10 Most Important War Films Ever Made
8. All Quiet on the Western Front
The earliest film on this list, 1930's All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the first anti-war films.
Amongst the first major "talkies", this epic 1930 adaptation of German veteran Erich Maria Remarque's novel of the same name depicted the callous brutality of war without romance or idealism and served as a pre World War II cinematic illustration of the shame and degradation inherent in war.
It's no surprise that the devastating epic was roundly praised in America despite depicting the plight of naive German soldiers. A harrowing piece of tragic polemic, the film was viewed as a masterpiece by filmgoers and critics alike for displaying the cruel realities of war in unvarnished terms.
It was this same fearless commitment to realism which saw it criticised by Nazis, with Goebbels disrupting the film's Berlin debut and banning the movie once in power later that decade.