All Quiet On The Western Front

[Lianachan]

A title that is well known to all. Tonight, I watched a remake, German made of course, on Netflix. Although it suffers from pacing problems in the last half of it's 2.5 hrs run time, it is easily one of the best war films I've ever seen. The combat scenes are absolutely brutal and unforgiving. The cinematography is outstanding, the landscapes, sets and acting all excellent. I commend it to the house.

[Blue Monster 65]

Been meaning to watch that - thanks for the review. That may be on the agenda for tonight.

I find a lot of Netflix films tend to run long; they don't bother to edit them it seems.

[Lianachan]

I’d be interested to hear what you thought of it. It deviates from the novel a bit, but I think the stuff with the German high command is probably useful for modern audiences and really helps highlight how pointless the last few days, hours and minutes of the war really were.

[Richard A]

Yes, you have to wonder at the mentality that says that hostilities will not end now but at a specific time on a specific date. A rather more tragic example of the attitude exemplified comically by Michael Caine's character at half time during the football match in "Escape To Victory".

[Heid the Ba]

I’ll have a look for this, but I will just point out that tha Armistice wasn’t an end to war or a ceasefire and that there was no guarantee it would hold. The BEF were anxious that if hostilities restarted they wouldn’t be facing good defensive positions so they were keen to bounce rivers and capture bridges etc. There are also many examples in memoirs of the rank and file file wanting one last crack at the Hun before the Armistice. The position is a lot more complex than Chateau Generals keeping the war going for no reason.