All Quiet on the Western Front is an Academy Award-winning war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel All Quiet on the Western Front. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander.

Released in 1930 (see 1930 in film), it is considered a realistic and harrowing account of war and World War I, and was named #54 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies. However, it was removed from the top 100 list in the 2007 revision. Also, in 1990, this film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

All Quiet on the Western Front is a 150 minute television movie produced by ITC Entertainment in full color that was released on November 14 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas from The Waltons fame, and Ernest Borgnine. Historical accuracy seems to have been strived for. For instance the scene of Kaiser Wilhelm awarding decorations to soldiers correctly shows him using only his right arm (real life Kaiser Wilhelm's left arm was stunted).

The 1979 film was directed by Delbert Mann; though the acting of some of the performers was praised, the general opinion of most film enthusiasts is that it failed to equal the 1930 film directed by Lewis Milestone. In many respects, it offers a sanitised view of trench warfare - far from being destroyed by the conflict, Thomas is relentlessly depicted as able to cope and adjust to his new surroundings. Nevertheless, the film has its share of tension and death, and in the spirit of the novel, manages to convey a sense of desolation, hardship, and waste. The darkening of the protagonist's soul is primarily seen in his drawings, which change more and more to themes of death and suffering as the war grinds on. And, late in the film, his turmoil and wretchedness are manifest in his extreme disassociation while home on furlough.

Most of the movie was filmed in Czechoslovakia in what was one of the first US/UK produced films to be shot in a communist block country.

This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality. Written by Michele Wilkinson, University of Cambridge Language Centre,

In the midst of the chaos and brutality of World War One trench warfare, there is still hope.

Paul Baumer is a young German who, along with his graduating high school classmates, enlist in the German Imperial Army during the First World War. Originally thinking war would be a great adventure, Paul and his friends discover exactly the opposite as the war drags on and one by one the members of the class are killed in action until only Paul remains. Written by Anthony Hughes