THE ROAD BACK (1937)

It's November 11, 1918 and the Armistice that will end World War I is about to be signed, but the tattered remains of a group of German soldiers, which includes buddies Ernst (John King) and Ludwig (Richard Cromwell), don't know that and Captain Von Hagen somewhat reluctantly has his men take one last village. The frightened soldiers think they hear gas shells in the air, but it's really a flock of wild geese. Eventually the captain spreads the news of the truce, but it's too late for the badly wounded Wessling who is basically left to die in the village as the other men leave for home. When the Germans encounter a group of American soldiers, there is tension for a moment until the Americans offer them some chewing gum, an unknown treat which delights the Germans. But the "road back" to their old lives will not be so easy for most of the men. When the captain dismisses his handful of men for the last time, we see a ghostly image of the dozens of soldiers from the company who didn't make it back. There is revolution in the streets and old relationships aren't the same. Ernst, who suffers from what we would call PTSD, tells his girlfriend who wants to hear glory stories that he just wants to forget his war experiences, and that men who are taught to be "inhuman" for four years will have a hard time resuming normal life. Weil, one of the former soldiers, joins the street protesters and is shot dead in the streets by his former captain. Another goes somewhat awkwardly back to school. Albert (Maurice Murphy) discovers that his fianceé has gotten a reputation as a good-time girl, and is currently mistress to Bartscher, a war profiteer, which ultimately leads him to kill Bartscher. At the trial, Ernst gives an impassioned plea in his defense, blaming a society that taught Albert how to kill but not how to find a road back from war.

This is something of a sequel to the classic WWI film ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, based as it is on the follow-up novel by Erich Maria Remarque. James Whale crafted a strongly anti-war movie but ultimately to avoid offending Nazi Germany, the movie was taken out of his hands by Universal; several scenes that might offend the newly militaristic nation were cut and some reshoots involving scenes of comic relief were inserted. Whale disowned the film, but despite its reputation as a ruined classic, I still found it powerful, even if it does pull its punches a bit. My biggest problem is that none of the actors attempt to do German accents; that may have made things easy for the cast, but in the first 20 minutes or so, I kept forgetting these were German soldiers we were following, and the scene in which the Germans meet the Americans was especially confusing as they all sounded exactly alike. John King (later, as Dusty King, a star of B-westerns) is fine as Ernst, though when he delivers his big speech at the end of the movie, he rushes through it like he's afraid he'll forget his lines. Cromwell is rather bland as Ludwig. Slim Summerville and Andy Devine are the comic relief soldiers who eventually wear out their welcome. Maurice Murphy is effective as the tragic Albert, and you'll recognize Lionel Atwill, Clara Blandick, Noah Beery Jr. and Spring Byington in small roles. This may not have been as powerful as Whale wanted, but it does still pack some punches, and is well worth seeing. Pictured is Larry Blake as Weil. [YouTube]