The Road Back

In the film Gods and Monsters, Ian McKellen wonderfully plays Whale recalling his hatred of making this film, the film Whale intended to be the crowning achievement of his career.

The first world war was still close to Whale as he made this film nearly 20 years after it ended. Whale intended the film end with a more sarcastic touch of showing the Nazis as war mongers, warping the minds of youths, but the final cut of this film was taken out of his hands.

The Road Back has some signature Whale touches. Yes, the camera dollies through a wall from outside on a street to the inside of a building, following a character entering it. Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Lionel Atwill and a few other Whale favorites play minor characters with character. He had his usual crew of Ted Kent editing, John Mescall shooting, John Fulton with special effects and the great Charles D. Hall as set designer. You would expect a horror film with all these names. Yet the film does not stand up next to his horror films, nor to Show Boat, Kiss Before the Mirror or Waterloo Bridge. It is a notch below.

It's hard to tell how much of it has to do with the editing. There were also completely unnecessary comedy scenes that did not belong that I understand were re-shot by the orders of studio head Charles D. Rogers, a man who clearly knew nothing of the studio he had taken over from the Laemmles.

Even if Whale had final cut, this film seems like its' story somewhat misses the mark. It works and is an admirable picture, but it seems to lack the scope that would have given it more power. The characters talk about how the war changes them, but we are shown very little of HOW they changed. They seem unhappy, but there is no real emotion. They too often seem like mouthpieces for Whale's beliefs and not like real people. It would have been a better film if it expanded on the souls of the characters and been a half hour longer or so. It probably would have actually moved faster than it does. We go from the war to the classroom to the bars and to the courtroom and it just seems to want to become an epic, but it can't.

Still, this film is worth watching, especially for Whale fans who want to see his last solid, good film. He was never again to be as creative or interested in his stories.

This anti-war film follows the lives of some German soldiers who find difficulty adjusting to life after the horrors of the front-line in World War I.

This film is often considered a spiritual follow up of sorts to the movie considered the first classic of the talkie era, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Like that one, this one is unusual in that it follows the 'enemy' side, the Germans. I think, though, this decision was more expedient than outreaching in the cases of both films in that by doing so it allowed the screenwriters to criticise the authorities more, as it was the German rulers who were the recipients of the anti-war sentiments. Still, it must also have humanised the German enemy for many viewers and this is obviously no bad thing. It is also notable for being directed by James Whale, who was one of the directorial masters of his day, in particular for his classic horror movies for Universal. So, this studio used him to helm this film but they found themselves with a very controversial movie, one which was bluntly critical of the then new Nazi regime in Germany. As a consequence, the Nazis demanded changes to the movie, which if not met would result in all Universal films being banned from that nation. With this huge threat to its European distribution prospects, the studio buckled and the film was partially re-shot and re-edited. It lost much of its power in the process. The remaining film has some interesting things about it but it pales significantly when compared to All Quiet on the Western Front and its overall dynamics are not especially strong or compelling enough to make this no more than an interesting footnote in movie history.

It was in 1932 that James Whale found another piece of candy after 'Frankenstein'. It was called 'The Road Back', and it was the follow up novel to 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.

Universal was going to buy the rights and make the film. The book was not even written yet, but Remarque wanted fifty-thousand dollars.

But, when the book was published, it turned out to be not so hot. Universal decided to spend the money on other films, including 'Frankenstein'.

The film was revived though, after the Laemmles had lost the studio. Filming began on a strongly rainy night on January 27th, 1937.

It was a bad time to be shooting films outdoors. One man was killed when an explosive device knocked a gunner's tripod into shrapnel. George Daly, one of the actors, was pierced through the chest with a piece of wood.

The film went rapidly over budget and over time.

Then came the German government.

To make a long story short, they threatened Universal, and they threatened even some of the actors in the film. They wanted the movie to be killed. Charlie Rogers the production chief knew that he would not get the film into Germany, or into other countries pressured by Germany.

John King, the star was a downfall. Whale had decided to employ relatively unknown, and some actually unknown actors, as he had done in his early days in the London stage.

King simply couldn't handle the role, and the film was nearly finished before Whale realized it. Whale did what he did to actors that couldn't act well enough. He ignored him. He wasn't a particularly helpful man.

