PATHS OF GLORY

US, 1957, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Joseph Terkel, Christiane Kubrick, Emil Mayer, Timothy Carey.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Considered Stanley Kubrick’s first major film. He had made some short films after his experience as a photographer and moved into thrillers Killer’s Kiss and The Killing which has been compared favourably to John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle of 1950. Employed by Kirk Douglas and filming in Germany, Kubrick wrote and directed this film about a case in World War I of cowardice and military hypocrisy. The film was well made, very well acted and directed. It was so strong that for a long time it was banned in France - the subject of the film.

Kirk Douglas is excellent but there is good support from Ralph Meeker as the soldier on trial and Adolph Menjou and George Macready as arrogant generals. This is strong social drama made not so long after World War II taking a critical look back at World War I and militarism. Good comparisons would be Joseph Losey’s King and Country and Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun.

Kubrick then worked with Marlon Brando on the screenplay of One Eyed Jacks but then moved on with Kirk Douglas to the direction of Spartacus. Kubrick disowned Spartacus because of Douglas's producing interference. However it is a very good costume classic. Kubrick then went on to his great successes from Lolita through 2001 to A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.

1.Audience presuppositions about war? The futility of war? The role of officers, ordinary serving men? Casualties? Decisions and mistakes?

2.The film’s classic status? The critique of war? Kirk Douglas as producer, actor? Stanley Kubrick as director?

3.The black and white photography, German locations, the palaces and the interiors and their wealth? The contrast with the trenches, the battlefields, the Anthill? The court-martial area?

4.The title and its ironies?

5.The battle sequences, the realism? The night mission?

6.Mireau and Broulard, elderly, generals? France 1916? French traditions of military honour, the officers above the law, the soldiers despised? The language, respectful, yet manipulative? The ironies and the lies? The characters?

7.The mission, Broulard and his insistence, Mireau and his objections, the bribe for promotion? Circling round the issue, the final agreement? The discussion about casualties and the casual attitude? The deadline for taking the Anthill?

8.Colonel Dax, Kirk Douglas’s presence, his law background, integrity, skill in command, obeying orders, difficulties?

9.The picture of the ordinary men, Mireau and his tour through the trench, the shell-shocked man and his denial of shell-shock? Condemning men as cowards? The morale-boosting walk? His talk, the clichés and questions to the men? Saint -Auban as his assistant?

10.The issue of the night mission, the danger, Roget and his drinking? His fears? Going out, crawling, the flares, the death of the soldier? Paris’s reaction? The background of their rivalry? Paris and his despising Roget? Roget writing his report, his threats to Paris? Dax and his demanding the report?

11.The taking of the Anthill, the preparation, the strategies, the men going over the top, instant deaths, the battlefield? The men discussing which was easier, to die by the bayonet or by gunshot? Mireau and his ordering the guns to be fired on his own men? The officers and their demanding the orders be in writing?

12.The failure to take the Anthill, the number of casualties? The group unable to emerge from the trench? Dax and Mireau and their discussion of the casualties, the percentages of loss?

13.Mireau and his anger, accusing the men of cowardice, reporting to Broulard, his criticism of Dax? Wanting the court-martial? Wanting the men to be executed? Whittling down the number to three?

14.The choice of the three men: Paris chosen by Roget? Arnaud as a war hero but yet chosen? Ferol as considered socially undesirable? The men in themselves, their reactions, fears, talking? Dax and his promise to defend them?

15.The chaplain, his ministrations, the pious clichés that he spoke to the men, yet his support of them? At their deaths?

16.The court-martial, the judge, Saint -Auban as the prosecutor, Dax and the rules imposed on him, no record? His interrogation of each of the men, proving their lack of cowardice? The court’s decision?

17.The dinner, Broulard, his guests? Dax with the information about Mireau firing on his men? Broulard and his assent? Going back to the dinner? Later his interpretation that Dax was after Mireau’s job? His mistake? His meal with Mireau, Dax and his arrival, the inquiry and Mireau’s disgust? Dax accusing Broulard of being a sadistic old man?

18.The execution, Roget commanded by Dax to be in charge? The visuals of the three men, the chaplain, the squad, the shootings, their deaths?

19.Dax outside the tavern, the German singer, the men taunting her, uniting in singing with her? Image of the futility of war and the possibility of men united?

20.The lasting impact of this critique of war?