#907: PABST, G.W.: Westfront 1918 (1930)

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PABST, G.W. (Germany)
Westfront 1918 [1930]
Spine #907
Blu-ray


G.W. Pabst brought the war movie into a new era with his first sound film, a mercilessly realistic depiction of the nightmare that scarred a generation, in Germany and beyond. Digging into the trenches with four infantrymen stationed in France in the final months of World War I, Pabst illustrates the harrowing ordeals of battle with unprecedented naturalism, as the men are worn away in body and spirit by firefights, shelling, and the disillusion that greets them on the home front. Long unavailable, the restored Westfront 1918 is a visceral, sobering antiwar statement that is as urgent today as when it was made.

96 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in German and French
1:19:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2018
Director/Writers


From the novel Four Infantrymen on the Western Front by Ernst Johannsen.
Screenplay by Ladislaus Vajda.
G.W. Pabst was 45 when he directed Westfront 1918.

Other Pabst films in the Collection:

#358: Pandora's Box (1929)
#908: Kameraschaft (1931)
#405: The Threepenny Opera (1931)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

 The Booklet

Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by author and critic Luc Sante.

Commentary

None.

Hour-long

French television broadcast of World War I veterans reacting to the film in 1969.

Interview

From 2016 with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak.

Restoration

Demonstration featuring Martin Koerber and Julia Wallmüller of the Deutsche Kinemathek.

Brief audio interview

From 1988 with editor Jean Oser.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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