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All Quiet on the Western Front [Limited Edition Digibook] [1930] [Blu-ray]

Lew Ayres , Louis Wolheim , Lewis Milestone    Suitable for 12 years and over   Blu-ray
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
Price: £17.07 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

All Quiet on the Western Front [Limited Edition Digibook] [1930] [Blu-ray] + To Kill a Mockingbird [Blu-ray] [1962] + The Last of the Mohicans [Blu-ray] [1992] [Region Free]
Price For All Three: £37.34

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Product details

  • Actors: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Slim Summerville
  • Directors: Lewis Milestone
  • Language: English
  • Subtitles: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Cantonese Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Mandarin Chinese
  • Dubbed: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese
  • Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: English
  • Audio Description: None
  • Region: Region B/2 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 12
  • Studio: Universal Pictures UK
  • DVD Release Date: 13 Feb 2012
  • Run Time: 127 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B006TVUVEE
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 34,635 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

This 1930 film, No 54 on the AFI's Top 100 list, still holds up as a surprisingly forceful and honest antiwar drama. Indeed, the modern sensibility is almost as startling as the sometime stagy acting of Lew Ayres, which can be excused by the fact that, three years after the introduction of sound, actors were still applying stage techniques to talking pictures. Ayres plays a German college student during World War I, who is brainwashed into enlisting in the Army (along with the rest of his class) by a zealously inspirational college professor. Once in uniform and on the front lines, however, he quickly discovers that the glory of the Fatherland is of little concern to a soldier dodging bullets and explosions, whose comrades are dying in his arms. As powerful in its way as Platoon almost 60 years later, All Quiet on the Western Front remains a classic tale of young soldiers' confrontations with the possibility of imminent and arbitrary death. Director Lewis Milestone shows a surprising range of techniques in this film from the formative years of moviemaking with sound. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

Lewis Milestone's epic screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel stars Lew Ayres as one of a group of German teenagers who enlist for World War I after hearing a stirring speech from their professor. They soon discover that war is less about noble ideas and sacrifice than it is about pain, humiliation, suffering and death. Winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1930.


Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
90 of 92 people found the following review helpful
By Trevor Willsmer HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
NB: As is Amazon's Wont, they've very unhelpfully bundled all the reviews for various editions and formats together.

There's a reason that Lewis Milestone's All Quiet On the Western Front is still the best remembered of all the many films about the horrors of the First World War despite rarely being revived on television: it really IS a great and often very moving film that plants itself firmly in the memory. While WW1 movies had been gradually moving into darker territory as the silent era came to an end, perhaps only J'Accuse had dealt with the bitter disillusionment so many felt at the time quite so graphically. In that, All Quiet was aided at the time by having its lost generation on the losing side - British, French and American films would deal with the horrors of trench life but would still regard them as a price worth paying for victory. It would not be until the 1960s that futility on both sides would become the cinematic norm.

Filmed on a truly epic scale with a striking visual fluidity that was still unusual for an early talkie thanks to Arthur Edeson's pioneering cinematography, after the initial establishing scenes there's no real story, simply a succession of incidents as its group of schoolboy recruits are gradually killed off. As impressive as these incidents are, the film wouldn't be nearly as effective if the characters didn't convince, and the film is anchored by a superb lead performance from Lew Ayres as the idealistic young schoolboy who gradually becomes a shell of his former self, with excellent support from Louis Wolheim as the old soldier who takes him and his friends under his wing. Wisely replacing the flashback structure of Erich Maria Remarque's book with a chronological narrative, rather than introducing the characters as the cynical survivors they become, the film gradually shows their idealism worn away. While the attack and counter-attack sequences are still incredibly vivid, breathtakingly edited and surprisingly violent - in one memorable shot an explosion leaves only a pair of severed hands clinging to barbed wire - the real horror almost seems to be the way the characters adapt to their dehumanising conditions at the front to such an extent that they no longer fit in at home when they do get leave. It becomes impossible to imagine a life after the war so completely have they been consumed by it.

