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Paths of Glory
starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris
directed by: Stanley Kubrick

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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792841401
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 0792841409
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 29, 1999
Running Time: 87 minutes
Sales Rank: 2663
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1957

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Editorial Review:

Description:
Safe in their picturesque chateau behind the front lines, the French general staff passes down a direct order to Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas): take the Ant Hill at any cost. A blatant suicide mission, the attack is doomed to failure. Covering up their fatal blunder, the generals order the arrest of three innocent soldiers, charging them with cowardice and mutiny. Dax, a lawyer in civilian life, rises to the men's defense but soon realizes that, unless he can prove that the generals were to blame,nothing less than a miracle will save his clients from the firing squad. A compelling masterpiece from world-class director/writer Stanley Kubrick and screenwriters Calder Willingham and JimThompson, Paths of Glory is a blistering indictment of military politics and 'an unforgettable movie experience' (Newsweek).

Amazon.com essential video:
Stanley Kubrick had already made his talent known with the outstanding racetrack heist thriller The Killing, but it was the 1957 antiwar masterpiece Paths of Glory that catapulted Kubrick to international acclaim. Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, the film was initiated by Kirk Douglas, who chose the young Kubrick to direct what would become one of the most powerful films about the wasteful insanity of warfare. In one of his finest roles, Douglas plays Colonel Dax, commander of a battle-worn regiment of the French army along the western front during World War I. Held in their trenches under the threat of German artillery, the regiment is ordered on a suicidal mission to capture an enemy stronghold. When the mission inevitably fails, French generals order the selection of three soldiers to be tried and executed on the charge of cowardice. Dax is appointed as defense attorney for the chosen scapegoats, and what follows is a travesty of justice that has remained relevant and powerful for decades. In the wake of some of the most authentic and devastating battle sequences ever filmed, Kubrick brilliantly explores the political machinations and selfish personal ambitions that result in battlefield slaughter and senseless executions. The film is unflinching in its condemnation of war and the self-indulgence of military leaders who orchestrate the deaths of thousands from the comfort of their luxurious headquarters. For many years, Paths of Glory was banned in France as a slanderous attack on French honor, but it's clear that Kubrick's intense drama is aimed at all nations and all men. Though it touches on themes of courage and loyalty in the context of warfare, the film is specifically about the historical realities of World War I, but its impact and artistic achievement remain timeless and universal. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Military injustice
This is an oft-times overlooked film in the Kubrick canon, and that's something that is unfortunate. At the base, the story is a satire on injustice in the military / injustice in war. It takes on a number of themes all at once, and does so gracefully without ending up looking like a rudderless plot.

Kirk Douglas plays a French colonel (Dax) in World War I. He is one of the few officers in the film who has genuine integrity. As such, he finds himself in conflict with the nefarious actions of his superior officers nearly as much as he is fighting with the Germans. Douglas delivers a fabulous performance as an officer who is torn between duty and honor (always a dubious thing when these two traits clash).

Dax must cope with generals who who are perfectly content to send young men (by the thousands!) to their death in order to secure a promotion & add decorations to their dress uniform. ... Read More

Rating:

- All the Beauty and Monstrosity of Being Human
Okay, I'll just come out and admit my bias now: This is one of my top five favorite movies. And Kubrick is my favorite director.

That being said, this is one hell of a morality tale. Three French soldiers are chosen to be put on trial for cowardice during a suicide raid on the German Ant Hill during World War I. The problem is that the only one who knows of their innocence, Col. Dax, is outnumbered in his opinion of the men on trial. He decides to be their lawyer and defend them. Can Dax save the three innocent soldiers?

The ending is the best part of the movie, it's moving and heartfelt. It exemplifies in a single scene what the entire movie is about-humanity and all of it's moral complexity, seen objectively through film.

Great, great movie. Deserves more attention...

Rating:

- L'infamie
I'm not a Stanley Kubrick fan, nor do I particularly care for Hollywood films. So I was surprised and delighted to discover what a gem of a film "Paths of Glory" is. Well directed, for the most part well acted, well directed, and conveying a great message: what more could one ask for?

The title is ironic. The plot revolves around a failed because impossible military assault on the German trenches in 1916. An oily, egoistic French general, superbly played by George Macready, orders the assault to further his career. When it fails, he furiously orders three men from the decimated 701st Regiment that attempted the assault to be selected as examples, charged with cowardice, and court-martialed. Their colonel, Dax, an attorney in peacetime, defends them, but the fix is already in. The general staff won't take the blame for the disastrous assault. So the dog soldiers must. The three are executed, and Colonel ... Read More

Rating:

- enough to make you weep...
Kirk Douglas' portrayal of the heartbreakingly courageous Col. Dax is a portrait in heroic futility. Dax is an French officer in the most pointless war, but most portentous war, of the Twentieth Century. His men are ordered to take an impregnable German position. Many men in the front ranks don't even get fully out of their trenches before they are slaughtered by an impenetrable hail of German lead and steel. The surviving rear ranks cower in the trenches rather than face inevitable death. The French General, who had pictured himself covered with medals, orders his artillery to shell his own lines. The artillery officer refuses to take verbal orders and demands them in writing. The General, who is more cowardly than the men he sent to death, refuses to put it in writing.

The General has a better idea--decimation. It's an ancient Roman custom. Should your army fail, execute every tenth man. Col. Dax, at ... Read More

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