The Road Back (film)

The Road Back is a 1937 drama film made by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale. The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and R. C. Sherriff from the eponymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Combining a strong antiwar message with prescient warnings about the dangers of the rising Nazi regime, it was intended to be a powerful and controversial picture, and Universal entrusted it to their finest director, James Whale.

The despair and disillusionment of four men who return to civilian life in Germany after the First World War.Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times panned the film, calling it an approximation of the novel it is touched occasionally with the authors bleak spirit. But most of the time it goes its own Hollywoodenhead way, playing up the comedy, melodramatizing rather than dramatizing, reaching at last toward a bafflingly inconclusive conclusion ... It is distressing to watch the mutilation of a great theme. Variety called Whales direction excellent but found the story an emasculated scenario without a strong finish. Harrisons Reports wrote that given the material, the producers should have turned out a stirring dramatic account of the difficulties for men, just back from war, in readjusting themselves. Instead of dwelling on these difficulties and arousing the audiences sympathy, the producers saw fit to stress the comedy angle, and to such a point that it weakens the pictures dramatic quality. John Mosher of The New Yorker thought the task of adapting the novel for the screen was a challenging one and gave Whale credit for handling some of the films difficulties with tact, but found the comedy element confusing, almost embarrassing. Also it is definitely not German, and, along with the very American boys of the cast, the essential atmosphere is often bewildering. Its neither German nor anything else just studio nether world. ........

Source: Wikipedia