Last night, TCM showed the 1930 version of “All Quiet on the Western Front”, an excellent film in and of itself; but, TCM showed the SILENT version of it. I know it is not “silent” as I have the “talkie” version of this same production. WTF?

I listened to Ben Mankiewicz’s intro and epilogue commentary and NOT ONCE did he say that they were going to show that SILENT version. This may be taking the concept of “quiet” a bit too far here!

Well, at least I know that “Wing” wasn’t a “talkie” from the beginning.

In 1930, Hollywood was finishing up the transition to sound films, but in many parts of the country, movie theaters had not yet converted to project sound films. It was not uncommon for films to be made in both sound and silent versions, or have films which began production as silents, converted to sound.
What's unusual in the instance of TCM's broadast of the silent version is that right now, TCM is playing only Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films and TTBOMK, only the sound version of this film won for best picture.

Perhaps a mistake on the part of TCM.

Thanks for you reply Para. Just now received an answer from the TCM folks too. Mankiewicz could have said up-front that this was the “silent” version that took the Oscar, and that the “talkie” re-release version didn’t come out until 1939; that would have obviated my confusion.

“It was originally released as the silent version, so that's the one that won the Best Picture Oscar. Sound was not added until its re-release in 1939, and several other versions were released after that. As usual, TCM provides the original, authentic version.“

Sorry, no, this is not correct. The sound version of this film premiered in New York in April of 1930.

A complete cut of the film lasting 152 minutes, silent with synchronised sound, was first shown in Los Angeles on April 21, 1930 and premiered in New York on April 25, 1930. A sound version was released in NYC on April 29, 1930. A 147-minute version was submitted to the British censors, which was cut to 145 minutes before the film premiered in London June 14, 1930. The film went on general release in the US on August 24, 1930. In 1939, it was re-released as a proper sound version, which was cut down to ten reels

The version you saw last night- did it begin as a silent with intertitles, then had periods of sound conversations, then back to a silent with intertitles? Or was it silent with intertitles for the entire film?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Sorry, no, this is not correct. The sound version of this film premiered in New York in April of 1930.

A complete cut of the film lasting 152 minutes, silent with synchronised sound, was first shown in Los Angeles on April 21, 1930 and premiered in New York on April 25, 1930. A sound version was released in NYC on April 29, 1930. A 147-minute version was submitted to the British censors, which was cut to 145 minutes before the film premiered in London June 14, 1930. The film went on general release in the US on August 24, 1930. In 1939, it was re-released as a proper sound version, which was cut down to ten reels

The version you saw last night- did it begin as a silent with intertitles, then had periods of sound conversations, then back to a silent with intertitles? Or was it silent with intertitles for the entire film?

Sorry for delay in answering, just now saw your question.

The entire movie had only dialogue screen cards, with music and sound effects throughout. The song “Wacht am Rhine” by the schoolboys at beginning of movie was heard as being sung, but all dialogue was seen being said and then screen card for it.

So, that was the first version- silent with synchronized sound. The second version is what played all across the country in 1930, and this second version is what was nominated by the Academy.

I guess this is what you get when you have interns answering TCM emails. I wonder if that intern thinks the dialogue from the film was recorded nine years after the fact.
The 1939 re-release of course uses dialogue which was recorded in 1929/1930, during the production of the film.

TCM got this one wrong.

This is one of my favorite films. The non silent version. The remake with Johnboy and Marty wasn't bad either but this one I catch whenever I can.