MovieChat Forums > All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Discussion > How did watching this affect those in th...

How did watching this affect those in the 1940s?

posted 17 years ago by illestmc510
7 replies | jump to latest

Please help, I'd really like this question answered.

[–] lambrettaguy200 17 years ago

I suspect it didn't, at least for those fighting in WW2. Older officers etc remembered for themselves what it had been like and so the film would not have told them anything new. The young men who went to war in 1939 onward were aware of what their fathers told them about WW1 (if they told them) and I suspect they thought this new war couldn't be as bad as WW1. Example:- my father`s father had been a senior nco in the 6th Btn Black Watch, 51st Highland Division in WW1. He had first arrived on the Western Front in 1915 and saw action at The Somme, Arras, Ypres, Cambrai etc. My father told me that he was always glad he was involved in WW2 and felt lucky, as he thought what his father went through in WW1 surviving in the trenches of Flanders and France must have been real hell.

Yet the funny thing is, my father, who always thought he was lucky not to be in the hell of the WW1 trenches, spent his war in the hellish jungles, ravines and ridges of Burma with British Special Forces !!!

Everyone to his own I guess !

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[–] illestmc510 17 years ago

thanks, man!

[–] phreschke 17 years ago

I guess the general response by the overly patriotic masses was similar to the reaction of the kids near the end of the film, when Paul tells them how bad war is and they call him a coward...

But then I wasn't there to say, just guessing

[–] novastar_6 15 years ago

People watching in the 1940s, among them would be survivors of the war, and families of men who went to war...and I think some of them must've been near having heart attacks thinking this is how awful it was the last time, and them going into another war knowing it would be even worse.

[–] lordhack_99 15 years ago

There were actually college demonstrations in the US in the 1930s at which signs were held that read WE WANT WAR, as a counter-protest to the pacifists of the time. Remember, too, that however horrible conditions might have been at the Front, no one came home ashamed of their service.

[–] andrewwjohnson 14 years ago

...........True. I grew up around older relatives who fought in the Second World War and were justifiably proud of it. Also as bad as their experiences were in North Africa, the Omaha Beach landing, Battle of the Bulge and the Italian invasion they did move on. They weren't stuck in a stagnant meat grinder like trench warfare situation like both sides were in World War One........As for "All Quiet on the Western Front" my understanding is it was taken out of circulation during the nineteen fourties. Obviously there was no public demand for antiwar movies after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the government pressured Hollywood to release anything negatively affecting troop or civilian morel. It wasn't until the movie was shown on TV, however diluted by used car and pizza parlor ads and dialing for dollars, that it again got into public consciousness. Today it is shown on TCM with all of its scenes, including those the Breen office had removed during the thirties re-releases, restored.
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[–] sonofabird 14 years ago

Remember that in 1936-1938 a massive number of young men in the United States were unemployed due to the depression. There was a perception that being in the army meant a constant supply of food and shelter, i.e., a job. As bad as war is, for some people it's better than starving on the streets.

As to the original question, even if it was shown after 1930 (you shouldn't assume that people in 1935 could have watched this film if they wanted to), masses led by leaders yearning for war have always found it easy to dispense of pacifist works. Look at the war in Iraq. War has been thoroughly denounced by the academy ever since Vietnam, and even before that there were masterpieces like this novel/film, Slaughterhouse Five, Johnny Got His Gun, etc., plus we knew about biochemical after-effects, PTSD, mental disorders, resulting alcoholism, etc. We had libraries full of knowledge compared to those in 1914 and yet all of was thrown out the window when our fearless leaders decided to attack Iraq.

Why? Well, the same reasons Germany conned people in WWI and WWII and the same reasons the US used in Korea and Vietnam and the same reason the north used to get troops to fight the south, etc. etc.: (1) It'll be an easy victory because we're so superior; (2) It's absolutely necessary to save ourselves.

Same crap every tyrant, king, Prime Minister, President, what have you, has used since time immemorial.