Paths of Glory (1957)

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) &
Calder Willingham (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

25 October 1957 (West Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | War

Tagline:

Never has the screen thrust so deeply into the guts of war!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

General | Soldier | French Army | French | WWI

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Col. Dax
Ralph Meeker	...	Cpl. Philippe Paris
Adolphe Menjou	...	Gen. George Broulard
George Macready	...	Gen. Paul Mireau
Wayne Morris	...	Lt. Roget / Singing man
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 / Judge (colonel) of court-martial
Emile Meyer	...	Father Dupree
Bert Freed	...	Sgt. Boulanger
Kem Dibbs	...	Pvt. Lejeune
Timothy Carey	...	Pvt. Maurice Ferol
Fred Bell	...	Shell-shock victim
John Stein	...	Capt. Rousseau (Battery Commander)
Harold Benedict	...	Capt. Nichols (artillery spotter)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Bös	...	Maj. Gouderc (uncredited)
Leon Briggs	...	Capt. Sancy (uncredited)
Wally Friedrichs	...	Col. De Guerville (uncredited)
Halder Hanson	...	Doctor (uncredited)
James B. Harris	...	Private in the attack (uncredited)
Rolf Kralovitz	...	K.P. (uncredited)
Ira Moore	...	Capt. Renouart (uncredited)
Marshall Rainer	...	Pvt. Duval (uncredited)
Roger Vagnoid	...	Cafe owner (uncredited)

Directed by
Stanley Kubrick

Writing credits
Stanley Kubrick		(screenplay) &
Calder Willingham		(screenplay) and
Jim Thompson		(screenplay)
Humphrey Cobb		(novel "Paths of Glory")

Produced by
James B. Harris	....	producer
Kirk Douglas	....	producer (uncredited)
Stanley Kubrick	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Gerald Fried

Cinematography by
Georg Krause		(photographed by) (as George Krause)

Film Editing by
Eva Kroll

Art Direction by
Ludwig Reiber

Costume Design by
Ilse Dubois

Makeup Department
Arthur Schramm	....	makeup artist

Production Management
John Pommer	....	production manager: America
Helmut Ringelmann	....	unit manager
George von Block	....	production manager: Germany

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dixie Sensburg	....	assistant director (as D. Sensburg)
Franz-Josef Spieker	....	assistant director (as F. Spieker)
Hans Stumpf	....	assistant director (as H. Stumpf)

Sound Department
Martin Müller	....	sound
Al Gramaglia	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Erwin Lange	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Hans Elsinger	....	camera grip
Hannes Staudinger	....	camera operator
Stanley Kubrick	....	additional cinematographer (uncredited)
Lars Looschen	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Helene Fischer	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Trudy von Trotha	....	script clerk
Baron von Waldenfels	....	military adviser (as Baron v. Waldenfels)

Production Companies

• Bryna Productions (present)
• Harris-Kubrick Productions (uncredited)

Distributors

• United Artists (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1957) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1999) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Park Circus (2005) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (new 35mm print re-issue)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1968) (USA) (TV)
• Cinemagia (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:T | Iceland:L | Spain:(Banned) (1957-1986) | West Germany:12 (f) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:Atp (re-rating) | Netherlands:12 (2007) (DVD) | UK:PG (tv rating) | Argentina:13 (original rating) | Australia:PG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | France:(Banned) (original rating) | France:U (re-release) | Ireland:12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) (passed with cuts) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) (uncut) | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #18708)

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Bryna Productions

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Stanley Kubrick] [Three-Way]Court-martialed soldiers vs. French generals vs. Germans

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Near the beginning of the film Private Ferol, when asked by General Mireau, states that he has no wife - but while walking to the firing squad is crying on the shoulder of the priest that he will never see his wife again.

Quotes:

General Mireau: Hello there, soldier. Ready to kill more Germans?
Private Ferol: Yes, sir.
General Mireau: What's your name, soldier?
Private Ferol: Sir, Private Ferol, Company A.
General Mireau: Aha. You married, soldier?
Private Ferol: No, sir.
General Mireau: I'll bet your mother's proud of you.
Private Ferol: Yes, sir.
General Mireau: Carry on, Private, and good luck.
Private Ferol: Thank you, sir.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Breaker' Morant (1980)

Soundtrack:

Der Treue Husar

They Couldn't Take An Ant Hill

Almost one hundred years later the concept of that static war of the trenches that was the Western front of World War I is almost unfathomable. After the French army stopped the German offensive at the Battle of the Marne, the French and British armies faced the Germans in a line of trenches that stretched from Belgium to Switzerland. About a quarter of France was occupied for four years in that time. The casualties ran into the millions in that stalemate that gains were only measured in meters.

It was always just one more offensive over the top charging into automatic weapon fire that would break the other guy. Just such an offensive was planned one day in 1916 against a German stronghold dubbed the ant hill.

General George MacReady, promised a promotion by his superior Adolphe Menjou, orders a beaten and tired battalion to charge the ant hill. The attack flops and MacReady looks for scapegoats. He decides after coming down from shooting 100 men to a selected three drawn by lot. The unlucky three are Joseph Turkel, Ralph Meeker, and Timothy Carey.

The commander of the three Kirk Douglas asks to serve as their counsel and he makes a good show of it at the kangaroo court martial they have. But the fix is definitely in.

Except for Spartacus, Kirk Douglas rarely plays straight up heroic types in film. Even his good guys have an edge to them, a dark side. But as Colonel Dax, Douglas is at his most heroic. He may be one dimensional here, but he's great. Especially in that last scene with Adolphe Menjou when he tells the man off in no uncertain terms, mainly because Menjou has misread Douglas's motives.

Menjou and Macready portray two different military types. The arrogant MacReady as versus the very sly Menjou. Not very admirable either of them. Menjou was not very popular at this time in Hollywood because of the blacklist. He favored it very much, his politics were of the extreme right wing. Nevertheless he was a brilliant actor and never better than in this film, one of his last.

The enlisted men are a good bunch also. They're kind of like the posse in The Oxbow Incident, just an ordinary group who become ennobled in martyrdom as they go to the firing squad for the sake of politics.

Paths of Glory is one of the best anti-war films ever made. It ranks right up there with All Quiet on the Western Front which showed the war from the German point of view. Both will be classics 200, 300, a thousand years from now.