The horrors of war, The Great War, seldom better summarised by: 'It's dirty and painful to die for your country, when it comes dying for your country it's better not to die at all. There are millions out there dying for their countries, and what good does it do?'. And yet the wars continue, death and destruction sustained, lessons seldom learnt, the cries remain unheard.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) **** The first - and some say best - war film (and film about war - there is a difference) is still the gold standard for showing the perilous hell men face in war with this character-heavy look at the after-effects of a group of gung-ho students who are goaded into enlisting to fight for the fatherland - Germany - without question and tragically paying for it with literally their lives. Based on German writer Erich Maria Ramarque's novel - with six credited screenwriters including future filmmaker George Abbott - and an uncredited Lewis Milestone - the film's director - and winner of Best Director and Best Picture among its four including the aforementioned screenplay adaptation and the beautifully shot cinematography by Arthur Edeson. With a star-making performance of freshly scrubbed, boy- next-door charm and idealism-dashed chutzpah by Lew Ayres as the green recruit whose loss of innocence still stings while his mentor and world-weary mentor Louis Wolheim - terrific - in fact both should've been nominated for their acting - acts as the voice of reason (and doom). For the film vaults: the chilling battle amongst a decrepit graveyard and the penultimate image of beauty being literally destroyed as a shocking symbol of innocence truly crushed. One of the most important anti-war films ever; a must see for every serious film-goer.