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PATHS OF GLORY (2010 Criterion Blu-ray, originally 1957)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

It is the First World War. The French have dug into trenches, 500 miles long, from the English Channel to the border of Switzerland. As the film’s intro eloquently states, victories are counted in hundreds of yards gained, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of men. This is the setting of Paths of Glory, certainly and easily one of the greatest war movies of all time.

Paths of Glory, one of several Stanley Kubrick masterpieces, contains some of the most realistic First World War battle scenes ever put to film. The landscape is a cratered no-man’s land of mud, wire and bodies. The desperation is captured beautifully. The references to “shell shock” are historically accurate (it was considered to be a mythical condition by the generals of the day).

Kirk Douglas is Col. Dax, once a lawyer in his old life, now ordered to take the “Anthill”.  It’s a fortified position that German forces have held for a year. Now the French intend to take it and keep it.  All they have to do this with is tired and worn out men. Dax doesn’t think it can be done, but cannot disobey an order. The only alternative for him would have been to be relieved of duty, and Dax won’t abandon his men when they need him.

General Mireaux, his ambition clouding his judgment, set up an impossible undertaking. As is inevitable, the man are slaughtered, not even able to clear their own  barbed wire.  The few survivors were forced back by more guns and shells. A humiliated and embarrassed General Mireaux then orders his artillery to fire on his own trenches (that should keep them from retreating to them, right?)  When that order is refused, he decides to charge them for cowardice in the face of enemy. After all, someone must take the blame for this failure, and why should it be an officer? Col. Dax returns to his role of a lawyer and defends the three token men chosen at random to face the charges of cowardice.  Then, the movie morphs into courtroom drama.

Paths of Glory paints a picture of the way it was, based loosely on the practice of executing men for cowardice before they “infect” the rest of the men with it.  It’s not a pretty picture.  The trenches in the film are perhaps drier than the real trenches but the landscapes look very real indeed. Kubrick’s style here was still that of an observer, which came from his years as a newspaper photographer. He places his lenses where an observer would sit, and you can watch the events unfold like a fly on the wall.

Kirk Douglas is joined by Kubrick regulars Timothy Carey (two Kubrick films to his name), Joe Turkel (three Kubrick films) as well as Adolphe Menjou and a very young Christiane Kubrick.

The story itself is a heart wrenching look at the realities of First World War Europe, and also the human spirit. It attacks our prejudices and practices while reminding us that we are all the same regardless of our station in life. Kubrick seems to have been both fascinated by war while being repulsed by its necessity.

This being such an historically important film, I am glad that it finally received the Criterion treatment.  The restoration is very well done compared to the original DVD edition. The audio is in mono just as the original film was. I appreciate that nobody tried to tinker with the audio to make it multi-channel. This is the way Kubrick made it. Supplemental features are here including audio commentary, an essay, and a fun interview with Kirk Douglas from the 1970’s, among numerous others.

This is absolutely necessary for any fans of real war films and Stanley Kubrick. Hopefully this ushers in a set of brand new Kubrick Criterion editions. I bought two copies; the second was for my dad.

5/5 stars

Kirk Douglas … Col. Dax
Ralph Meeker … Cpl. Philippe Paris
Adolphe Menjou … Gen. George Broulard
George Macready … Gen. Paul Mireau
Wayne Morris … Lt. Roget
Richard Anderson … Maj. Saint-Auban
Joe Turkel … Pvt. Pierre Arnaud