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With the loss of limbs and gory deaths shown rather explicitly, this is undoubtedly the most violent American film of its time. This is because the Production Code was not strictly enforced until 1934 and also because Universal Pictures deemed the subject matter important enough to allow the violence to be seen. The scene where a soldier grabs a strand of barbed wire and then is blown up by an artillery shell, leaving only his hands still grabbing the barbed wire, was told to director Lewis Milestone by a former German soldier working as an extra, who saw that happen during a French attack on his position during the war. Milestone used it in the film.

When Paul talks to the dead soldier in the pit, the soldier is breathing visibly and at one point his eyes blink.

Later reissues of the film mentioned that the film was an Academy Award winner in the opening credits.

The Library of Congess also restored a sound version, 133 minutes long, which is the version occasionally shown on American TV.

Edited into I ragazzi della via Paal (1934)