Alternate versions

The DVD release is the edited version which was shown in European theaters in the early 80s. Approximately 20 minutes of footage was cut from the original Hallmark Hall of Fame production which aired on American TV in 1979, including two scenes immediately following the award ceremony: the soldiers discuss the causes of the war in their billet while Himmelstoss listens in icy silence, and Paul and his friends admire and make lewd comments about a pretty girl on a theater poster. Also, the scene of Paul carrying the wounded Kat to the dressing station is greatly reduced, eliminating the rest stop and conversation in which Paul tries to give Kat his address.

In the full version of the film, the back story of Himmelstoss is greatly expanded to include an introductory scene in which Himmelstoss is shown to have been the town mailman, often harassed by Paul and his friends, and then in an ironic twist became their drill instructor since he was a reservist in the Army. This matches the same back story as shown in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

A 129 minute version was given a cinema release in Europe in the early-1980s.