Oscar’s Best 1930 Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful, affecting picture. I’ve never read the novel by Erich Maria Remarque (published on this date in 1928). I had never seen the film, which debuted in 1930 on the cusp of the rise of National Socialism in Germany. This is relevant because the story follows several young German soldiers during the Great War, otherwise known as World War One. I knew only in advance of watching the film that the novel and movie have the reputation of expressing an anti-war theme. To this end, the Universal Pictures movie, the first based on a work of fiction to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, displays effects — so-called special effects — with perfection.