The director of All Quiet on the Western Front shows that the producers never actually read the book!

>During the making of his grim antiwar film *All Quiet on the Western Front* (1930), [Lewis Milestone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Milestone1.jpg) was pressured by Universal producers, who wanted the drama to end happily. The director resisted, preferring to remain true to [Erich Maria Remarque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Erich_Maria_Remarque.jpg)’s novel, based on the author’s experiences in the German army during World War I. >But at one point he called one of the producers on the telephone and said, “I’ve got your happy ending. We’ll let the Germans win the war.” ___________________________________ **Source:** Boller, Paul F., and Ronald L. Davis. "Drama." *Hollywood Anecdotes*. New York: Morrow, 1987. 233-34. Print. **Original Source(s) Listed:** Lewis Milestone, interview taped in Los Angeles, July 23, 1979, SMUOHC. Dimitri Tiomkin, *Please Don’t Hate Me* (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959), pp. 170-71. ____________________________ **Further Reading:** [All Quiet on the Western Front (Film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_(1930_film)) [Leib Milstein / Lewis Milestone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Milestone) [Universal Studios / Universal Pictures / Universal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Studios) [Erich Paul Remark / Erich Maria Remarque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Maria_Remarque) [Im Westen nichts Neues (lit. “In the West Nothing new”) / All Quiet on the Western Front (Novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front)