October 11 - All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

This movie has a scene that happens today – October 11. I hope you will enjoy this movie while watching it tonight.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1979)

During World War I German army soldier Paul Baumer and his comrades endure a French attack on their trenches and then they launch their own assault on the French lines. Paul’s friend Franz Kemmerich is wounded and later dies in the hospital. Paul thinks back to how their high school teacher Kantorek indoctrinated his students in the superiority of German culture and devotion to duty. The entire class enlists in the army and is sent for training under the sadistic Corporal Himmelstoss. When they board their train for the front, another train arrives carrying wounded soldiers back from the fighting.  Stanislaus Katczinsky, an old hand is assigned to their squad and he teaches them what they really need to know to survive at the front. Paul and his friends endure a hell of rats, poison gas and endless mud in the trenches. Paul has to confront death face to face when he has to spend the night trapped in a shell hole with a dying French soldier.  Himmelstoss appears as the commander of some new recruits, but Paul’s squad no longer lets him intimidate them. Indeed Paul later pushes Himmelstoss to stay on the offensive during an attack.  The Kaiser inspects their unit, pinning medals on some of the troops. Paul and two of his pals visit a brothel. In a spate of urban fighting Paul is wounded and later sent home on leave. He learns his mother is dying of cancer. Paul cannot connect to the older men left in the town, who have no idea of what he has been through. He lies to  Kemmerich’s mother telling her he was killed instantly. Back at the front  Katczinsky is wounded and even though Paul carries him miles to a field hospital, Katczinsky dies of his wounds. On October 11, 1918, [2:02:18 to 2:06:23] Baumer is killed by a sniper. The German Army’s official communiqué for the day simply reads “All quiet on the Western Front”. 

A powerful anti-war film. Tries to show the true nature of warfare. The films shows there is no glory in combat, only death and destruction.

Date given in film at 2:06:15

Producer -  Norman Rosemont

Director - Delbert Mann

Awards – The film won the Outstanding Film Editing for a Mimi-series or Special

                 Emmy at the 32^nd Primetime Emmy awards.

Screenplay - Paul Monash

Runtime – 2 hours 30 minutes(directors cut) / 2 hours 9 minutes (theatrical release)

  

Released - November 14, 1979

Starring –

Richard Thomas as Paul Baumer

Ernest Borgnine as Stanislaus Katczinsky

Donald Pleasence as Kantorek

Ian Holm as Himmelstoss

Patricia Neal as Paul’s Mother

Paul-Mark Elliott as Josef Behm

Dai Bradley as Albert Kropp

Matthew Evans as Friedrich Muller

George Winter as Franz Kemmerich

Dominic Jephcott as Peter Leer

Mark Drewry as Tjaden

Colin Mayes as Westhus

Ewan Stewart as Detering

Michael Sheard as Paul’s Father

Katerina Lirova as Paul’s Sister

Mary Miller as Mrs. Kemmerich