Switched from 16 to 8mm for a few weeks to catch up with a few titles.
Tonight's viewing for me was this very good release from Walton of the 1979 version of All Quite on the Western Front. Originally supplied on 2 x 400ft spools this one fills an Elmo 800ft reel. The actual print as always with Walton is very good, nice and sharp with excellent clear sound with a decent amount of bass which for a war film adds to the impact. I have seen the full film once on TV and can confirm that Walton have done a very good job with this 35 minutes version. Not too sure of the film stock but unusually this one does have the early signs of fade, however, these images are not particularly good, the colours are a whole lot better than these images show, especially in the muddy battlefield, here they appear a bit red but they are very brown. A very good cast including, Richard, (John-boy from the Walton's), Thomas, the brilliant Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence and Ian Holm.
Here is the plot edited to this edition,
Paul Baumer, during World War I, enlists in the German army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher (Donald Pleasence) as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the brutal Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), the young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of Stanislaus "Kat" Katzinsky, (Ernest Borgnine). Kat explains that he will teache them how to best take cover, how to find extra food, and other survival skills. When Paul and his battalion return to a French town for a rest week, they see the new recruits have grown younger and younger. To their delight, the leader of these new recruits is their recently demoted training officer, Himmelstoss.
When home on leave, Paul is told by his sister that their mother (Patricia Neal), is dying of cancer. In visits to a beer garden and his former classroom, Paul realises that his town's older men, in their enthusiasm for war, have no sense of the horrors they have sent their youth to. He also visits Kemmerich's mother and lies to her that he did not suffer. Just before the end of the film, Kat is wounded by an artillery burst and Paul carries him many miles to a field hospital. There he finds out that Kat is dead.
Paul walks through the trench checking on the younger soldiers, having taken up Kat's position as a mentor. He spots a bird and begins to sketch it, and when the bird starts to fly away Paul stands up to see where it went, exposing himself above the trench parapet. A lone sniper's shot rings out, killing him. A telegram with the film's title is shown to the viewer, revealing a segment from a report issued by the German High Command, “All quite on the Western Front”.

Tom,
These reviews you put up are really well-done--makes me want to see this film!
Sadly, I can't get past thinking of Richard Thomas as John-Boy Walton rather than the tragic German soldier...
I will go off on a tangent here for a moment: Recently, I got a bunch of unknown film reels and one of them happened to be from an old B&W Paulette Goddard movie. She was quite striking--especially if you see a pic of her in color. I hadn't heard of her before so I looked her up on the internet and apparently from 1952 to 1970 she was married to Erich Maria Remarque who was the author of the story "All Quiet on the Western Front"....just a bit of trivia I thought was mildly interesting.

Greg that is some interesting info there. Thanks for that, it goes well with the review. Also, thank you for your kind words. i enjoy putting them on here. As long as they get a few readers and responses i shall do my best to keep them going.
I must admit, although Richard Thomas does a pretty good job in this film they ought to have chosen a different actor for the role, but he is pretty good, a stark contrast to John Boy thats for sure.
I wonder if this movie appeared in any of the last catalogues from Walton.

It isn't one I remember Tom from their catalogue days. That isn't to say it wasn't featured ever, just that I don't remember seeing it.