Ironically the film's most famous scene is nowhere to be found in the novel. Remarque never describes the final death: his body is simply discovered, appearing to be at peace. Milestone opted for something more explicitly powerful, but not without much trial and error. After at least seven scripted versions had been rejected, another ending of Paul hallucinating of French and German troops marching into the same grave and crying out in anguish before being shot by a sniper had been filmed but satisfied no-one - the studio wanted a happy ending (Milestone jokingly suggested having the Germans win!) while Milestone hated the rushes: it was cinematographer Karl Freund who suggested that the ending should be `as simple as a butterfly.' Hastily shot by Freund with Milestone's own hand standing in for Ayres, the iconic scene would become one of cinema's most enduring moments. Yet perhaps even more moving is the film's closing shot of the boys marching up the line to death, their faces superimposed over their graves as they look back at the camera and the audience without life and without hope. It still packs an incredible emotional punch more than three-quarters of a century later.

It's a shame there isn't a documentary to accompany the film on DVD or Blu-ray, as the film's history is fascinating (Andrew Kelly's book Filming All Quiet On the Western Front gives an excellent account). Numerous scenes were reshot with different cast members - ZaSu Pitts' scenes as Paul's mother were reshot with Beryl Mercer because Pitts had just had a comedy on release and the studio were afraid audiences would laugh when they saw her - while the film was exhibited in both sound and silent versions. Future directors Fred Zinnemann and Robert Parrish were extras in the film while an uncredited George Cukor was the film's dialogue coach. The film was banned in several countries in Europe before WW2 (New Zealand was the first country to ban it, on the bizarre grounds that it was `not entertainment' and therefore `unsuitable for public exhibition'!) and attacked by McCarthy as Communist propaganda after it when he included the Russian-born Milestone in his list of the 19 most `dangerous' subversives in the film industry.

The film's German premiere was disrupted by the Nazis, who even released mice in the theatre and organized several days of riots that successfully got the film banned in Germany to `preserve public order.' Over the subsequent years music was added to some scenes and the film was heavily cut with each reissue, even turned into an anti-Nazi pro-war propaganda film in 1939 by the judicious deletion of certain scenes and the addition of newsreel footage of Nazi rallies and book-burnings. Yet ironically the film's restoration was largely based on the longest surviving print, which had been found in Joseph Goebbels private collection - while he publicly attacked the film, he genuinely admired its artistry.

