach, hence
the plus four years to reach #1.Amazingly, I have been able to view every one of the 100, although some
were difficult to obtain.I decided early on that I wanted to branch out
and do more than just the 100.The blog
expanded to include a variety of war movies.Although finishing the project is very satisfying, it is not the end of
my journey.I now move on to compiling
my own list of the 100 Best War Movies and continue the variety of reviews I
have been doing.There are still plenty
of war movies, war miniseries, and war television series to be watched.And the occasional war film that makes it to
the theater.
BACK-STORY:The first great anti-war film was based on the
greatest anti-war novel ever written.Lewis Milestone took on the task of bringing Erich Remarque’s book to
the screen and even considered casting Remarque as Paul Baumer.Lew Ayres won the role and was so affected by
it that he became a pacifist and jeopardized his career by claiming
conscientious objector status in WWII.His brave service as a medic helped regain much good will from the
public.Milestone had learned filmmaking
in the Signal Corps during WWI.He knew
what war looked like from editing war footage.He recreated no man’s land on a ranch in California.Shell holes were blasted with dynamite and
then filled with muddy rain water.A
French village was built on a back lot and included a canal that was dug for
the swimming scene.Twenty tons of black
powder and ten tons of dynamite were used for the battle scenes.One explosion resulted in Milestone being hit
by debris and knocked unconscious.2,000
extras were found in California by requesting help from American Legion
posts.The US Army could not provide
soldiers because American doughboys could not appear in foreign uniforms on
film.The 99 day shoot was double the
planned 48.The $.9 million budget
boomed to $1.4 million.It paid off as
the movie was a smashing success and won the Best Picture Oscar.Milestone won Best Director and the film was
nominated for Writing and Cinematography.It was ranked #54 on AFIs original list of the 100 greatest movies, but
did not make the revised list issued in 2007!(See below for the list of war movies that made the list.)It was not a smashing success in Nazi
Germany, a country Remarque had been forced to flee for his life.At its premiere, Goebbels had the Brown
Shirts release mice, stink bombs, and sneezing powder to clear the theater.The movie was pulled after a week and not
shown again in Germany until 1952 ( the year Remarque returned to his homeland
).
OPENING:A title card:“This story is neither an accusation nor a confession and least of all
not an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face
with it.It will try simply to tell of a
generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were
destroyed by the war…”(This is the
opening to the book and previews the fact that the movie follows the book
closely.)It seems to be an adventure as
the opening scene has enthusiastic soldiers march through a German town to
cheers from the populace.In a high
school classroom, Kantorek (Arnold Lucy) harangues his charges about their duty
to the Fatherland.They are “the iron
men of Germany, the gay heroes who will repulse the enemy…”The camera pans to the boys’ faces as each
imagines what enlistment will mean.One
visualizes his heartbroken mother and his proud father.Another sees himself riding in a parade
sandwiched between two babes.(Milestone
cut several other imaginings including Paul working at home on his writing and
being torn between it and the army.)Peer pressure and the band wagon effect have the boys enlisting en
masse.Added bonus:no more school!
SUMMARY:Exit class, enter training center.The boys-now-men naively look forward to
combat, but the arrival of their ex-postman Himmelstoss (John Wray) throws cold
mud in their faces.He gives the typical
denigrating speech where he calls them stupid and tells them to forget everything
they know.“I’ll take the mother’s milk
out of you.I’ll make you
hard-boiled.I’ll make soldiers out of
you or kill you.”Having never seen a
war movie drill sergeant (since they had not been invented until this movie),
they consider Himmelstoss’ tough training methods to be outrageous.(Milestone cut two scenes fleshing out
Himmelstoss’ pettiness.For example,
Paul and Albert cleaning the floors with toothbrushes.)Especially the trips to “the muddy field”.Revenge involves a caning and a mud
puddle.They don’t bother to thank
Himmelstoss for hardening them for the front.
