Paths of Glory

Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, Paths of Glory is an anti-war film about a group of French soldiers who are accused of cowardice during a battle as their colonel tries to defend them against these charges. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and screenplay by Kubrick, Jim Thompson, and Calder Willingham, the film explores war at its ugliest as it’s set during the first World War. Starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, and George Macready. Paths of Glory is a chilling anti-war drama from Stanley Kubrick.

It’s 1916 during World War I as the trench warfare between the French and Germans is reaching a breaking point where General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) of the French General Staff asks his insubordinate in General Mireau (George Macready) to lead the attack. Mireau accepts the job in hopes for a big promotion thinking it will succeed as he goes to the trenches to inspect where he encounters a few shell-shocked soldiers and its leader Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas). The two officers discuss their plan of attack where Dax is convinced taking that hill would be impossible as it will kill lots of men but Mireau remains convinced that the mission will succeed. The drunken Lieutenant Roget (Wayne Morris) heads a scouting report Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker) and another soldier where things go bad when the soldier doesn’t return where Paris makes a discovery about what happened.

On the day of the battle, Dax leads the soldiers to attack and capture the hill but the results become extremely impossible as a regiment refuses to move outside of the trenches. Mireau is angered by this as he asks for artillery to fire on his own troops but gets into an argument with Artillery Captain Rousseau (John Stein) who wants a signed paperwork for the attack. The battle is over as Mireau wants punishment on what he believes is cowardice though Dax refutes the claim after what he went through in battle. Dax reluctantly asks his officers to get three different men to answer the charges of cowardice as Corporal Paris, Private Ferol (Timothy Carey), and Private Arnuad (Joe Turkel) are chosen despite their innocence. Dax defends them in their court-martial trial where he realizes that not even his passionate defense will help these men as they’re set to face execution.

With the execution happening as the soldiers are anguished over what is to happen, Colonel Dax’s discover Captain Rousseau’s reports over his conversation with Mireau. After reporting it to Broulard in hopes to save his men and expose Mireau, it isn’t enough where Dax realizes the games that Broulard is playing would undermine everything he stands for.

The film is about a colonel trying to defend three young soldiers from a general’s blunder where he realizes that the general might get away with it and three men will die for his mistakes. It’s a film that revels into the idea of war as it involves officers trying to create a positive spin on battle where they’re willing to risk thousands of soldiers into an impossible situation where they’re killed. Leading all of this is a staff general who is masterminding everything for the good what he thinks will be for the good of the country. Helping him is a general who really becomes a lackey for this officer because he thinks the success of taking that hill will get him a promotion and prestige. Then there’s this idealistic colonel, who was once a defense attorney, who knows more about his soldiers and what they’re dealing with as he is at the center of the battlefield trying to rally his soldiers into fighting only to face the impossible.

The screenplay that Stanley Kubrick, Jim Thompson, and Calder Willingham create explores the fallacies of war where there’s soldiers who are aware that they’re fighting something that is impossible. They know they’re going to get killed but they don’t want to die as cowards. Things get worse when Colonel Dax learns that they were going to be killed by their own guns during battle all because they wouldn’t move out of their trenches amidst a barrage of artillery fire. While the battle scenes and other combat-related parts of the film only takes a portion of the film. A lot of is set outside of the war ground where officers try to devise what to do or how to create damage control to not deal with public embarrassment.

By blaming three innocent soldiers for one general’s mistake, it’s up to Colonel Dax to defend them in a court-martial trial but is faced with power that is above him. There are things in the courtroom where all of these officers are listening to what Dax and these men are saying but they could care less where Dax would make a passionate monologue about the decision they’re about to make. That decision would unveil lots of harsh truths about the fate of these men as they’re really just pawns in an ugly game where they have no control of what they can do and their lives have no meaning to these men sitting in chairs inside a mansion. It displays a disgusting act of humanity in the part of these men as a colonel is the one trying to defy them where what he would get in the end would be a real insult. It’s a truly engrossing screenplay that suggests the fallacy of war in the hands of men who care about prestige rather than humanity.

Kubrick’s direction is truly entrancing for the way he creates tension and suspense in and outside the battlefield yet it is still focused on this theme of conflict. Notably a conflict on morals where men are forced to be put into positions driven by the mad desire of other men. There’s a lot of tension that goes in the trenches where Kubrick has the character of Mireau walking towards the camera as it tracks his movement inside these trenches where soldiers salute him. It’s among some of the more stylish shots that goes in the battlefield where there’s a chilling scene where three men are scouting at night to see what is happening where it’s all about the emotions and sense of fear that is happening.