When the film was finished, it was two and a half weeks overdue and about two hundred thousand dollars over. That overage was enough for many a Universal movie, in total.

Whale got himself on the bad side of Charlie Rogers at that point. Whale got himself loaned out to Warner Brothers, and left Ted Kent, his favorite editor to handle the cut.

Then the German problem came back. As the film was about to be released, suddenly it was drawn back. Pressure from the German Embassy again.

Universal did have a fair amount of money invested in German properties. For whatever reason, Rogers found himself with a million dollar movie which he couldn't export, except to England. He gave in, and the movie was taken away from Kent and, to a great extent, destroyed.

The European nations that would not take the film without the changes largely still didn't take them. Brazil, China and Brazil refused it too, by German government request.

It was truly a disaster in just about every way.

But it was not the fault of James Whale.

Saw this at what is now presumed to be the final Cinefest, a Syracuse festival of old films that never get shown, and it was a highlight. An antiwar epic that was Whale's followup to "Show Boat," and two more different films can't be imagined, it's an impassioned look at the last days of World War 1 from the Germans' perspective, and the aftermath. Whale worked from a good screenplay by R.C. Sheriff (he'd also filmed Sheriff's "Journey's End" years before), and the war sequences are quite stunning. What hurts the film is some probably studio-imposed comic relief in the second half, undercutting the strong drama, and a leading man, John King, who simply wasn't up to it. But there's an excellent supporting cast, including Slim Summerville, whose role is partly but not entirely comic, and who shows subtleties his comic performances couldn't contain. Other unexpected people turn up, like Louise Fazenda and Dwight Frye, and the third act allows for some fine antiwar sermonizing that's still pertinent. It's superbly designed and directed, and one wishes it could be shown more.

In the years following WWI, slowly the former Allied Powers came to realize that this war was a pointless waste of lives. As a result, there were many war films of the 1930s that humanized the German enemy and discussed this new view of this awful war. The problem is, although films like "J'Accuse" and "All Quiet on the Western Front" were right...the timing was poor, as it encouraged these countries to disarm and see the Germans very favorably....just as Hitler was coming into power! Of these anti-war/pro-German films, "The Road Back" is probably the most unfortunately timed, as only a very short time later, the world's love of Germany began to diminish quickly--with Nazis taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia and Kristalnacht, in which Jews were slaughtered. Not surprisingly, the American audiences were no longer eager to see the Germans as victims...and "The Road Back".

The irony to all this is that the original book (by Erich Maria Remarque--the same man who wrote "All Quiet on the Western Front") DID have a strong anti-Nazi message and COULD have been a very effective film in preparing the world for the Nazi menace. Unfortunately, the studio removed this from the film in an attempt to make the movie acceptable abroad...especially in places that were pro-German! In the end, however, no one wanted the picture--the Germans STILL didn't think it was pro-German enough and folks who were scared of the mounting German aggression were not in the mood for such a film! Ultimately, it ended up being shown very few places.

The story begins in the final days of WWI. A group of German soldiers who have managed to remain alive and remain friends are trying to make it out of the war alive. Most do...only to find life back home is not at all easy nor pleasant. Communists at home are calling for revolution and officers returning from the front are attacked. Additionally, food shortages, no jobs and a broken economy spell disaster for the men and their families. In other words...life really sucked. And, it gets even worse when one of them kills a man. Why? Watch the film to find out for yourself.

While the film does not come out with an overtly pro-Nazi message because the Nazis are never mentioned, the film's covert message seems to be "Germany was a mess...until the Nazis came and brought peace and prosperity". Despite this and its strong anti-Communist message*, the German government banned the film anyway. I guess Hitler and his comrades just weren't taking any chances with this movie...though it sure seems like it would have been effective pro-German propaganda if used by them--especially if you chopped off the confusing and unnecessary minute of the picture. As for the quality of the film, it is exceptionally well made and if it weren't for its pro-Nazi bent, it would be a very good film.



* By the way, both the Communists AND Nazis were tearing the nation apart during this post-war period. Both promised prosperity...provided you gave them a free hand to deal with problems their way! Often, this resulted in gun fights in the streets between the two factions....though the film never mentions the Nazi part in all this violence.