The Road Back 1937

Reviews (12)

1. M

   Marcus 8 月 23, 2026

   The American accents are so funny I can’t believe this was actually meant to be a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front

   4
2. D

   Douglas 8 月 23, 2026

   The First World War comes to an end, and a troop of German soldiers must make their way from the trenches back home. This is James Whale’s adaptation of a story by Erich Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front. Prior to WW2, I guess, Hollywood could make movies in which German soldiers were the heroes. In fact, in some early scenes, since all the actors have American accents and grey uniforms, you may find yourself forgetting who is who when American soldiers do appear. The Road Back was released one week before Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, one of the greatest of all war films. Whale’s film shares Renoir’s anti-elite, anti-nationalist sentiments. We also see considerable evidence of…

   6
3. P

   panduh987 8 月 23, 2026

   Do yourself a favor and make this a double feature with All Quiet. Unfortunately, we didn’t so I don’t think it was as effective as it could’ve been for us. There was humor, heart, and passion strewn within this. For me, all the bits in-between were a drag.

   3
4. P

   Paulo Polastri 8 月 23, 2026

   THE ROAD BACK No inverno de 1872, entre os móveis de jacarandá de um hotel cujas sacadas davam para a desmantelada praça da Vitória, dom José Hernández – inimigo de Sarmiento e de Mitre – quis demonstrar a degradação que opera sobre os habitantes de Buenos Aires o funesto regime militar e redigiu o poema antibélico El gaucho Martín Fierro. O herói – quem não sabe? – era um desertor do exército; seu companheiro, um desertor da polícia… Já conhecemos os resultados. Por volta de 1894, Unamuno descobriu que o livro de Hernández “era o canto do lutador espanhol que, depois de ter plantado a cruz em Granada, foi para América servir de avançada à civilização e abrir o caminho…

   7 3
5. T

   Tim Brayton 8 月 23, 2026

   The kind of film that has so much comic relief that you have to start wondering if “comic relief” is even the right term, or if it’s an actual full-on comedy with some serious interludes. Which isn’t an inherent problem, except that the comedy is at times enormously dreadful, centering as it mostly does around a young German man whose coming-of-age happens in the blood-muddied trenches of the war. And even that isn’t the problem; it’s that our fresh-faced young German is played by Andy fucking Devine, who I’ve only ever seen more disastrously miscast in the 1936 Romeo and Juliet. And when it’s not Devine, it’s a lanky, lazy veteran played by Slim Summerville, a comic character actor whose…

   17 1
6. P

   PUNQ 8 月 23, 2026

   Here is a movie you rarely hear anything about. The Road Back, the sequel to the first sound war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)! And it’s directed by none other then James Whale! Kind of odd that it’s not a better known anti-war film as it’s made during a time war once again was creeping around the corner. Sadly Universal decided to tone down any reference of the Nazis so not to hurt foreign revenue so this not the full vision of the director, nor the author. Kinda funny how the new owners over at Universal Pictures first kicked out the Jewish founders and then fired Whale to ensure Nazi money. The movie starts with the end…

   42
7. J

   JamesMayInAJar 8 月 23, 2026

   This movie is so fucking bad at keeping a serious tone, it’s either trying to be serious or is like a comedy. This movie was neutered to appease Nazi censors

   4
8. M

   Movie Good or Movie Bad? 8 月 23, 2026

   Far too tame, comedic, restrained, and censored to be an effective sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front. Actually baffling how this film functions when it was directed by James Whale, but it is also so reflective of how Hollywood bent the knee to the Nazis.

   9
9. C

   Chase 8 月 23, 2026

   Classic Hollywood cinema is resplendent with movies that have fallen through the cracks, endless titles that have faded from memory or been neglected despite several coming into existence from notably strong foundations, some of which potentially could’ve transcended their time had they been conceived and released at a less precarious moment in history. Such is the case with the film I’m reviewing in question, James Whale’s ambitious adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s The Road Back, itself a sequel to All Quiet On The Western Front. As a fan of both James Whale’s filmography and Erich Maria Remarque’s novels, The Road Back should’ve won me over… but sadly it did nothing for me even on a rewatch except leave me disappointed…

   7
10. J

    julia 8 月 23, 2026

    it’s too bad this was butchered by the studio to appease the nazis. there’s some genuinely good stuff in here like the court scene. although i think even without the cuts and comedic scenes it’d still be living in all quiet on the western front’s shadow

    2
11. J

    Jim Film 8 月 23, 2026

    All noisy in the central streets?

    84
12. E

    Everett Jones 8 月 23, 2026

    A far from successful film, which doesn’t make me less grateful for having been able to see an almost miraculously restored new 35mm print. An ensemble drama about German WWI veterans trying to readjust to their defeated land–the same subject as Frank Borzage’s Three Comrades–it’s undoubtedly a personal work, both for director James Whale (a WWI vet and German prisoner) and, if such a thing is possible, for the studio, Universal (reaching back to their moment of glory, the prior Erich Maria Remarque adaptation ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT). But it also seems to reveal that Whale, a master of baroque, often intentionally campy entertainments, couldn’t really make a sincere, straight-ahead drama. To be fair, Whale did score his…

    6