All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) Rating: Starring: Lew Ayers, William Bakewell, Slim Summerville, Louis Wolhelm, John Wray Director: Lewis Milestone Category: Classic, Action / Adventure, War Studio: Universal Studios Subtitles: Spanish, French Length: 130 mins     Contains Restored Footage Unlike most "message" films which date themselves almost immediately, Lewis Milestone's low-key unpolished and deeply-felt screen adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque anti-war novel has lost little of its original impact. Years after its release it was still being banned in countries mobilizing for war. The plot follows a group of young German recruits in World War I through their passage from idealism to disillusionment. As the central character Paul Baumer declares, "We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed--that's all. "All Quiet is an anthology of now famous scenes: Ayres trapped in a shell crater with a man he has killed; the first meeting of the recruits and the veterans; infantrymen being mowed down to machine-gun visual rhythms; a moonlight swim with French farm girls; Ayre's pacifist speech to his astonished schoolmates; and the final shot of the soldier's hand reaching for a fatal butterfly.               Critic's Reviews Jamie Russell BBC Read Review Will Lawrence Empire Online Read Review