" Catherine had chosen he dress because she thought her mother wore one like it.But then her father compares her unfavorably to his deceased wife - alleged o have more brilliance and beauty: "Your mother was fair.The next day, Jim""s first day at his new high school, he nervously leaves for school from his suburban home without eating breakfast with his family, but he is forced to take his father""s advice about choosing his friends and not letting them choose him:You knock ""em dead like your old man used to.This stark, slightly stagey, 87-minute black and white film, shot on location in Germany with crisp B/W photography (by George Krause) with a budget less than $1 million, is as compelling and harsh an indictment and criticism of war as Lewis Milestone""s award-winning, anti-war classicAll Quiet On The Western Front (1930), adapted from Erich Maria Remarque""s novel.[Russell is theonlyactor ever to wintwoOscars for the same role.He wouldn""t act again untilInside Moves (1980)andDogtown (1997).] Under-rated actor Dana Andrews was denied a deserved Oscar nomination, as a returning ""fly-boy.""Oscar-winning epic director William Wyler""s cinematographer, Gregg Toland, known for his depth of focus camerawork in previous films (such asCitizen Kane (1941)andThe Little Foxes (1941)) contributed his talent to the three-hour long black and white film masterpiece with richly-textured and crisp images, deep-focus shots, and framed scenes.[Note: these views are similar to future maze tracking shots, and to the interior of the hotel in the film - a vast series of labyrinthine hallways, doorways and corridors, with a winding red/black/orange carpet design.