I'm not at all familiar with the 1956 film Attack. However, as a Classic Films buff of primarily pre-1955 movies, a couple much, much older anti-war films I can readily think of are the early-talkie 1930 All Quiet on the Western Front and the 1925 silent classic The Big Parade. I highly recommend each of those excellent, riveting movies.

It's not the first, but Abel Gance's J’accuse from 1919 is definitely worth a watch if you're interested in early anti-war films.

@adamcallroberts said:

It's not the first, but Abel Gance's J’accuse from 1919 is definitely worth a watch if you're interested in early anti-war films.

Thanks! Does that movie deal with fragging, cause that is my main interest, and such a sensitive topic for directors of the past.

It's more about the war dead and how they are treated by civilians.

I had to look up fragging. It's described as a soldier killing a senior officer usually with a hand grendade and specifically related to Vietnam. I can't think of any film where this happens.

As for anti-war films it's a pretty broad category so I will have to come back to that.

On the subject of mutiny the standards are the 1954 Caine Mutiny based on Herman Wouks novel, with Bogart and Van Johnson also from 1988 an adapted stage version with Jeff Daniels and Mutiny on the Bounty with versions made in 1935, 1962, and 1984.

Where All Quiet on the Western Front is concerned, there's no killing a superior with a grenade, though there's a scene with a different type attack of a despised officer by his troops.

The cowardly officer was too much of a caricature for this film to really engage me. They were one stop short of sticking pencils up his nostrils, making him wear his underpants on his head and giving Nazi salutes.

• spoilers*

The soldiers hands were forced when the officer pulled a gun on them then insisted on running out to alert the Nazis to their presence. It was all a bit of a cop out to me. Shooting him was the only option.

I think the film would have been a lot more interesting if the lead 'bad guy' had been more like Marvin's character. Obsessed about politics, happy to preside over ineptitude as long as it was kept quiet and lying to lower ranking officers about them not being due to be deployed. Would a soldier have put a bullet into such a creep for deception and causing deaths in a less pantomime way?

5/10

I meant to say that Bridge on the River Kwai also deals with the theme of misconduct by ranking officers, but in a quite different way to this film. Plus, its bloody awesome.