Zasu Pitts was originally cast as Mrs. Bäumer (mother of Lew Ayres' character Paul Bäumer), but she was replaced by Beryl Mercer. Contrary to long-standing rumor, Zasu Pitts did not appear in the silent version of this film simultaneously produced for theaters not yet wired for sound. However, Zasu Pitts DOES appear briefly in the original 1930 trailer for the silent version, a scene of her in bed.
Lewis Milestone deliberately made the film without music so as not to take away from the seriousness of the subject. Much to his chagrin, however, some movie theaters added music in of their own choosing, as they weren't used to having films delivered to them without any form of background scoring.
Lewis Milestone's attention to detail - and desire to be as authentic as possible - was such that the chief sanitary inspector of Orange County, California, insisted that production be halted while he check on the sanitary conditions of the trenches built for the film.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and even the book's author, Erich Maria Remarque, were both considered for the lead role.
According to the reminiscences of director Lewis Milestone, audiences laughed when Zasu Pitts appeared as the mother in the original cut (sound version), and that is why he recast the role with Beryl Mercer.
As of June 2010, Arthur Gardner is the only surviving member of either the cast or crew.
Banned in Italy until 1956.
During the film's German release, the Nazis (not yet in power) interrupted screenings by shouting martial slogans and releasing rats into the theaters.
Future great director George Cukor, having recently been brought over from Broadway (where he was already a director) to Hollywood, was employed as a dialogue coach on this film. His job was to lessen the regional dialects of the actors so that American audiences could more greatly identify with the characters.
Future leading director Fred Zinnemann was briefly an extra on the film, before getting fired for impudence.
In part because of his experience in playing the part of Paul Baumer, Lew Ayres became a conscientious objector during the Second World War. His films were banned in over 100 Chicago theaters.
In the closing scene, director Lewis Milestone's hand is used for that of Lew Ayres, when he reaches for a butterfly.
In the first classroom scene, two phrases are written on the blackboard: 1. in Greek, correctly written, the beginning of the Odyssey - Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, polytropon hos mala polla (the sentence breaks off, against grammar and sense); 2. Ovid, Remedia amoris, line 91 - Principiis obsta, sero medicina paratur (Resist the first elements of passion; it's too late when you resort to medicine). A third phrase appears at the end of the scene: Quidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem (Whatever you do, do it wisely and keep in mind your purpose), an anonymous traditional maxim with biblical echoes.
June 2008 Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Epic".
Made for the then considerable sum of $1.25 million, the production utilized over 2,000 extras. The knowledge that production began only a few months after the 1929 stock market crash puts into perspective the enormous gamble taken by Universal Pictures in making this film.
Nazi rabble rousers stormed screenings of the film in Germany, often releasing rats or stink bombs into the theaters, as the wounds of defeat in the First World War still ran deep. This led to the film ultimately being banned by the Nazi party. It wouldn't receive proper screenings in Germany until 1956, though it did play to packed houses in 1930 in neighboring Switzerland, France and the Netherlands with special trains and buses being laid on to transport Germans to screenings.
The film was banned in Germany by Nazi Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick on the grounds that it ignominiously represented Germans as cowards. Ironically, in neighboring Poland, that country's censorship board proscribed the film on account of it's being "pro-German."
The first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Before this there were two Best Picture-like awards given in 1929 at the 1st Annual Academy Awards. One for Best Picture, Production (Wings) and one for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production (Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans)
The first sound film of director Lewis Milestone.
The first talkie war film to win Academy Awards.