The anti-war novel “Nothing New in the West” is not only a literary milestone, but also a popular film template: the emphatically factual retelling of various horrors of the First World War was adapted as a film in 1930, 1979 and 2022. While the 1979 version made little impression in terms of film history, the 2022 version is in the Oscar race for Germany. The first adaptation, on the other hand, is an acclaimed classic that is regularly ranked among the most impressive anti-war films in history.
Now Lewis Milestone’s film gets a massive home cinema evaluation: On November 4, 2022, “Nothing New in the West” will be released as an Ultimate Edition with a whopping six discs. The Capelight Pictures label describes this release as the most elaborate in its history. Pre-orders are already possible:
» “Nothing New in the West” Ultimate Edition at Amazon*
The six discs not only contain tons of bonus material, for example in the form of various accompanying documentation. In addition, the set contains the film classic in several alternative versions, which is exciting from a film historical point of view. Among them are the abridged original synchro from 1930, the synchro from 1952, which was responsible for a post-war mentality, and an elaborately created ZDF synchro from 1984 that is true to the original.
Several students, including Paul Bäumer (Lew Ayres), volunteer for military service after the start of World War I. The boys throw themselves euphorically into the turmoil of war and delude themselves that the last battle will be fought in just a few weeks. But even during the training by Reserve Corporal Himmelstoss (John Wray), the recruits realize that they have massively underestimated the situation. At the front there is no escaping the horrors of the reality of war…
On September 29th of this year, director Edward Berger’s remake of “Nothing New in the West” will start in cinemas, and it will be available on Netflix from October 28th, 2022. The film has already been submitted as the German entry for the Oscar race in the “Best International Film” category. The cast includes Daniel Brühl, Albrecht Schuch and Devid Striesow. The latest adaptation of the novel by Erich Maria Remarques is one of the most expensive German film productions in history. You can read about what the remake has to be measured against in our review of the first adaptation:
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