All Quiet On The Western Front (1979)

Set in WWI Germany, encouraged by their teacher (Donald Pleasence) to fight for the Fatherland, a group of young boys enlist in the war. I've never shared the admiration for the highly revered Oscar winning 1930 Lewis Milestone film. I found it clumsy and over emphatic and its points made long before the film was over. But as I said, it's a minority opinion. This remake shares some of the awkwardness and over emphasis, perhaps it's inherent in the original source material, I don't know as I've never read the Erich Maria Remarque novel. But on the whole, I was much more receptive to it. There are many strong images and scenes as good as anything in the 1930 version: the suffering and wounded horses, the rats feasting on corpses in the trenches, a French soldier dying a long and lingering death, Richard Thomas (in the Lew Ayres role) lying to a mother about the circumstances regarding her son's death. Thomas gives it a good try but it's difficult shedding the WALTONS John Boy image. The best work is done by Ernest Borgnine as the veteran soldier into whose hands the new recruits are placed. Directed by Delbert Mann (MARTY). Shot in the Czech Republic and a fine score by Allyn Ferguson (sounding suspiciously like John Barry at times). With Patricia Neal and Ian Holm.