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The grand-daddy of ‘anti-war’ war movies is Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front, the first non-musical ‘talkie’ to win the best picture Academy Award. The film is stylistically way ahead of its time, with sweeping camera movement, realistic (non-theatrical) acting, deep layers of action in the photography, and sophisticated action choreography — all of which you just don’t see in most other films from the early ’30s. Lead actor Lew Ayres (just beginning his long career) over-acts a few times, and the script gives him a few too many pointed lines, but he’s good overall. The supporting cast is actually better — especially Louis Wolheim as the tough sergeant who becomes a second father to his young, frightened troops.

The film follows a group of young German soldiers through many powerful vignettes, from their school teacher’s impassioned plea that the entire class sign up for the war (World War I) en masse, to a montage of death scenes shot from the perspective of a comfortable pair of boots that are passed down from soldier to soldier. The heart of the film, however, lies in Ayres’ and Wolheim’s characters. The film ends in their back-to-back death scenes, both captured by Milestone with little fanfare and devastating nonchalance. The ultimate image of Ayres’ reaching for a butterfly — the last thing he ever does — has become an icon in Hollywood film history.

Academy Award: Best Picture, Best Director

Oscar Nominations: Best Writing, Best Cinematography