Paths of Glory (1957)

 

 

 

 

Paths of Glory

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, et al.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
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 --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition

Paths of Glory is a complicated film experience, that on first viewing appears to be an anti-war diatribe, but repeated viewings make it far more complex. The film's plot revolves around the brutality of trench warfare and the total disconnection between the suffering of the foot soldier and the French Army's High Command. The generals, fearing mutiny among their exhausted soldiers, order executions after the failure to take a position. The three martyrs are represented by their commanding officer, who also happens to be a lawyer (Kirk Douglas), but since they are sacrificial lambs, chosen by lot, their fate is preordained. It is the dance of death that Kubrick focuses on, in the trenches, in the elegant chateau that houses the senile General Command, and the courtroom where the farce is played out. This is not the first film focusing on the total stupidity of trench warfare. All Quiet on the Western Front(by Lewis Milestone) and The Road to Glory (Howard Hawks) are equally effective in portraying the madness of WWI. Paths of Glory is equally fascinating for revealing the concerns that Kubrick would focus on throughout the rest of his career. These concerns go way beyond plot and story. Kubrick worked with first rate writers on this film (Jim Thompson and Calder Willingham), but the vision is his own. The endless brutal moving camera as it snakes through the trenches, pulling the characters through the crazed landscape, the lateral tracking shots during the attack sequences, the brilliantly composed close ups of men under unending duress and pressure all help to create a universe that is beyond the control of man. Kubrick's vision is one of the strongest visual creations in modern cinema and should not be forgotten when we get caught up in the compelling storyline. His connection with Kirk Douglas was so successful that when the filming of Spartacus ran into directorial roadblocks, the star was able to convince the producers to bring in the unknown Kubrick to take on the Hollywood mega epic. The producers of Spartacus had never heard of Paths of Glory and it is only through video tape that we can get to see a crucial work from Kubrick's early career. It's also a great companion piece to Full Metal Jacket, another Kubrick war film released thirty years later and a film that continues to display the director's concern with creating a visual world of total entrapment that is outside the comprehension of the ordinary man.

Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas) is the commander of the battle-decimated 701st Infantry Regiment of the French Army during WWI, dug in along the Western Front in a brutally stalemated war. It is 1916, and the Allies have been struggling to overcome an equally determined German war machine for two years. Dax's hope that his regiment will be relieved from front-line duty is destroyed when corps commander Gen. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders Gen. Mireau (George Macready), the divisional general in charge, to make an all-out attack against an impregnable German position nicknamed "the Ant Hill." The battle scenes showing the suicidal attack on the Ant Hill are devastating and brutally authentic, the barrage through which Dax leads his men (Kubrick's camera moving inexorably through the carnage) is a hurricane of death. Three soldiers are selected to be court-martialed unjustly to serve as scapegoats for the military humiliation. Dax is the officer charged with their defense but the powers-that-be confound his efforts.

This is a director's film: Kubrick profiles naked power and the effects thereof with a visual excitement seldom seen on the screen; his attitude toward the actions he portrays is always felt. One particularly striking and effective strategy is the tendency to utilize mesmerizing but inhuman tracking shots for the trenches and battlegrounds while using elegant circling camera movements for the comfortable surroundings of the officers' chateau.

Though its condemnation of war is overwhelming, PATHS OF GLORY offers more optimism than is usual for the pessimistic Kubrick. The film may be read as a testament to human courage, compassion, and spirit that battles valiantly for survival despite the efforts of tyrants to vanquish principle and humanity.

Paths of Glory 
Humphrey Cobb

Paths of Glory Paperback, 288pp. Not stocked by Barnes & Noble

• See Learning Guide to All Quiet on the Western Front for a description of trench warfare.
  
  
• World War I was caused by strong feelings of nationalism, economic rivalry between nations, the existence of large armies on all sides, and a history of hostilities in previous centuries that left countries and peoples with a feeling that they needed to get even with each other. The rulers of the German nation, united only since 1871, wanted to become a sea power and acquire a colonial empire. To fulfill these ambitions, Germany built up its navy triggering a naval armaments race between the two countries.
  
  In 1870 the French army had been crushed by the German army. Paris had been besieged and starved into submission. France was forced to pay vast sums to Germany in "reparations" and to give up Alsace-Lorraine, a large economically important region on the border between the two countries.
  
  Europe was divided into two military alliances: the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France, and Russia and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The nationalist movement in Serbia wanted to acquire the southern part of Bosnia and was hostile to the annexation. Serbia, however, was too weak to fight Austria- Hungary without the support of Russia. When Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Serb terrorists in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary used the event as an excuse to invade Serbia. Russia mobilized to defend Serbia. Germany and Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia and France. Great Britain then declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Great War was on.

1. [Standard Questions Suitable for Any Film].
2. [Quick Discussion Question:] Should Colonel Dax have accepted the promotion offered to him?
3. Was Colonel Dax naive to think that justice could be found in war?
   
   
   Ethical Emphasis
   (Teachwithmovies.org is associated with Character Counts and uses The Six Pillars of Character to organize ethical principals.)
   
   Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues are designed to maximize the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. One concept from The Six Pillars of Character that is raised in this film is Trustworthiness (Be honest; Don’t deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Build a good reputation; Be loyal — stand by your family, friends and country).