The
muddy field does not prepare them for the chaos and death which awaits them the
moment they exit the train.They are
thrust in with some veterans who sneer about newbies being “fresh from the
turnip patch”.Making his grand entrance
with a purloined hog comes the first scrounger in war movie history.Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim) also doubles as
the crusty non-com who actually runs the unit.He questions why they left school.They will too - shortly.Kat
shepherds them on their first taste which is a routine wiring detail in no
man’s land at night.The lorrie driver tells
them:“If there any of you left, I’ll
pick you up in the morning.”A close
shell causes one of them to crap his pants – you don’t see that kind of realism
in modern war movies.The same soldier
(Behn – the most reluctant of Kantorek’s boys) is the first to die.He overemotes to death.
In
a claustrophobic dugout scene, the crew undergoes a bombardment (and a rat
assault) and several of the new guys exhibit shell shock.Kimmerich (Ben Alexander) panics and ends up
in the hospital.He passes on and passes
on his awesome boots.They are so
comfortable that the men dismiss the cursed nature of them as a running theme
has them being passed from soldier to soldier.
The
big battle scene is one of the greatest in war movie history.I show it in my classes to prepare them for
their letter from the trenches of WWI.A
panning shot of the German trench is intercut with views of no man’s land.A rolling barrage is followed by a wave of
French poilu reaching the Germans in spite of the staccato rhythm and results
of the Hun machine guns.Emphasis on
machine.Milestone takes advantage of
the pre-Victorian Production Code to show the iconic severed hands on the
barbed wire visual.This also explains
the hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and entrenching tools.Retreat, counterbarrage, counterattack,
withdrawal.Result =lots of dead men + no territorial
change.WWI in a nut shell.
One
advantage of fifty percent casualties is the survivors get double rations of
beans and sausages from a REMF cook.War
wouldn’t be so bad if it were not for the death.The après-dinner discussion of war is cynically
pacifistic.
How do they start a war?
One country
offends another.
How can one
country offend another?You mean there’s
a mountain over in Germany that gets mad at a field in France?
No.One people offend another.
Oh, I shouldn’t
be here at all.I don’t feel offended.
Kat concludes the discussion with his opinion
that the Kaiser’s got everything he needs, but he never had a war.Every leader needs to have a war and it
benefits the manufacturers.“It’s a kind
of fever – no one wants it, but suddenly here it is.”He makes the common sense suggestion that the
leaders of the opposing sides meet in their underwear in a field with clubs.
Guess
what despised ex-drill master shows up at the front?Himmelstoss’ by the book authority trip is jeered
at by his former pupils.“Take a run and
jump at yourself”.If this were Vietnam,
he would be frag-bait.In the next
battle, Himmelstoss overcomes a bout of cowardice with rote obedience to
command.Paul survives a bombardment by
taking refuge in a grave and then has his encounter with the Frenchman in the
shell crater.It seems all the soldiers
are human beings in spite of having different colored uniforms.Paul:“You’re dead, but you’re better off than me.”
Lew Ayres and the only cast member who does not chew the scenery
An
interlude with some madmoiselles (sex for bread and sausage) is followed by
Albert (those cursed boots!) and Paul being wounded and sent to a
hospital.After surviving the “dying
room”, Paul gets to visit the clueless home front.He doesn’t fit in and is repulsed by the
armchair generaling by his father and his blathering friends.(Milestone cut a scene where Paul is berated
by an officer for not properly saluting.)A visit to Kantorek finds him recruiting more “iron men of Germany”.Paul’s impromptu guest speaker stint ends with
hisses from the future fodder as he tells it like it is.“We live in the trenches. We fight. Sometimes
we get killed.That’s all.”(Milestone cut Paul’s awkward visit with
Kimmerich’s mother where he lies and tells her he died painlessly.)
