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ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 125
reality of the scene and understand the terror in that boy's mind. In view of the farcical way in which similar scenes have been treated in other war films, Milestone deserves the highest praise for his restrained direction. The same may be said of the scene in the hospital when Kemmerich is dying, and the tactlessness of Muller as he tries to persuade the unhappy Kemmerich to give him his yellow leather boots. And later, when Paul realizes that Kemmerich is but one of thousands similarly hurt and that there is no reason why more care should be taken of him than of the others. Paul takes the famous boots and comes out into the sunshine,, the fresh open air, into a world full of marching troops and movement. He comes abruptly from death to life. He starts walking quickly and thinking strange things until he is running. Back in the dug-out he quietly gives the boots to Muller, who eagerly accepts them and puts them on. Paul can think only of Kemmerich. We dissolve rapidly through a series of shots showing the future happenings of the boots, changing from owner to owner as each in turn is shot. How useless is a good pair of boots when their proud possessor is lying with his mutilated face in the mud. This small commentary of the boots, lasting only a few seconds, is good; it emphasizes more than anything else in the whole film the minute-to-minute existence led by the men, the suddenness of death.
Not all the picture, however, reaches this level. There are several scenes in which Milestone has failed to bring out the full content, chiefly, I think, because he has relied too much on the " acting " of his players