Erich Maria Remarque's book, All Quiet on the Western Front, which was a best seller here and in many European countries last year, was picturized for Universal by George Abbott and Maxwell Anderson. They did splendid work. It is a graphic and intensely moving picture of one young German's experience in the war from 1914 to 1918. From schoolroom to drill field to trench and thence through mud, gunfire, hunger, and agony to death. That is the story. It is more a series of sketches and scenes than a story. There is no plot, unless the war may be so designated — one gigantic plot in which the characters are legion. It is depressing, but it is real. Lewis Milestone directed it with understanding and sympathy. The acting of the men assigned to the soldiers' roles was an artistic accomplishment. Louis Wolheim, Lewis Ayres, John Wray, Raymond Griffith, George Summerville, Russell Gleason, William Bakewell, Scott Kolk, Walter Browne Rogers, Ben Alexander, and Owen Davis, Jr., have the important roles.

Publication Date: June 7, 1930