Cinema and Society

2 total works

Filming "All Quiet on the Western Front"

by Andrew Kelly

Published 31 December 1998

Published to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Erich Maria Remarque, author of "All Quiet on the Western Front", this is an account of the making of the Academy Award-winning film of the novel. When it first appeared in 1928, the book transformed the popular image of war; the film, directed by Lewis Milestone, was released the following year and was instantly acclaimed as a classic. It remains the quintessential view of World War I and of the brutality and waste of war. Like the novel, however, it suffered censorship internationally: it was banned in Italy, and in Germany following violent protests, and cut elsewhere, including Hollywood. This account covers the film's origins and production, and its fortunes on and after release. The author's five years of research included visits to archives around the world, viewings of all extant versions of the film, and interviews with people involved in its production. The book is illustrated with scenes from the film and contains extensive extracts from the screenplays.

Cinema and the Great War

by Andrew Kelly

Published 19 June 1997

Cinema and the Great War concentrates on one part of the art of the war: the cinema. Used as tool for propaganda during the war itself, by the mid 1920s cinema had begun to reflect the rejection of conflict prevalent in all the arts. Andrew Kelly explores the development of anti-war cinema in, Britain, America, Germany and France from the ground-breaking Lay Down your Arms, made by Bertha Von Suttner in 1914 and Lewis Milestone's bitter All Quiet on the Western Front through to Stanley Kubrick's magnificent Paths of Glory.