I got the opportunity to watch this on Netflix this past weekend. Wow, very powerful. Disturbing like it was supposed to be. There are sequences of action which rival the first 28 minutes of Private Ryan — and they are spread through film. Moments of shear terror separated by periods of boredom
The film was made in Germany with a German director and most of the cast. It was dubbed into English, but it was hardly noticeable. Text and French language were shown in subtitles.
The photography was well done. The calm and pastoral fields, mountains and snowy farms were in stark contrast with the shell-fire, mud, blood and death that was WWI trench warfare. It is recommended, but not for kids – nightmare material
I know I’ve seen the 1930 Lew Ayres version, but this one is superb
If that’s the case I’ll have to find the German language verison. I was looking forward to watching it today or tomorrow but not now. I dislike dubbed movies and even more so now that I’ve learned a fair amount of German in the past year and was looking forward to testing out what I have learned.
I’ve read the original book in German and it is a powerful statement…
I always joke: “Remember, the main characters of the book are called Katshinski (Kaczyński) and Lewandowski, so the book has a very strong Polish note…”
I remember my Grandpa telling me how his father recalled the trench warfare under Verdun, so you see, WWI really left no family unaffected…
Would be cool to watch the movie in German. No more war!
I watched both of the earlier movies and it’s a powerful story. I don’t have netflix so maybe someday a disc will show up.
A section of the trenches and some of the tunnels from WWI are being uncovered and preserved. The cave system the English used is being studied and some names have been found on the rock walls, Tolkien being one.
As they go through some of the trenches they still find a skeleton now and then that had been used to shore up the walls. Bad way to fight a war.
I will have to check that out. When I saw Saning Private Ryan I had flashbacks and nightmares for a week. As a 4 time cambat vet things like that happenes from time to time. I learned to deal with it over time but it still happens. So I will cautously check that out. Thanks for the recomendation.
We watched it this last weekend and it was not dubbed in english! they only had the sub titles witch you can ignore
John
EdGrune
The film was made in Germany with a German director and most of the cast. It was dubbed into English, but it was hardly noticeable. Text and French language were shown in subtitles.
If that’s the case I’ll have to find the German language verison. I was looking forward to watching it today or tomorrow but not now. I dislike dubbed movies and even more so now that I’ve learned a fair amount of German in the past year and was looking forward to testing out what I have learned.
You would never have gotten my Father to watch Western Front or Ryan. You couldn’t get him to watch Hogan’s Heroes or any of the serious war TV shows or movies from the 50s on up to the time he finally died.
I don’t watch violent movies and TV shows myself with very few exceptions.
I watched it Saturday afternoon and disliked it immensely. If it wasn’t titled after the book you wouldn’t know it was the same movie. The movie was missing the key themes of the book such as innocence destroyed by war and estrangement from civilian life.
It seems this movie is only trying to amaze the watcher with a graphic depiction of war and nothing else. You don’t get any attachment to any of characters and the tragedy of war.
I don’t know what anyone was thinking with the soundtrack it was horrible.
I will stick with the book and 1930’s and 1979 movie.
Greysnake, I agree 100%. It seems like they took the title and the names of the characters, then ignored the plot, character development, and a lot of the nuance, then threw in some gore and said “see, war is hell.” I thought the 1930 original was fantastic and much more nuanced. as was the book (I just read it recently again). I thought the new story was too disjointed and was more a series of vignettes rather than a coherent story of war and its impact on the participants.
I remember seeing the Richard Thomas/Ernest Borgnine version as a kid, but I had trouble associating Paul Baumer with John Boy. I do want to see it again to give it a fairer shot.
If you want to watch a good WW I movie, go with 1917, the 1930 version of All Quiet on the Western Front, or Paths of Glory. If you are interested in the air war, I highly recommend the Dawn Patrol (there are two versions, the 1930 version with Douglas Fairbanks and Neil Hamilton of Batman fame is best, but the 1938 Errol Flynn version is a decent remake) or a lesser know Eagle and the Hawk with Cary Grant. I caught Eagle and the Hawk in a 10-pack of war movies and was greatly impressed, it’s well worth a watch. I also recommend Hell’s Angels from 1927.