When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.
The film's strength now derives less from its admittedly powerful but highly simplistic utterances about war as waste, than from a generally excellent set of performances (Ayres especially) and an almost total reluctance to follow normal plot structure.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
Messrs. Milestone, Abbott and Anderson in this film have contributed a memorable piece of work to the screen.