‘ALL QUIET’ REISSUED

Evening Star, Issue 23335, 3 August 1939, Page 19

‘ALL QUIET’ REISSUED

REMARQUE'S FAMOUS BOOK ADAPTED

Poignant war drama that does not hesitate to expose the folly and brutality of needless slaughter, ‘ Ail Quiet on the Western Front,’ film version of Erich (Remarque's sensational novel, will be presented at the Empire to-morrow. Although a reissue of a film now several years old, ‘ All Quiet ’ is still better in production, and its convincing reality betters the vast majority of brand-new films, and it does not suffer through being over-loaded with thinly-disguised propaganda, relying more on simple truths to point the moral.

Paul Bnumer, the younger recruit whose fortunes in the German army the film follows, is carried away from his school desk on a wave of hysterical patriotism and catapulted, after the preliminary barrack training, into the dirt and terrors of the fighting line. He and his comrades live through years of war, dropping out one after the other as they are killed, maimed, or broken.

‘ All Quiet ’ is not so much the story of one man’s life during the war, but it is the story of thousands of young men’s lives, whether they be Gorman or 'British, Austrian or French. It is not a pleasant film, dealing as it does with death and misery, and such snatches of humour ns enter into it serve merely to emphasise the gigantic tragedy, it is nevertheless a great film, and one which makes a vivid and lasting impression. Lewis Ayres plays the central role, and the late Louis Wolheim and John Wray give him excellent support. Slim Summerville supplies much of the humour.