There’s a lot of these terrifying shots of men trekking around the battlefield where they have to evade all of this gunfire around them and through this chaos. It is clear that these men are facing the impossible as there’s a lot of tension outside where Mireau is trying to talk to Captain Rousseau to fire at the group of soldiers not wanting to move but Rousseau refuses because what Mireau is doing is dishonorable in the game of war. Once the film moves out of the battlefield and inside these lavish German palaces where the top officers and generals are sitting comfortably in chairs and eating. It becomes a courtroom film of sorts but there’s a feeling that things won’t play fairly because it’s all about these men in great uniforms as they’re trying to deal with a colonel and his accused soldiers. For these soldiers, they’re picked for these accusation of cowardice where one is a social misfit, one is chosen randomly, and another is picked because of personal reasons. Kubrick has them inside a dark room where they’re all trying to deal with the fate that is set upon them.

There’s tension in the room as Kubrick has his camera capturing all of this drama while there’s a party going on inside the mansion. The film’s aftermath where Dax confronts Mireau and Broulard over what happened at the battlefield reveals far more harsh truths. The direction is very intimate but also telling in the way the fate of three innocent soldiers are played and how Dax is really one of them despite wearing a prestigious uniform. There’s an air of sentimentality that is followed where the film’s final scene is a sobering one because of the sense of loss that is happening. Particularly as Dax is watching this very powerful moment only to realize that a war is still going on but he says something that is quite sobering to end the film. That ending manages to work as it is an indication of the power Kubrick has as a filmmaker as he crafts a very majestic but visceral anti-war film that rings true about its horror and fallacies.

Cinematographer George Krause does incredible work with the film‘s very evocative cinematography from the gorgeous interiors with its shading to help set a mood for the film to the nighttime exterior in the scouting scene to help create an air of suspense. Editor Eva Kroll does fantastic work with the editing by creating intense rhythmic cuts for some of the film‘s battle scenes as well as a few transitional dissolves to help the film move at a brisk pace. Art director Ludwig Reiber does excellent work with the set pieces such as the lavish halls in the mansion that the officers meet at to the more claustrophobic room that Dax lives in to establish their different personalities.

Costume designer Ilse Dubois does wonderful work with the costumes to establish the uniforms these men wear from the more ragged but still refined look of Dax to the more prestigious uniforms with medals for the characters of Mireau and Broulard. The sound work of Martin Muller is great for the way the sounds of gunfire is heard throughout the film‘s intense battle scene along with the sparse but atmospheric scenes in the court-martial trial where there‘s a great mix in the way Dax‘s voice is heard in the hall where he gives out his passionate monologue. The film’s score by Gerald Fried is superb for its military-driven score to play up the sense of war as well as low-key orchestral pieces for some of the dramatic scenes.

The film’s cast is brilliant as it features some memorable small roles from Fred Bell as a shell-shocked soldier, Emile Meyer as Father Dupree, Jerry Hausner as a café proprietor, Bert Freed as Staff Sergeant Boulanger, Wayne Morris as the drunken Lieutenant Roget, John Stein as Artillery Captain Rousseau, and Stanley Kubrick’s then-future wife Christiane as the German singer at the end of the film. Other noteworthy performances include Joe Turkel as the anguished Private Arnaud, Timothy Carey as the emotionally-troubled Private Ferol, and Ralph Meeker as the no-nonsense yet cautious Corporal Paris.

Adolphe Menjou is excellent as General Broulard who masterminds all of the things that is happening as a staff member while trying to spin things for the good of the military. George Macready is great as the immoral General Mireau whose mistakes has him trying to do things the wrong way while becoming a target for Dax as it’s a truly incredible role for Macready. Finally, there’s Kirk Douglas in a tremendous performance as the idealistic Colonel Dax who represents all that is good in humanity where he tries to save the lives of three accused men while dealing with both Mireau and Broulard for how they try to deal with things.

***Additional Content Written from 5/31/18-6/29/18***

The 2010 Region 1/Region A DVD/Blu-Ray release from the Criterion Collection presents the film in its 1:66:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 2.0. Mono sound (uncompressed in its Blu-Ray release) in a newly restored high-digital transfer made with the permission of Stanley Kubrick’s estate. The film features an array of special features including its original theatrical trailer. The audio commentary track from film critic Gary Giddins about the film as he talks about Kubrick, actor Kirk Douglas, the cast, and the comparisons of the film and the book by Humphrey Cobb that Kubrick adapted with Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson. Giddins talks about a lot of the visual aspects of the film as well as what Willingham and Thompson contributed though it did lead to issues as Willingham claimed to have written almost the entire film which wasn’t true.

