The Road Back (film)
German soldiers who survived World War I on the Western Front struggle to adjust to civilian life in the months following the Armistice of 11 November 1918. One makes a fortunate marriage. Another is attacked while still wearing his uniform and medals by a gang of "socialists" and is saved from death by other men from his unit. Another discovers that the woman he believed was his fiancée has been cheating on him with a man who avoided military service and made a fortune as a war profiteer. At least some are experiencing what is now known as PTSD. All find that Germany changed tremendously while they were at the front. The betrayed soldier kills the wealthy war profiteer and is tried for murder. Several of his fellow soldiers speak in his defense. The film was budgeted at $800,000 but went over budget. Frank S. Nugent of "The New York Times" panned the film, calling it "an approximation of the novel; it is touched occasionally with the author's bleak spirit. But most of the time it goes its own Hollywooden-head 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 Whale's direction "excellent" but found the story "an emasculated scenario without a strong finish". "Harrison's 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 audience's sympathy, the producers saw fit to stress the comedy angle, and to such a point that it weakens the picture's 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 film's "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. It's neither German nor anything else - just studio nether world. "
Writing for "Night and Day" in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a poor review, describing it briefly as "an awful film, one big Mother's Day, celebrated by American youth, plump, adolescent faces with breaking sissy voices". Greene's chief complaint was of the American mischaracterization of German war experiences, and he noted that the film "might be funny if it wasn't horrifying. [-] America seeing the world in its own image". Sky Movies wrote, "a somewhat belated sequel to "All Quiet on the Western Front", Universal's critically and commercially acclaimed anti-war drama, "The Road Back" didn't enjoy the same success... The strong statement Whale wanted to make was seen by some reviewers, but this original cut was withdrawn. It's a shame the film hasn't been restored to its former glory as it would be as much a classic as its illustrious predecessor." Leonard Maltin has called it a "heavy-handed sequel...interesting to watch but unsatisfying." However, "TV Guide" noted, "some of Whale's film does show through... The battle scenes are still powerful, and a special traveling crane was developed to shoot them, a gadget the director was so enamored of that he used it throughout the film. " Despite the film's negative reviews and production problems, it was one of the top-grossing films of 1936–37.
Critical reception
He returned two years later to direct "Green Hell", but never made another film for Universal after that.