You can't see the faces of the men dying at the front. You can see the guns, the tanks, the gas attacks, even the flames from the flame throwers, but the men are anonymous, seen from behind, or from afar, or rushing past as they go over the top. You can also see the civilians at home, the fighting there, for a better place on queue, or a doctor trying to tend to a sick woman.
Then you can see the faces of the soldiers. One in particular, a man reading a letter from home and crying over the the death of his son. Then its time to go on the attack, and the faces vanish again, until a shell lands and kills. Then you can see the faces of the death.
Director Curtis Bernhardt had a long career, both in Germany and in America, whither he fled in the lead-up to the second world war. He specialized in horror and the terrors of film noir. Here are some of their roots.
