Having met and talked to both Ernest Borgnine and Richard Thomas I feel a stronger bond with this version, which I find much more realistic and naturally acted than the 1930 version, which I found too stylized and melodramatic-more like a play than a movie. A movie which shows The Other Side and portrays them as ordinary men pulled into a conflict which they barely understand and suspect is for Somebody's Else's benefit but they will do their duty to their country, their homes and families-and each other. The strength of Remarque's novel is captured here-he does not preach or shout, he merely presents and lets the reader and viewer draw his own conclusions. As an Army veteran I particularly liked Kaczynski's observation that "It wouldn't be such a bad war if we could get some more sleep." The production values are excellent, the period details-the uniforms, especially-are excellent, and it has a quality I consider very important in a historically based movie-you really feel you are traveling back in Time.
Review of All Quiet on the Western Front
