All Quiet on the Western Front

TV Movie
1979
PG
2h 30m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

11K

YOUR RATING

The German World War I epic based on the classic novel won seven BAFTA Awards in 2023, including Best Film and Best Director and is nominated for a staggering nine Oscars. This "Shot for Shot" supercut compares the three definitive adaptations of 'All Quiet on the Western Front.' The 1930 version won Best Picture and Lewis Milestone won Best Director at the 1930 Academy Awards, while the 1979 TV Movie iteration won an Emmy Award for Editing. Will the 2022 film continue the award-winning streak?

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Watch Shot for Shot: All Quiet on the Western Front

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57 Photos

Drama War

A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Director
- Delbert Mann
Writers
- Paul Monash
- Erich Maria Remarque
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

11K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Delbert Mann
Writers
- Paul Monash
- Erich Maria Remarque
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total

Trivia
Filmed largely in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, one of the first US/UK productions to be shot in a Communist country.

Goofs
The Kaiser is not wearing the correct decorations. Apart from the fact that he is wearing ribbons rather than medals (Wilhelm II generally preferred medals to ribbons), one can actually see two of those ribbons sporting swastika-bearing eagles - clearly recycled props from a WW II movie.

Quotes
Paul Baumer: [to a dying Frenchman] If we threw away the guns, the grenades... We could have been brothers, but they never want us to know that.

Alternate versions
The DVD release is the edited version which was shown in European theaters in the early 80s. Approximately 20 minutes of footage was cut from the original Hallmark Hall of Fame production which aired on American TV in 1979, including two scenes immediately following the award ceremony: the soldiers discuss the causes of the war in their billet while Himmelstoss listens in icy silence, and Paul and his friends admire and make lewd comments about a pretty girl on a theater poster. Also, the scene of Paul carrying the wounded Kat to the dressing station is greatly reduced, eliminating the rest stop and conversation in which Paul tries to give Kat his address.

Connections
Edited into Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)

User reviews104

Review

Featured review

Not a remake, it is its own story.

Many people make the mistake of thinking of this movie as a remake of the 1930 film classic. In reality, both movies are a visual telling of the 1929 novel by the same name; at different points in time. This 1979 film is just a retelling of that story, and it's obvious from its differences from the 1930 film. Personally I like this version better...it's not overacted, it was filmed on location, it has a musical score, and it has a feeling of reality to it that the 1930 film just doesn't seem to have. No matter how many times I've watched it, the end always leaves me feeling as if I had been a part of the story and its effects linger with my being. Thanks Richard Thomas and crew