All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)
Encyclopedia
All Quiet on the Western Front is a television movie
produced by ITC Entertainment
, released on November 14, 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas
from The Waltons
fame as Paul Baumer, and Ernest Borgnine
as Katczinsky. It is based on the book
of the same title by Erich Maria Remarque
.
The 1979 film was directed by Delbert Mann
; though the acting of some of the performers was praised, the general opinion of most movie fans is it failed to equal the 1930 film directed by Lewis Milestone
. Nevertheless, the film has its share of tension and death, and in the spirit of the novel
, manages to convey a sense of desolation, hardship, and waste. Late in the film, the turmoil and wretchedness of the main character, Paul Baumer, is manifest in his extreme disassociation while home on furlough.
Most of the movie was filmed in Czechoslovakia
in what was one of the first US/UK produced films to be shot in a Communist Bloc
country.
enlists in the Imperial German Army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher (Donald Pleasance) as to the glory and superiority of German
culture. After surviving training camp under the sadistic
Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm
), the enthusiastic young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with wounded returning soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of a pragmatic, yet good-natured older soldier, Stanislaus Katzinsky, called "Kat" (Ernest Borgnine
). Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to catch game for food, and other survival skills.
The film focuses on the suffering and tragedy caused by war, particularly the horrors endured by the young men serving in it. At the beginning, the French
and German armies are shown attacking each other repeatedly over a few hundred yards of torn, corpse-strewn land. Paul's weak friend Franz Kemmerich is wounded, and soon dies in a crowded army hospital
attended by nuns, which is shown in the film. In spite of being distraught by his friend's death, Paul returns to the trenches with his troop. When a French soldier falls into a crater Paul is hiding in, Paul stabs the man in the stomach with his bayonet
, then after spending the night with him, tries to bandage the dying soldier's wounds, after which he dies. Paul escapes the crater feeling terrible for what he has done, and it reflects on the meaninglessness of the war. Another comrade, after falling into a pit of poison gas, is carried off by the medics to a slow, suffering death; the medics had appeared before Kat could give him mercy. The troop's panicked horses, terrified, shriek hysterically as they are surrounded by burning buildings, and artillery
fire.
When Paul and his battalion return to a French town for a rest week, they see the new recruits have grown younger and younger. To their delight, the leader of these new recruits is their recently demoted training officer, Himmelstoss. When Himmelstoss tries to make them obey him, they stand up to him, leaving him frustrated. Later in the trenches, while the Germans are launching an offensive attack, he sees a squad cowering in a crater, which includes Himmelstoss. Paul pushes Himmelstoss to force him to keep on the offensive.
Although at one point, Paul and two of his friends do have their first experience of sex
(with some accommodating French peasant girls), the vast majority of all the young men's experiences are horrific. One by one, practically all of Paul's other schoolmate friends die, one way or another. A haughty, stiff Kaiser Wilhelm II visits their camp to ceremoniously pin medals on heroic soldiers, which includes Himmelstoss.
Paul's squad is attacked in a French Town close to the front, where one of his friends dies and another is severely wounded. Paul, who is also wounded, is granted leave. When home on furlough, Paul is told by his sister that their bedridden mother (Patricia Neal
), is dying of cancer
. In visits to a beer
garden and his former classroom, Paul realizes that his town's older men, in their enthusiasm for war, have no sense of the horrors they have sent their youth to. He also visits Kemmerich's mother and lies to her that he didnt suffer. Just before the end of the film, Kat is wounded by an artillery burst and Paul carries his larger, heavier, older friend many miles to a field hospital (in a bomb-shattered, very small, derelict church). There he finds out that Kat is dead, having been killed by a shell fragment to the head while Paul was carrying him, a few miles before he reached the church.
The film ends with Paul writing a letter to his friend (the sole survivor of their class), who is now an amputee. He reveals the fate of all of his classmates, some are dead, some are missing, one was caught after deserting, one is mad and he and Paul are the only ones left. When he finishes, he goes to check on the drastically underage replacements (none of whom look older than fifteen), guarding the trench, taking the position of the most experienced man on the battlefield, like Kat was before him. He spots a bird and begins to sketch it, and when the bird starts to fly away Paul stands up more, to see where it went, exposing himself above the trench parapet. A lone sniper's shot rings out, killing him. A telegram with the film's title is shown to the viewer, revealing an infamous segment from a report issued by the German High Command. It also shows how close Baumer had come to surviving the conflict.
in the category Best Motion Picture Made for TV as well as an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special.
