Paths of Glory (1957)

When soldiers in WW1 refuse to continue with an impossible attack, their superiors decide to make an example of them.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Calder Willingham (screenplay),

Stars:

Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou

Top 250 #54 | Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 (as Joseph Turkel)
Christiane Kubrick	...	German Singer (as Susanne Christian)
Jerry Hausner	...	Proprietor of Cafe
Peter Capell	...	Narrator of Opening Sequence / Chief Judge of Court-Martial
Emile Meyer	...	Father Dupree
Bert Freed	...	Sgt. Boulanger
Kem Dibbs	...	Pvt. Lejeune
Timothy Carey	...	Pvt. Maurice Ferol
Fred Bell	...	Shell-Shocked Soldier

Storyline

The futility and irony of the war in the trenches in WWI is shown as a unit commander in the French army must deal with the mutiny of his men and a glory-seeking general after part of his force falls back under fire in an impossible attack.

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Plot Keywords:

general | soldier | french army | cannon fodder | controversy | 

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Taglines:

It explodes in the no-man's land no picture ever dared cross before!

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Latin

Release Date:

25 October 1957 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

La patrulla infernal

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$935,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bryna Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stanley Kubrick:  [faces]  The soldiers, while the German girl is singing.

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Goofs

During the first tracking with Dax in the trenches, the shadow of a boom-mike is visible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator of opening sequence: War began between Germany and France on August 3rd 1914. Five weeks later the German army had smashed its way to within eighteen miles of Paris. There the battered French miraculously rallied their forces at the Marne River and in a series of unexpected counterattacks drove the Germans back. The front was stabilized then shortly afterwards developed into a continuous line of heavily fortified trenches zigzagging their way five hundred miles from the English Channel to the Swiss ...

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Alice in Wonderland/Stolen/Brooklyn's Finest (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Künstlerleben (Artist's Life), Op.316"
(1867) (uncredited)
Composed by Johann Strauß
Played as dance music at the party

User Reviews

The most realistic, most emotionally draining, and most beautifully photographed movie ever made about trench warfare in WW I.

I think that Stanley Kubrick is the greatest of all film directors, and in my opinion "Paths of Glory" is Kubrick's best film because:

1. It is FAR AND AWAY the most realistic, most emotionally draining, and most beautifully photographed movie ever made about trench warfare in WW I, which has to be considered to be one of the significant episodes in all of human history. The story is fiction, but the events are patterned after some actual mutinies in the French army that took place in 1917.

2. I first saw this film 46 years ago, and it not only made me an avid Kubrick fan for the rest of my life, it made me want to watch it over and over again -- more than 250 times over the years, and every time I see it, I cry at the end (when Kubrick's future wife, and the only woman in the film, sings "The Faithful Hussar", causing the audience of French soldiers to change from a jeering crowd to a hushed, teary-eyed group of lonely men).

3. Everything about the movie is PERFECT!! There are no flaws in the acting, the pace of the movie, the photography, the dialogue, etc. Scene after scene is more powerful and ironic than the preceding one, building to a shattering climax. It is simply a gem.

4. Try as I might to think of actors that could have been substituted in their places, I think the casting for each and every part in the movie really could not have been any better. No one could have been better in their respective roles than George Macready, Adolphe Menjou, Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, and all of the others. Many of these actors appear in Kubrick's other films.

5. Has there ever been a better scene than the one in which one of the condemned soldiers (Ralph Meeker) stares at this cockroach and cries that tomorrow that bug will still be alive and he will be dead. Whereupon one of the other condemned men (the fatalistic Timothy Carey) squashes the cockroach and says "Now you got the edge on him".

6. You could probably change a few things in most of Kubrick's other masterpieces to slightly improve them, but I DEFY anyone to single out anything in "Paths of Glory" that could be improved upon. I could go on and on raving about the beauty and pathos of this film, but I think I will stop here.