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Author
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Topic: All Quite on The Western Front 800ft Walton
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Tom Photiou
Film God
Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted March 25, 2018 03:09 PM
Tonight's viewing was this very good release from Walton of the 1979 version of All Quite on the Western Front. Originally supplied on 2 x 400ft spools this one fills an Elmo 800ft reel. The actual print as always with Walton is very good, nice and sharp with excellent clear sound with a decent amount of bass which for a war film adds to the impact. I have seen the full film once on TV and can confirm that Walton have done a very good job with this 35 minutes version. Not too sure of the film stock but unusually this one does have the early signs of fade, however, these images are not particularly good, the colours are a whole lot better than these images show, especially in the muddy battlefield, here they appear a bit red but they are very brown. A very good cast including, Richard, (John-boy from the Walton's), Thomas, the brilliant Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence and Ian Holm.
Here is the plot edited to this edition,
Paul Baumer, during World War I, enlists in the German army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher (Donald Pleasence) as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the brutal Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), the young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of Stanislaus "Kat" Katzinsky, (Ernest Borgnine). Kat explains that he will teache them how to best take cover, how to find extra food, and other survival skills. When Paul and his battalion return to a French town for a rest week, they see the new recruits have grown younger and younger. To their delight, the leader of these new recruits is their recently demoted training officer, Himmelstoss.
When home on leave, Paul is told by his sister that their mother (Patricia Neal), is dying of cancer. In visits to a beer garden and his former classroom, Paul realises that his town's older men, in their enthusiasm for war, have no sense of the horrors they have sent their youth to. He also visits Kemmerich's mother and lies to her that he did not suffer. Just before the end of the film, Kat is wounded by an artillery burst and Paul carries him many miles to a field hospital. There he finds out that Kat is dead.
Paul walks through the trench checking on the younger soldiers, having taken up Kat's position as a mentor. He spots a bird and begins to sketch it, and when the bird starts to fly away Paul stands up to see where it went, exposing himself above the trench parapet. A lone sniper's shot rings out, killing him. A telegram with the film's title is shown to the viewer, revealing a segment from a report issued by the German High Command, “All quite on the Western Front”
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