Do the changes director Lewis Milestone made in turning Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet in the Western Front into the Best Picture of 1930 strengthen or weaken the story? See below for a list of a few changes.
While the novel All Quiet on the Western Front starts with the veteran soldiers (probably in 1917 after enlisting in 1915) "at rest five miles behind the front" (1; ch. 1) rather than in the front lines, the film introduces the main characters as high school students and then follows them through the war chronologically.
Lewis Milestone transforms the account of "Kantorek . . . our schoolmaster" (10; 10-13; ch. 1) into the first major scene in the 1930 film (2:00-9:18) and the account of Kantorek in bootcamp (174-78; ch. 7) into a visit to his classroom (1:50:40-1:54:23).
After his first romantic interlude (143-51; ch. 7), Bäumer is "not in the least happy" (151) and fears "it might be impossible ever to be free of them ["the soldiers' brothels"] again" (150). Bäumer's response in the scene in the film (1:26:24-1:34:32) differs from that in the novel. Which response (novel or film) is more appropriate to the story?
Does the scene of the body parts hanging in the trees (207-09: ch. 9), one of the most gruesome in the novel, appear in the film? If not, why not?
The brief scene with the sniper (228-29; ch. 9) inspired the ending of the film, which is different from the ending of the novel.