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
produced by ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
, released on November 14, 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas (actor)
Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...
from The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
fame as Paul Baumer, and Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
as Katczinsky. It is based on the book
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
of the same title by Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...
.
The 1979 film was directed by Delbert Mann
Delbert Mann
Delbert Martin Mann, Jr. was an American television and film director. He won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Director for the film Marty...
; though the acting of some of the performers was praised, the general opinion of most movie fans is it failed to equal the 1930 film directed by Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
. Nevertheless, the film has its share of tension and death, and in the spirit of the novel
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
, manages to convey a sense of desolation, hardship, and waste. Late in the film, the turmoil and wretchedness of the main character, Paul Baumer, is manifest in his extreme disassociation while home on furlough.
Most of the movie was filmed in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in what was one of the first US/UK produced films to be shot in a Communist Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
country.
Plot summary
The film follows young Paul Baumer, who during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
enlists in the Imperial German Army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher (Donald Pleasance) as to the glory and superiority of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
culture. After surviving training camp under the sadistic
Sadistic personality disorder
Sadistic personality disorder is a diagnosis which appeared only in an appendix of the revised third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . The current version of the DSM does not include it, so it is no longer considered a valid...
Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
), the enthusiastic young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with wounded returning soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of a pragmatic, yet good-natured older soldier, Stanislaus Katzinsky, called "Kat" (Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
). Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to catch game for food, and other survival skills.
The film focuses on the suffering and tragedy caused by war, particularly the horrors endured by the young men serving in it. At the beginning, the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and German armies are shown attacking each other repeatedly over a few hundred yards of torn, corpse-strewn land. Paul's weak friend Franz Kemmerich is wounded, and soon dies in a crowded army hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
attended by nuns, which is shown in the film. In spite of being distraught by his friend's death, Paul returns to the trenches with his troop. When a French soldier falls into a crater Paul is hiding in, Paul stabs the man in the stomach with his bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
, then after spending the night with him, tries to bandage the dying soldier's wounds, after which he dies. Paul escapes the crater feeling terrible for what he has done, and it reflects on the meaninglessness of the war. Another comrade, after falling into a pit of poison gas, is carried off by the medics to a slow, suffering death; the medics had appeared before Kat could give him mercy. The troop's panicked horses, terrified, shriek hysterically as they are surrounded by burning buildings, and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
fire.
When Paul and his battalion return to a French town for a rest week, they see the new recruits have grown younger and younger. To their delight, the leader of these new recruits is their recently demoted training officer, Himmelstoss. When Himmelstoss tries to make them obey him, they stand up to him, leaving him frustrated. Later in the trenches, while the Germans are launching an offensive attack, he sees a squad cowering in a crater, which includes Himmelstoss. Paul pushes Himmelstoss to force him to keep on the offensive.
Although at one point, Paul and two of his friends do have their first experience of sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
(with some accommodating French peasant girls), the vast majority of all the young men's experiences are horrific. One by one, practically all of Paul's other schoolmate friends die, one way or another. A haughty, stiff Kaiser Wilhelm II visits their camp to ceremoniously pin medals on heroic soldiers, which includes Himmelstoss.
Paul's squad is attacked in a French Town close to the front, where one of his friends dies and another is severely wounded. Paul, who is also wounded, is granted leave. When home on furlough, Paul is told by his sister that their bedridden mother (Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
), is dying of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. In visits to a beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
garden and his former classroom, Paul realizes that his town's older men, in their enthusiasm for war, have no sense of the horrors they have sent their youth to. He also visits Kemmerich's mother and lies to her that he didnt suffer. Just before the end of the film, Kat is wounded by an artillery burst and Paul carries his larger, heavier, older friend many miles to a field hospital (in a bomb-shattered, very small, derelict church). There he finds out that Kat is dead, having been killed by a shell fragment to the head while Paul was carrying him, a few miles before he reached the church.
The film ends with Paul writing a letter to his friend (the sole survivor of their class), who is now an amputee. He reveals the fate of all of his classmates, some are dead, some are missing, one was caught after deserting, one is mad and he and Paul are the only ones left. When he finishes, he goes to check on the drastically underage replacements (none of whom look older than fifteen), guarding the trench, taking the position of the most experienced man on the battlefield, like Kat was before him. He spots a bird and begins to sketch it, and when the bird starts to fly away Paul stands up more, to see where it went, exposing himself above the trench parapet. A lone sniper's shot rings out, killing him. A telegram with the film's title is shown to the viewer, revealing an infamous segment from a report issued by the German High Command. It also shows how close Baumer had come to surviving the conflict.
Reception
The film won a Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
in the category Best Motion Picture Made for TV as well as an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special.