Giddins also talks about some of the actors as well as Kubrick’s collaboration with Douglas who was the producer in the film and hired Kubrick to get the film made. Though their relationship was contentious in their next and last collaboration in Spartacus, the two were friendlier in this film as they both wanted to make something different although Kubrick was looking for a commercial hit. Giddins also talked about why the film is often overlooked in comparison to Kubrick’s later films like 2001: A Space Odyssey as it refers to its sentimental ending which some critics disliked yet Giddins feels that it worked and still works many years later as he also talked about how the film presents a battle scene in comparison to a recent film in Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone in terms of editing as he states his disdain for Greengrass’ film due to its fast-cutting style. Still, Giddins’ commentary remains fascinating for its insight into a film that often never gets its due as it does have fans who are passionate about the film.

A two-minute audio excerpt of a 1966 interview with Stanley Kubrick has the director talking about the film as well as its reception in its initial release as well as tidbits on the film’s production as well as the fact that he met his wife Christiane on the film set as it would include pictures of the production. The 30-minute 1979 interview with Kirk Douglas from the show Parkinson that was aired on February 3, 1979 has Douglas talking with Michael Parkinson about his career and background. Douglas also talks about making Paths of Glory as it was a film he wanted to do because he read the script and talked about how difficult it was to get it made. Even as Kubrick wasn’t a big deal back then as he convinced United Artists to get the film made while the rest of the interview is just downright entertaining with Douglas being relaxed, charming, open, and making the audience laugh.

The nine-minute interview with Stanley Kubrick’s brother-in-law/executive producer Jan Harlan has Harlan talk about Kubrick’s career as well as his methods as a filmmaker. Harlan discusses many of Kubrick’s films and how they all relate to each other thematically as well as why his films took such a long time to make. Even as it relates to budget where a daily budget for a studio film would be equal to what Kubrick would use in a week’s time. Harlan also talks about Kubrick’s disdain for the word “genius” as he says that Bach hated that word saying that genius is 10% talent and 90% hard work which is probably true. The 21-minute interview with producer James B. Harris has Harris discussing his collaboration with Kubrick as well as the development of the film which did take a while. Harris also talked his role as a producer as he also did work as a cameraman for the shoot some shots in the battle scenes which was the last scene shot in the production. Harris also talked about some of the difficulty including an incident with actor Timothy Carey who had gotten in trouble with the authorities and was ousted from production because of his troubles.

The seven-minute interview with Kubrick’s wife Christiane Kubrick has Kubrick’s widow talk about her performance in the film and how she met Stanley who saw her on German television. She talked about not just the role she played but also the song she sang as she admits to not being a great singer but that was what Kubrick wanted. She also talked about Kubrick’s other films and the comments his film often gets for being cold and dark as she says that they aren’t entirely true. Even as she would reveal her own paintings that featured Kubrick in her work as it showed that she’s a unique artist in her own right. A three-minute TV piece on the real-life execution party that inspired the film that was shown on French TV in January of 1997 is a brief clip about the incident in 1915 and a widow’s 20-year attempt to clear her husband’s name and a student of that widow who would be the one to clear that man’s name as it is a fascinating piece of journalism as well as making things right for an act that never should’ve happened.

The DVD/Blu-Ray set also features a booklet that includes an essay by film scholar James Naremore entitled We Have Met the Enemy… which is about the film and its production as well as how it relates towards many of the other films Kubrick had done before and after. The essay has Naremore also talk about Kubrick’s background as a photographer which would give him unique ideas for what he wanted to do visually as a filmmaker. Naremore also talks about the story and some of the material that came from Humphrey Cobb’s book and what Kubrick did to retain some of the ideas but also struggled in wanting to make the film commercial. It’s a fascinating read into a film that is often overlooked in comparison by films Kubrick would do in later years.

***End of DVD Tidbits***

Paths of Glory is an outstanding anti-war film from Stanley Kubrick that features a remarkable performance from Kirk Douglas. The film is among one of the great films about war for the way it explores humanity and ambition in the face of war. It’s also very engaging for the way Kubrick captures the terror of war as well as the way war is conducted out of the battlefield. In the end, Paths of Glory is a chilling yet intoxicating film from Stanley Kubrick.

Stanley Kubrick Films: Fear & Desire - Killer’s Kiss - The Killing - Spartacus - Lolita - Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 2001: A Space Odyssey - A Clockwork Orange - Barry Lyndon - The Shining - Full Metal Jacket - Eyes Wide Shut

Related: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures - The Auteurs #18: Stanley Kubrick

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