Forgotten Anti-War Movies of the 1930s

Westfront 1918, Broken Lullaby, The Eagle and the Hawk

May 17, 2009

Overshadowed by the 1930 classics "All Quiet on the Western Front" and France's "The Grand Illusion," these three still are among the best anti-war movies of that decade.

The decade following the horrors of World War I saw a large number of anti-war motion pictures, including Hearts of the World (1918), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1922), The Big Parade (1925), and Wings (1927). This trend continued through the 1930s and included these excellent, but mostly forgotten, German and American entries.

Westfront 1918 was released in the same year as All Quiet on the Western Front and the two movies have several similarities. Both are based on novels by German writers, view the war through German eyes, and involve a group of soldiers who become disillusioned about the present and pessimistic about the future. Both were also eventually banned by the Nazis.

There are also differences. Whereas All Quiet..... follows a discernable storyline centered on the loss of youthful idealism, Westfront is composed of vignettes centered on the loss of humanity. While the first movie is, in some respects, filled with sentimentality, the latter is a stark, hard-edged look at four men who are all figuratively or literally destroyed by war.

Director Pabst has filled the movie with many memorable scenes. Among these are: the deaths of soldiers by friendly fire; the discovery by one of the soldiers while on leave that his wife has been trading her body for food; a prolonged climatic battle that realistically reflects the chaotic nature of war; and a detached look at a field hospital.

A French ex-soldier, Paul Reynaud (Holmes), is guilt ridden after mortally wounding a German named Walter Holderin in hand-to-hand combat during the last days of World War I. Unable to find solace for his grief at home, he travels to a small German town to seek forgiveness from the soldier’s family.

After meeting Paul, the town’s respected Dr. Holderin (Barrymore) treats the Frenchman with scorn, but changes his attitude when he and his gentle wife (Carter) are mistakenly led to believe that Walter and Paul had been friends in pre-war Paris. Paul soon becomes a new “son” and Walter’s former fiancée, Elsa (Carroll), is attracted to him.

When Elsa learns the truth from Paul, she is shocked and horrified, but later, realizing that the war has nearly destroyed the young man, lends him her support. The movie ends apparently on a “happy” note, but still leaves the question: Has Paul really received peace of mind and a new family or will his guilt remain until the truth is told to the Holderins?

Director Ernst Lubitsch, known for sophisticated comedies, proves here that he could do drama as well. Although, Holmes’s acting is sometimes overwrought, the performances of the other three leads are consistently good. A highlight is Barrymore’s impassioned speech in a café where he tells friends that he, as well as they and their French counterparts, are the ones responsible for their sons’ deaths due to their jingoistic attitude prior to the war.

An American pilot , Jerry Young (March), eager for battle, joins the Royal Flying Corps and rapidly becomes an ace. However, as time passes, he becomes angry with the war and his own helplessness as he sees more and more of his observers, particularly vulnerable in battle, killed. Under increasing mental strain, he turns to heavy drinking and berates himself as a killer of young men on both sides.

When washed-out pilot Henry Crocker (Grant) is assigned as his new observer and gunner, Young is pushed to the edge of insanity. He particularly hates his new partner’s cocky and unfeeling attitude toward death. When Young berates him for shooting a German pilot as he is parachuting, Crocker exclaims, “This is a war. I'm hired to kill the enemy, and there ain't no book of rules about that. Every one I put away means one less to kill me.”

The conflict between the two men eventually leads to a surprising climax that shows a sensitivity and caring not previously expected in Crocker.

Frederick March does an excellent job of making his character both cold and compassionate. Cary Grant, in possibly his most “non-Cary Grant” role, shows an acting side that was rarely seen in his movies.

The copyright of the article Forgotten Anti-War Movies of the 1930s in Classic Film Dramas is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish Forgotten Anti-War Movies of the 1930s in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.