Paul gives his sausage to a French girl
CLOSING:Paul returns to his real home to find that only
Tjaden and Kat are still around. He goes to find Kat on a failed scrounging
expedition.An incredibly accurate
sniper plane picks out the pair and drops a bomb that wounds Kat in the
shin.Paul is carrying Kat to the aid
station when the bastard drops another bomb that kills Kat.Paul does not know this until the medic tells
him his friend is “stone dead”.Later,
as the war approaches its end, Paul notices a butterfly (he collected
butterflies as a kid) and upon reaching for it, he is killed by a French sniper
(who is the vengeance minded brother of the guy he stabbed in the shell
crater.Oops, spoiler alert- that is the
plot twist in the upcoming new Hollywood version of the movie).By the way, Milestone came up with the ending (the book is vague as to what happens to Paul)
after principal filming ended so he used his own arm for the scene.
WOULD
CHICKS DIG IT?If they are war movie
fans, certainly.It is a classic and set
the template for all future war movies.It
is well balanced and covers more than just soldier stuff.It even has five female speaking roles!Although three are French and not
subtitled.You can figure out what the
girls are saying, however.The combat is
not graphic or bloody.The language is
tame as is to be expected for a film from that time period.If your significant other is not a war movie
fan, they still might enjoy it.In fact,
I would imagine women might tolerate the overemoting more than most guys.
HISTORICAL
ACCURACY:Obviously “All Quiet” is
not a true story.However, Remarque was
a German infantryman during the Great War and all of the incidents in the film
are realistic and most were probably based on incidents in Remarque’s
experiences.The film has a great deal
of verisimilitude.
The
opening public enthusiasm is appropriate for people who had not had a dose of
Hell since the Franco-Prussian War thirty years earlier.The way young men were manipulated by the
authorities to go to war is a major theme.(It is important to note that if the script had been reversed and the
boys were Americans, the movie never would have been made.)The training scenes are realistic, if
softened.The Himmelstoss of the book is
harsher and closer to the Prussian style. The dynamic between the new
replacements and the hardened veterans is appropriate and could be from any war
and any country (and any war movie).
You
can learn a lot about soldier life in WWI from this movie.The movie is especially strong in its
depiction of soldier camaraderie.The
bonds are forged in the furnace of the trenches.The film throws in numerous details of the
hardships the soldiers endured.It hits
many of the “lacks”:food, female
companionship,sleep, hygiene
The
wiring detail is a nice touch and reenacts a common WWI duty that is seldom
depicted.The dugout bombardment scene
is well done and gets the claustrophobia and stress right.The movie only implies that this situation
could last for up to a week and it is not surprising that some of the new
soldiers cracked.As far as the rat
assault, this is an effective cameo from a creature that was a major nuisance
in the trenches.Speaking of critters,
there is an appearance by the ubiquitous lice.
One
could carp a bit about the rather too pristine hospital scene with the amputee
Kimmerich, but the reality of wound mortality is accurate.The combat set pieces are the highlights of
the film.Although understandably
truncated, you can not ask for a more accurate depiction of the insanity of
trench warfare.Where “Paths of Glory” showed
the suicidal nature of many attacks, “All Quiet” concentrates on the
attack/counterattack nature of the tactics.The audience is left to wonder what was the purpose of attacks that did
not change the situation and yet resulted in terrible casualties.
Just
as important is how Paul’s return home reflects the detachment of the populace
from the realities of the war.Paul is
your typical soldier who finds his home to be a surrealistic reflection of a
bygone life that he has trouble remembering ever existed.It seems he is more comfortable in the dugout
with his new family. The mattress in
Paul’s bedroom is too soft.The
butterfly collection seems childish.The
old men, representing the powers that shipped the “iron youth” off to war, are
clueless about the actual status of the war.Just like in every war before and since.
