by Graeme Stirling
It’s almost impossible to pick a favourite war film since so many of them are fantastic. To narrow it down for the occasion of Remembrance Day, I stuck to First World War films and came up with the 1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front. The last time I remember watching it was on a long, quiet Sunday like today, sitting around my dad’s place in Oxfordshire. I abandoned whatever my plans had been to see the film through, pausing every half an hour or so for another cup of coffee or a snack. It was a good day.
It’s almost impossible to pick a favourite war film since so many of them are fantastic. To narrow it down for the occasion of Remembrance Day, I stuck to First World War films and came up with the 1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front. The last time I remember watching it was on a long, quiet Sunday like today, sitting around my dad’s place in Oxfordshire. I abandoned whatever my plans had been to see the film through, pausing every half an hour or so for another cup of coffee or a snack. It was a good day.
As you might have gathered, it’s a long film. Not long as in long-winded or dull, but the kind of film that you’re happy to get lost in and then be a little disappointed when the end finally comes and the characters are gone – if you’ve read the book or seen the more well-received 1930s version of the film, you already know what’s going to happen to them all.
The film differs a little from the book in that it has a bit more of a narrative structure – the novel opens in the midst of the group’s military careers with a few flashbacks here and there to their youth, whilst the film starts off with their training and formative days at the front. Ian Holm puts on a great performance as Corporal Himmelstoss, the detested training officer. The lead role of Paul went to Richard Thomas, whose career began with The Waltons. If you’re having trouble remembering him – I did – he was also the (terrible) pony-tailed author in the 90's series of Stephen King’s It, apparently based in part on the author himself (Thomas’ character has published a novel called The Glowing).
The film differs a little from the book in that it has a bit more of a narrative structure – the novel opens in the midst of the group’s military careers with a few flashbacks here and there to their youth, whilst the film starts off with their training and formative days at the front. Ian Holm puts on a great performance as Corporal Himmelstoss, the detested training officer. The lead role of Paul went to Richard Thomas, whose career began with The Waltons. If you’re having trouble remembering him – I did – he was also the (terrible) pony-tailed author in the 90's series of Stephen King’s It, apparently based in part on the author himself (Thomas’ character has published a novel called The Glowing).
It’s a little lighter in tone than the source material, which is one of the most depressing books you could hope to read, but still has it’s appropriately dark moments, sort of balancing the overly enjoyable Second World War adventures of its time with the unavoidable gloom of a trenches story. The last scene, purposefully poetic and used on the covers of most editions of the book, is a grim end to three colourful, character-driven hours, lest the overall message be forgotten somewhere along the way.
It also won a Golden Globe, so that’s probably good. If you’re looking for something to watch, particularly on Remembrance Day today, why not give it a try.
Follow Graeme on Twitter!
It also won a Golden Globe, so that’s probably good. If you’re looking for something to watch, particularly on Remembrance Day today, why not give it a try.
Follow Graeme on Twitter!
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