The first version of Erich Maria Remarque's novel is remarkably well done for such an early sound film, and the battle scenes in their own way are as effective as the 2022 version. It perhaps catches better the sheer terror of the young men plunged into war, and includes sequences (dalliance with French girls, argument over 150 rations for 80 men, return to village, that the friends are all at school at the opening) that add quite a lot to the story.
A Carl Laemmle production for Universal, it starred Lew Ayres and Louis Wolheim, with John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, Scott Kolk, Owen Davis Jr. It was adapted by Maxwell Anderson and Del Andrews with George Abbott credited with the screenplay. It's very well photographed in a myriad of tracking shots by Arthur Edeson.
Despite some of its datedness, it is arguably better than the 2022 remake.
No comments:
Post a Comment