Made at the dawn of the sound era, All Quiet on the Western Front remains the best war film ever made. Despite some brave (and not so brave) attempts by other filmmakers ever since, no other motion picture I’ve seen has captured the horrors of war with the honesty and the poignancy of Lewis Milestone’s rendition of Erich Maria Remarque’s pacifist novel. Lew Ayres plays the young, idealistic soldier who soon discovers that war has nothing to do with either honor or glory.
FILM
All Quiet on the Western Front
d: Lewis Milestone; scr: Maxwell Anderson, Del Andrews, George Abbott
The Bishop Murder Case
d: Nick Grindé, David Burton; scr: Lenore J. Coffee
Going Wild
d: William A. Seiter; scr: Humphrey Pearson, Henry McCarthy
In Gay Madrid
d: Robert Z. Leonard; scr: Edwin Justus Mayer, Bess Meredyth, Salisbury Field
Let Us Be Gay
d: Robert Z. Leonard; scr: Frances Marion, Lucille Newmark
Sous les toits de Paris / Under the Roofs of Paris
d, scr: René Clair
CHECK THESE OUT
The Royal Family of Broadway
d: George Cukor, Cyril Gardner; scr: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Gertrude Purcell
ACTOR
Chester Morris
The Bat Whispers
Ramon Novarro
In Gay Madrid
Warner Oland
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Albert Préjean
Under the Roofs of Paris
ACTRESS
Dorothy Jordan
In Gay Madrid
Dorothy Peterson
Mothers Cry
Norma Shearer
Let Us Be Gay
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Noah Beery
Golden Dawn
Edward Everett Horton
Reaching for the Moon
Fredric March
The Royal Family of Broadway
George F. Marion
The Bishop Murder Case
Charles Quartermaine
The Bishop Murder Case
Ernest Torrence
Call of the Flesh
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Renée Adorée
Call of the Flesh
May Boley
Going Wild
Marie Dressler
The Girl Said No
Marie Dressler
Let Us Be Gay
Beryl Mercer
All Quiet on the Western Front
Ona Munson
Going Wild
Zelma O’Neal
Follow Thru
Marjorie Rambeau
Min and Bill
Alison Skipworth
Outward Bound
Blanche Sweet
Showgirl in Hollywood
CINEMATOGRAPHY
William H. Daniels
Romance
Arthur Edeson
All Quiet on the Western Front
Henry Gerrard, Charles Boyle
Follow Thru
Merritt B. Gerstad
Call of the Flesh
Ray June
The Bat Whispers
Roy Overbaugh
The Bishop Murder Case
MUSIC
Fred E. Ahlert, Xavier Cugat, Herbert Stothart
In Gay Madrid
Armand Bernard
Under the Roofs of Paris