ALT, QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 28, 4 December 1930, Page 5

ALT, QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

(By " Onlooker

Last, week patrons to the King' G-eorge Theatre were asked to judge* .for themselves whether the notorious 'picture "All Qui-et on the- Western Front" should bo screened. The" picture was well patronised by the local public and was excellently screened and recorded. It has to be borne in mine! t&at the subject of the picture and oi* the book is German, and not British, and some of the incidents recorded can not be so fully appreciated by a British" as by a> Continental audience. Th» fact that American voices are used im the portrayal of G-erman characters^ destroys the "atmosphere" of the pic-i 'tare. But to tho writer's "mind the most glaring anachronism occurred in 'the choice of tie old lady v ..:wiho wasr cast for tho part of Paul's mother, Thd impersonator of this character is familiar to patrons of the talkies and ia in fact quit^a favourite in£j^h;pietiiT«S as •' Cocoaiiits, * * an« '4 Boofecry Nook >* The charm of this old lady in such pic-. tores is h«r strong distinctive Engliett dialect of the iS-orMng classes, bntf *r><>ti ehe i 3 cast for. the part ©£ the* 9»6tkeir of a German soldier (With a. Tantoeo accent) the whole illusion is. .destroyed.. ':: ■'■'< \'■■ ■■ ;-: •■■.'■. :; :

Tb? moral which the picture ia in* tended-to convey ia anti-waf, bt& th« manner of conveying it/ in moat in< stances; is revolting); distasteful an<l unpleaadnt. Tte f^peixiag ac&ne dep^cta the Mhool'isi«is««r playing ppon th© feelings of t^e boya of his.elasa>t>y catiog oratory" tt»ua inducing them tc

ealdst in a body at t&e outbreak of war. Later wfeea oae of the scholars—i •Paul —retmrna oa leave and is &3kcd ta speak to the boys of hia old school h«i does so reluctantly, only to o»rse hia country and the day that he became a soldier. His harrowing experiences ati the front, may have 'embittered him against war, but it is not the method of. the British race to parade it in thia soanner and to urge its youth to turn a> deaf ear to the call of King and Coum try. The scenes of warfare, thouigb well depicted, -were Tevolting and it id much better that our young people should not have their minds tainted with such morbid stuff. ** Onlooker "; is firmly of the opinion that the pici tare should not be shown. Let us se# tie good in life, not the bad; the bright side and not the sordid. Tho idea of any picture of American origin having for its object the betterment! of the world is distinctly in doubt and all the talk of whether the picture should be shown or not has provided nothing more or less than excellent advertising matter.