All Quiet on the Western Front

Based on Erich Maria Remarque's pacifist novel and renowned as the classic anti-war movie - it details the slow but steady extermination of a group of idealistic young German soldiers in World War I - the film's strength now derives less from its admittedly powerful but highly simplistic utterances about war as waste, than from a generally excellent set of performances (Ayres especially) and an almost total reluctance to follow normal plot structure. It is in fact the often relentless depiction of unflagging warfare and suffering that eventually pummels one into feeling, rather than understanding, the film's message.