The version on DVD is still missing a few minutes of footage, some of which has been subsequently restored to 35mm prints and the Blu-ray release, but it's still well worth picking up. However, if you have a Blu-ray player, the BD version is definitely the way to go: the sound version is some two minutes longer and the improvement in picture quality is astonishing. It also includes the silent version, which uses some alternate takes and different edits, as well as a reissue trailer, brief introduction by Robert Osborne and a couple of anniversary featurettes on universal Pictures. The limited first edition also come in a handsome hardback digibook with booklet featuring rare stills and telegrams.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally,the release this film deserves. 16 Feb 2012
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
I remember seeing this film on bbc as a young child.Ever since then,this film has always been one of my favourites.I vividly remember one sequance from the television showing.After returning from a lightning raid in to French lines,a group of German soldiers break open and share a bottle of cognac.Years later i bought this film on vhs.The sound was very muffled,the picture flickery,and the scene of the soldiers drinking the cognac was not there.Later i upgraded to dvd and bought a region 1 copy of this film.The picture and sound was a lot clearer and their was a moment showing one of the soldiers drinking from the cognac bottle.Now this film has been released on blu-ray and what a treat it is.This is the version of the film i have been waiting for since that television showing in 1969.The picture is crystal clear and sharp,the sound clear without any noise or hiss,and the missing sequance in the film.There are also many other brief moments inthis version which i have not seen elsewhere before.Obviously a lot of time and effort has gone in to remastering and cleaning up the film.This is the best version of all quiet on the western front that we are likely to get.The digi book is a treat,as are the extras on the disc.The film has lost none of it"s power and impact after 80 years.If anything,blu ray only adds to the power of the film with it"s clarity and sharpness.Thank you universal for giving us this release and treating the film as the masterpiece it is.T o update my earlier review,i have just been comparing this version directly with the dvd copy i have.The difference is amazing.My dvd copy is flickery,muffled and hazy compared to the crystal clear clarity of the blu-ray edition.If their was any argument for upgrading to blu-ray,then this film is it.To fully appreciate this film as the masterpiece it is,then i encourage you to see it on blu-ray.
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89 of 93 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars best war (anti war) film ever 15 May 2005
Format:DVD
I first saw this film many years ago and was immediately taken in by its pure genius . Written and acted way way before its time. What first strikes you is the difference in attitude from then to now. All brainwashed by a patriotic teacher the characters go together to fight in the trenches of ww1. thinking themselves doing the right thing and truly believing that it is going to be one big adventure and that they will all return as heroes to the flag waving public.the boys soon find out at training camp that it is no picnic. So eventually its off to war and greeted by old warhorses who soon teach them that life on the front line is dog eat dog. Scrapping for the last morsal, for days pinned down by shelling from enemy lines . Death affects every one of them as friends dissappear or die.The most touching part is after an assault on french enemy lines the main character has to spend the night in a shell crater when losing his platoon stranded in no mans land.The nignt is not spent alone, a french soldier he has killed lies there looking at him all night.an ending you dont expect shows there is no glory in war.Although made in 1930 the film is superbly acted and very atmospheric.No plastic explosions to hide weak story lines that many films of today must have to hide their lack of content. and much better than the remake with richard thomas made in the eighties. Had this film been created and released today no one else would have to turn up at the oscars. Your war collection will only be complete when this is purchased for your collection..
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Film
Highly recommended. Classic interpretation of the tragic waste of life. Watch it and learn. It will sink into your soul.
Published 1 month ago by T. G. Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Hits Home.
A stomach-churning voyage into the First World War - you would wonder how our great grandparents survived the physical and mental strain of it all Highly recommended as a reminder... Read more
Published 3 months ago by E. Edgar-Dimmack
5.0 out of 5 stars gut wrenching
quite a fantastic film made in the 1930s it couldnt be better made today it really is a movie classic if you have never seen this film please buy it now
Published 4 months ago by crewestew
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant restoration of a truly devastating film
(This review refers to the Blu-Ray 2012 release) Universal is to be congratulated on the amount of love and care they have afforded the restoration of this all-time greatest war... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Andrew Birkin
4.0 out of 5 stars Should it be forgotten?
The book as well as the film defies words.

No other comment, however you press me to wrte more words!
Published 5 months ago by anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars Who would want to go to WAR after watching this !!!!
Should be compulsive viewing for anyone who thinks that war is glorious . The message is dark , stark and delivered

without fuss. It is simply stunningly brilliant.
Published 5 months ago by Green Boy
5.0 out of 5 stars All Quiet on The Western Front Blu-ray
Surprisingly All Quiet on The Western Front 1930 (Blu-ray) does not feature in the critics BFI 2012 list of greatest ever films, even though it is undoubtedly one of the best anti... Read more
Published 7 months ago by David Welford
5.0 out of 5 stars Film Gets Five Stars. A Hit and Miss Blu Ray, Though.
All Quiet on The Western Front, the 1930 Academy Award winning film, based on Eric Maria Remarque's 1929 anti-war novel of the same name. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Fox in the Box
5.0 out of 5 stars And suddenly, it went all quiet.
It's fairly common for novel-movie adaptations to, quite literally, fail before a release has made it to the theatres, and the same can even be said for remakes (Colin Farell's... Read more
Published 11 months ago by TC Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing digibook and movie
One of the greatest movies ever, wonderful restauration, incredible quality, a master piece. Universal is doing it perfect for its 100th anniversary.
Published 11 months ago by TheWalrus
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