Netflix Just Remade One of the Great War Movies of All Time

The original "All Quiet on the Western Front," released in 1930, won Best Picture and a Best Director Oscar for Lewis Milestone. Based on the novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, the movie portrayed the brutality and waste of the Great War in a compelling presentation that few films have matched since.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" was remade as a television movie starring Richard Thomas and Navy World War II vet Ernest Borgnine.

Netflix's new remake marks the first time the movie's lead characters will speak in their native German. They gave the reins to German director Edward Berger, who's best known for the spy series "Deutschland 83," but has recently directed episodes of the English-language series "The Terror" with Jared Harris, "Patrick Melrose" with Benedict Cumberbatch and "Your Honor" with Bryan Cranston.

This version stars Daniel Brühl ("Inglourious Basterds," Baron Zemo in the Marvel universe) as a German diplomat involved in negotiations to end the war. Newcomer Felix Kammerer stars as Paul Bäumer, the lead soldier struggling to survive in the trenches.

The new version of "All Quiet on the Western Front" will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12, 2022, and will play at the Paris Theater in New York City starting Oct. 7 before being released in select theaters on Oct. 14. The movie will stream on Netflix worldwide on Oct. 28.

That's coming up fast, so Netflix has released a trailer for the film.

The trailer cuts back and forth between the romance and optimism of military training and the terrifying reality of the war as it was actually fought. A contemporary version of this story has the opportunity to show combat that the original classic version could only suggest. We'll have to wait until next month to find out whether a more explicit version of combat will have the same impact.

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