Hell on Earth (1931 film)

The film is mainly set in a dugout, formed from a basement, in the no man's land between the trenches and front lines during the First World War.

A ruined house is entered by a soldier stranded between the lines who then discovers an injured man trapped beneath a heavy beam in the basement. The man has no uniform and is rescued by him and another man who we finally realise are on different sides. The injured man cannot speak and is helped out by the other two. They try to leave and return to their own lines but are fired upon by both sides and so return to the safety of the basement.

More soldiers find the safe haven in between all the firing and death, with the credits listing the characters as The Englishman, The Frenchman, The Russian Jew, The Vaudevillian and The German. The storyline follows arguments and discussions between them and ends with them marching out together with a final commentary declaring the sentiment of peace "Marching forward. Defying their common enemy - WAR."

Ernst Busch's version of "Der heimliche Aufmarsch" (The Secret Deployment) by Erich Weinert (poem) and Hanns Eisler (music) is played at the end of the film.

• Knight, Arthur (1957). The Liveliest Art: A Panoramic History of the Movies. New York: Macmillan. p. 196. OCLC 1031724974.

• Niemandsland at IMDb
• Hell on Earth is available for free download at the Internet Archive