Overview
A haunting portrayal of the horrors of war through the eyes of young soldiers.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- harrowing
- bleak
- somber
- serious historical viewing
- classic cinema study
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Lewis Milestone's adaptation as a brilliantly directed, emotionally powerful anti-war classic distinguished by immersive battlefield realism and Lew Ayres's performance.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The German recruits lose their idealized notions of patriotism as battlefield death and mutilation become their daily reality.
The film places viewers amid trenches, shell craters, artillery, and close-range violence rather than presenting combat as spectacle.
Schoolboys persuaded to enlist by a jingoistic teacher confront the gulf between patriotic rhetoric and military reality.
Paul Bäumer's relationships with Katczinsky and the other young recruits shape the film's intimate view of the front.
Films like All Quiet on the Western Front, and why
Paths of Glory
shared anti-war perspective, battlefield realism, youthful soldiers, and harrowing depiction of military brutality
Saving Private Ryan
shared immersive combat staging, tragic wartime humanism, and focus on soldiers rather than heroic spectacle
The Human Condition
shared pacifist themes, disillusionment, and emotionally devastating treatment of young men consumed by war
1917
shared World War I setting, doomed comradeship, and bleak critique of patriotic militarism
Movie Details
- Director
- Lewis Milestone
- Release Date
- 1930-04-29
- Runtime
- 133 min
- Rating
- 7.8 / 10 (976)
Cast
- Louis Wolheim
- Lew Ayres
- John Wray
- Arnold Lucy
- Ben Alexander
- Scott Kolk
- Owen Davis Jr.
- Walter Rogers
- William Bakewell
- Russell Gleason
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is All Quiet on the Western Front about?
- Young German recruits enter World War I believing in patriotic glory and discover only exhaustion, mutilation, grief, and the machinery of futile violence.
- What is All Quiet on the Western Front like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of All Quiet on the Western Front as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is All Quiet on the Western Front violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in All Quiet on the Western Front as graphic.
- What did critics think of All Quiet on the Western Front?
- Critics broadly regard Lewis Milestone's adaptation as a brilliantly directed, emotionally powerful anti-war classic distinguished by immersive battlefield realism and Lew Ayres's performance.
- Which films are like All Quiet on the Western Front?
- Films with a similar feel include Paths of Glory, Saving Private Ryan, The Human Condition, and 1917.
- How long is All Quiet on the Western Front?
- All Quiet on the Western Front runs 133 minutes.
- Where can I watch All Quiet on the Western Front?
- In United States, All Quiet on the Western Front streams on fuboTV.
