On this day, the 100^th anniversary of the start of one of the bloodiest battles in world history, there can be really only one choice of movie for tonight and that is All Quiet On The Western Front. This movie was produced in 1979 and is adapted from the famous book of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War One, which was first published in 1928.

This World War One tale, told from the viewpoint of a German soldier, is a classic of 20^th Century literature and captures the disillusionment felt by the writer about the war. Although this is an account from the German perspective, we should remember that all nations suffered in that terrible conflagration. British, Germans, Indians, French and others were all made equal in death by World War One and the experiences and deprivation of the German soldiery was probably not that much different fro that suffered by our troops.

This film tells the world that even those who survived the shelling, the machine guns and the poison gas, they were still destroyed by the war itself.

A classic film from a classic book. If people are wondering why I chose this particular film then it’s because sadly there are no dramatic movies available to me on the subject of the Battle of the Somme itself, therefore this is the best I can do.

I’d like to take the opportunity to apologise for the adverts in the film which are a little intrusive but it’s a price worth paying for seeing such a milestone film without charge.