Ernst Lubitsch's one completely serious film is a bitter anti-war treatise containing irony, even satire, but little humor. The World War I story follows a young French soldier (Phillips Holmes) who is led by guilt and sorrow to seek out the family of the German soldier he killed during the war. Today, it is noted for Lubitsch's masterful film technique, in which images and sounds from everyday life are continually placed in ironic contrast with those of the war: the opening sequence, in which church bells alternate with cannons and soldiers enter a church to the sound of clanking sabres, sets the tone for the whole film. But Lubitsch does not hesitate to abandon sound altogether when tension can be built from silence, or to replace dialogue with natural sounds.