As the new German language version of the German language novel ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is out now and winning awards, I thought I'd watch this overlooked 1979 TV Movie version. The 1930 version won Academy Awards.
This is well worth a watch, despite the broad American accents jarring a little - but it was made for a domestic US audience, I suppose. All filmed in what was then the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, no doubt to keep costs down as because the hardline communist regime there approved of the film's anti-war anti-imperialist message. Filing in central/eastern Europe was unusual back then - very common now.
This version features some famous actors: Richard Thomas, John-boy from The Waltons, probably most famous 1970s TV show (he is also great in the recent top TV drama THE AMERICANS); veteran character actor Ernest Borgnine (who won the 1955 acting Oscar for MARTY); great British actor, Donald Pleasence as a schoolteacher; fellow British actor Ian Holm, Patricia Neal (American actress wife of Roald Dahl).
All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit.?'Nothing New in the West') is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German World War I veteran. It describes the German soldiers' extreme trauma during the war & the detachment from civilian life felt by many upon returning home from the war. BUT the films tend to ignore most of the latter part, focusing on the war scenes and the build-up to them instead - as this one does.
A decent, solid watch,. 4 stars