CRITIQUE:“All Quiet” is a technical marvel and Milestone
belongs on the Mount Rushmore of war movie directors just for this movie alone.(He also made “A Walk in the Sun” and “Pork
Chop Hill”.)It is the kind of film
where you notice the cinematographic flourishes in a positive way. Milestone
has a penchant for framing scenes through doorways and windows.This tends to detach the audience or the main
characters from the exterior events.This is apparent from the opening scene where we see the parade through
a doorway and then we transition to Kantorek’s class as the parade passes
by.Milestone then has the fired-up boys
marching out to join the war.The battle
scenes include a variety of shots.There
is a magnificent panning shot over the trench intercut with views of no man’s
land.We even get some POV which was
rare for films from that era.The
interplay of the machine gun mowing down the wave of French does a chilling job
of depicting modern mechanized warfare.The
most memorable sight is of the French soldiers leaping into the trench.The most commendable aspect of the combat
scenes is the sound effects.For a movie
in the transitional stage from silent to sound, it is amazing how they got the
sound of the explosions so indelibly real.The sets also bear lauding.No
man’s land looks appropriately hellish.The village built for the movie is perfect.The dugout shows a real attention to mise en
scene.The enormous $1.4 million budget
was well spent.By the way, none of the
budget was spent of a soundtrack as Milestone felt it would trivialize the
plot.The lack of the usual sappy,
prod-your-emotions score of most black and white movies is a big plus.
The
main flaw in the movie and the main reason why I had disappointing results from
showing it to students is the elements that reflect the carryover from the
silent era.This is mainly reflected in
the acting which tends to be hammy.Some
of the actors’ facial contortions and scenery chewing are distracting.This is particularly apparent in highly
charged scenes like the one where Paul is stuck in the shell crater with the
Frenchman he stabbed.Speaking of which,
Lew Ayres is a weak link in the cast.He
is not up to the role and is either too passive or is too histrionic.Most of the rest of the cast also behave as
though they were told they were making a silent movie.Only a few seem comfortable with the new “talkie”
style of restrained acting.Wolheim
(Kat) and Summerville (Tjaden) take the acting honors.Interestingly, playing veterans, they seem
more comfortable in soldier’s boots.The
dialogue is not part of the acting problem.It is actually not bad and has an appropriate dose of cynicism and
soldier humor.This is undoubtedly due
to the fact that much of the dialogue comes from the book and Remarque knew how
soldiers talked.
The
acting keeps the film from being great entertainment.On the other hand, the themes make it an
important war movie.The movie is a good
retelling of the most significant war novel ever written.You do not have to read Remarque’s novel to
get his messages.The movie does that
for the audience.Remarque clearly
intended to write an anti-war testament and the movie passes this on
admirably.It has been said that all war
movies are anti-war.I disagree with
this, but “All Quiet” has got to be one of the most unambiguous examples of
this theory.The movie is much deeper
than “war sucks”.It also posits that
the soldier age generation was betrayed by the establishment (teachers,
fathers, generals).A third theme is
that the soldiers were the same no matter the side.This was hammered at in the shell crater
scene.The scene with the French women
expands this theme.A corollary to this
is the soldier discussions that emphasize that soldiers don’t have a clue about
what war is all about and why they are fighting.The cynicism and disillusionment that effect
soldiers because of the incompetence and pomposity of leadership are
effectively depicted.
CONCLUSION:If you have followed this blog, the revelation that
“All Quiet” finished #1 has probably not come as a surprise.Military History magazine did not go out on a
limb with this choice.It’s not like
naming Jennifer Aniston the sexiest woman ever.And the choice confirms my often stated theory that the panel read
“greatest” as meaning “most important”.If that is true, then there was no other choice for #1.“All Quiet” is the king of war movies.In many ways it created the genre as we know
it, although it is not the first war movie.You could argue it was the first anti-war movie.Hollywood took a while to evolve to clearly
anti-war movies.Before U.S. entered the
war, most war films advocated neutrality.Then they supported preparedness (The Battle Cry of Peace).Once we entered, the movies favored
intervention.In the Twenties, Hollywood
depicted the war as an adventure (What Price Glory?, Wings, The Big Parade).By the end of the decade, books like “All
Quiet” steered the industry toward cynicism and thus it is the granddaddy of
movies like “Platoon”.More important,
the movie established many of the tropes that define war movies.The comradeship and bonding of soldiers at
the front.The detachment from the home
front.The clueless leaders.The crusty veterans.The officer who lets power go to his
head.The friends who go to war together
and evolve into experienced soldiers until they die.Specifically, it created the subgenre of “who
will survive?”It’s a testament to the
greatness of the book/movie that the deaths are not predictable and are so
memorable.
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