Paths of Glory
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
Long before director Stanley Kubrick made his classic horror film The Shining, he directed a horror film of a different kind—one based on the real-life horror of war. Made in 1957, Paths of Glory ranks as one of Kubrick’s finest achievements and one of the greatest anti-war films ever produced. Adapted from a novel by a World War One veteran named Humphrey Cobb, the story is based on a true, controversial incident that occurred in 1915.
The film stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, a respected, cynical, yet loyal French officer who has seen so much senseless death on the battlefield that his belief in flag-waving patriotism has been reduced to a pile of ash. so when he’s ordered by his commanding officer to attack an enemy stronghold in which it’s casually estimated that at least half of his men will die, Colonel Dax is livid. He argues that it’s a suicide mission, but to no avail. Orders are orders and he leads the attack. As expected, it’s a slaughter.
The mortar and machine gun fire are so fierce that many of Dax’s men turn and run or are too afraid to leave the safety of their trenches. The general in charge of the attack is so enraged that he orders his artillery to open fire on his own soldiers to teach them a lesson.
To protect his reputation, the general needs a scapegoat.
The attack is a disaster, of course, but the drama is just getting started. To protect his reputation, the general needs a scapegoat. So he chooses three soldiers at random and puts them on trial for cowardice.
Because he was a lawyer in civilian life, Dax offers to serve as their defense counsel. What happens next is riveting as the French military court turns the guns of its authority against the truth of what really happened during the attack. If found guilty, the three soldiers will face a firing squad.
Unsurprisingly, France objected to the portrayal of its military leadership, and the film was banned from being shown in France, a ban that was upheld until 1975.
At just 98 minutes long, Paths of glory is a masterpiece of economical storytelling, spiked with potent drama about the quest for justice in a brutal, unjust world. As usual, Kubrick’s visual style here is gripping, especially his long tracking shots through the muddy trenches, past the soldiers who cower in fear of the carnage that awaits them if they step out into No Man’s Land.
In addition to Kirk Douglas, the cast includes a lineup of such classic Hollywood character actors as Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey, Adolphe Menjou and George Macready.
Paths of Glory is a riveting four-out-of-four-star film, a milestone in Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant career.
