The Road Back is a 1937 American historical drama war film directed by James Whale, starring John King, Richard Cromwell, and Slim Summerville with a supporting cast featuring Andy Devine, Louise Fazenda, Noah Beery Jr., Lionel Atwill, Spring Byington, Al Shean, and an uncredited Dwight Frye.

[2] Combining a strong anti-war message with prescient warnings about the rising dangers of the dictatorship of Nazi Germany, it was intended to be a powerful and controversial picture, and Universal entrusted it to their finest director, James Whale.

The new studio heads, fearing financial loss, caved in to Nazi pressure and the film was partially reshot with another director, and the remainder extensively re-edited, leaving it a pale shadow of Whale's original intentions.

To the director's further displeasure, writer Charles Kenyon was ordered to interject the script with comedy scenes between Andy Devine and Slim Summerville, which Whale found unsuitable.

The squad's company launches an assault on French lines, and despite the heavy casualties sustained by both sides, the Germans manage to secure a trench; unbeknownst to the soldiers, the Armistice is being signed at the same time.

The Lieutenant is attacked while still wearing his uniform and medals by a gang of socialist revolutionaries and is saved from death by the rest of the squad, before discovering 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.

[1] Specialist marksman, George Daly (1888–1937), an ex-Marine who fired machine gun live ammunition at actors,[5] died in a stunt explosion during the opening battle scenes.

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.

"[9] 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.

[11] 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the same success...The strong statement Whale wanted to make was seen by some reviewers, but this original cut was withdrawn.