All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)

All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American pre-Code epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, and Ben Alexander.

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All Quiet on the Western Front
Theatrical release poster by Karoly Grosz[1]
Directed by	Lewis Milestone
Written by	Maxwell Anderson (adaptation & dialogue) George Abbott (screenplay) Del Andrews (adaptation) C. Gardner Sullivan (supervising story chief)
Based on	All Quiet on the Western Front 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Produced by	Carl Laemmle Jr.
Starring	Lew Ayres Louis Wolheim
Cinematography	Arthur Edeson
Edited by	Edgar Adams Milton Carruth (silent version, uncredited)[2]
Music by	David Broekman
Production company	Universal Studios
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 21, 1930 (1930-04-21) (US)[2]
Running time	152 minutes[2] 133 minutes (restored)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.2 million[3]
Box office	$3 million[4] (worldwide rentals)

All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, it made the American Film Institute's first 100 Years...100 Movies list in 1997. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,501 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film.[5][6] In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[7][8] The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director. It is the first Best Picture winner based on a novel.

Its sequel, The Road Back (1936), portrays members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war.