Lewis Milestone’s ground-breaking sound film epic treats WWI not as an allegory, as many of its predecessors had, but as a painfully human story, showing the hopes and fears of a group of young men being thrust into battle. While in no way an obscure film, it had been cut to ribbons by a variety of editors over the years until it was merely a shell of its former self. Enter The Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center, which worked diligently for more than five years to restore this magnificent film as close as possible to its original form.
