The country is at war and Paul B'umer (Lew Ayres) is in school. His instructor is proud that he is volunteering to protect his country. He and his classmates are off on an adventure. This adventure will challenge the way they look at life and in the process change our life outlook.
On the surface this looks like a pacifist or anti war movie. One may think this has something to do with an enemy's view of war. Also there is a tendency pick the film apart because it is not the book.
In reality this story is more of a, don't get over zealous movie. At least don't let some one mesmerize you. It even happened in a contemporary film "Private Benjamin' (1980). She was promised the army with the private condos. Again we see the zealous ones in "Starship Troopers' (1997) where the movie shows the romantic side of war.
As far as the rating it is ridicules to compare a movie that has to pass censors and only has 130 minutes with the book. Naturally the book is going to be more thorough and descriptive. What we can compare it to is the original movie "Westfront 1918' (1930) directed by George Wilhelm Pabst (1885-1967) and "All Quiet on the Western Front' (1979). Check them all out including the audiocassette of the book.
The points are made much clearer in "Westfront 1918" even though is shorter it is the 5 star movie. Especially when we return to the schoolroom to see the teacher inspiring the next generation of students to become soldiers. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1930) however is easier to understand then 'West Front'. You can spend more time in the message and less on the translation from German. In either film the actual down time (between actions) drove me crazy as I remembered the time that we were not fighting or planning something in Viet Nam was when I got antsy. The 1979 movie is a boring TV type movie with "Johnboy" Richard Thomas, playing the part of Paul Baumer. The only good part is when he got shot.
The film was shot in black and white but is still pretty graphic. It deserves to be seen on a big screen. At one point they also sing 'Watch on the Rein.'
"Im Western Nichts Neues" By Remarque: "He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the western Front."