10 MORE War Movie Plot Twists Nobody Saw Coming

While many viewers may have gotten their first taste of All Quiet on the Western Front through Netflix's 2022 remake, the 1930 iteration provided the original plot twist that nobody saw coming.

There isn't a single shocking narrative development that stands above the rest within the context of Lewis Milestone's picture. Rather, it's the fact that not one single member of the film's core group of protagonists makes it to the end of proceedings. Introduced to the audience as bright-eyed young men filled with the unshakable optimism of youth, each main character's death constitutes an emotionally devastating sequence - reaffirming the devastating reality associated with armed conflict.

Even the film's focal character Paul Bäumer is not exempt from this harrowingly true-to-life status quo. Following the demise of his mentor, Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky, a smiling Paul is suddenly shot and killed by a sniper as he reaches for a butterfly - a poignant symbol of transformation and hope - in the film's final sequence.

All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the earliest offerings to utilise the narrative technique of "no man left standing". This was a revolutionary concept at the time of the movie's release and the perfect method for conveying war's winless nature - a chilling reality that is perfectly underlined by the visual of 2nd Company arriving on the front line, before fading out to be replaced with the image of a cemetery.