To accompany Andrew Kelly's lecture Lewis Milestone: From All Quiet on the Western Front to A Walk in the Sun in the University of Bristol Autumn Art Lecture Series 2014 on 25 November, we screen two of Milestone's finest films: one the greatest film about the First World War, the other the greatest film about World War Two. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), follows a group of German schoolboys talked into enlisting at the beginning of the war by their jingoistic teacher. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. A Walk in the Sun (1945), which will screen later in the day at 15:00, is a tribute to the American infantry campaign that followed the 1943 Salerno landings. Focussing on one platoon making its way inland to blow up a bridge next to a fortified farmhouse, it provides an unusually realistic picture of war as long quiet stretches of talk are punctuated by sharp, random bursts of violent action whose relevance to the big picture is often unknown to the soldiers.

Both screenings will be introduced by film historian Andrew Kelly, Director, Bristol Festival of Ideas and Bristol 2014.

In association with Watershed. 35mm film prints courtesy of the British Film Institute.

Biography:

Andrew Kelly is the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Story of a Film (1998) and Cinema and the Great War (1997) among 12 other books. He is currently writing a biography of Lewis Milestone and a book looking at Hollywood's 'greatest year', 1939, and cinema-going today. In 2014 he is directing Bristol's programme marking 100 years since the start of the First World War, the largest UK programme marking the centenary. He is director of Bristol Cultural Development Partnership and Bristol Festival of Ideas and is a visiting professor at the University of the West of England. His projects include Brunel 200, Bristol 800 and the annual Bristol Great Reading Adventure.

Ticket prices: £5.50 full / £4.00 concessions. Special offer: Get a combo ticket for All Quiet on The Western Front and A Walk in the Sun (which will screen at 15:00) and pay just £9.00 full / £6.00 concessions for both films. You can book this offer online.

This event is part of Bristol 2014, a partnership programme commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War and its impact upon the city. It is run in association with The World Changed: Extreme Times, Extraordinary MusicThe World Changed: Extreme Times, Extraordinary Music, a partnership between St George's Bristol and Bristol Music Trust exploring music and conflict in the 20th century through a series of concerts and special events throughout 2014, which is supported by Arts Council England and Bristol Festival of Ideas.

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