Paths of Glory
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Movie Reviews of Paths of Glory
Movie Review: Now you got the edge on him...
Summary: 5 Stars
One of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films, and one of his finest, "Paths of Glory" stars Kirk Douglas as a French colonel who must defend three soldiers against trumped-up charges of cowardice. Within that simple framework, and with an amazingly short running time (just under 90 minutes), Kubrick and company create a powerful, universal story about the abuse of power, the horrors of war and the indomitability of the human spirit, and its possible redemption."Paths" draws a lot of its power from some amazing, naturalistic performances by its supporting cast. Ralph Meeker, Joseph Turkel and the hulking Timothy Carey (one weird-looking guy) portray the accused, three very different men with sharply delineated reactions to their shared predicament. Their final scenes have the feel of a Arthur Miller play, tragic and vital. Wayne Morris, himself a real-life war hero, is exceptional as a cowardly officer. George Macready ably limns a self-righteous general, with support from film legend Adolphe Menjou as his wily superior. And star Kirk Douglas delivers one of his typically impassioned performances; few have ever matched his ability to dynamically combine physicality and intellect with strong idealism.
Some criticize Kubrick for giving into sentimentality during the scene in which French soldiers torment a captured German girl, then hum along with her as she sings, while Douglas' character listens and draws strength. I would argue that this is actually more daring than Kubrick's later detachment. Starting with his brilliant "Dr. Strangelove," and continuing through his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," Kubrick often kept the viewer separate from the subjects; almost like watching lab experiments in a refrigerator. It's easy to feel superior when you keep everything at arm's length, smugly observing behaviors alien to yourself. It's easy to assign undesirable actions to freaks like Alex, from "A Clockwork Orange," or Jack Torrance in "The Shining" without having to feel uneasy about one's own tendency towards violence, or whatever behavior Kubrick chose to film, criticize, or satirize.
Actually, we are like these soldiers, and frequently, we are the victimizers ourselves, just as vain and self-justifying as Macready's hypocritical general. "Paths," then, can be seen as a challenge to the viewer, and it gains authority from its unwillingness to excuse us for our flaws, even as it embraces these battered men. Okay, so it's overt humanism... but it's heartfelt and honest. And true.
Altogether, this is one of Kubrick's most human films. From the rat-infested trenches and the slaughterhouse floor of No Man's Land (the combat scenes, while fairly brief, remain some of the most visceral ever filmed) to the glacial elegance of the general's chateau, Kubrick takes us down all the paths to glory and the grave.
Movie Review: a visual anti-war parable
Summary: 5 Stars
A film with a strong message requires a skillful presentation in order not to become overbearing. Paths of Glory, while having a strong anti-war theme, rises to the top due to the exceptional photography, editing, and straightforward narrative structure coupled with the tension that arises from social injustice and poor leadership. Kubrick treats the story as a parable, allow us to see a range of actions under a shared experience. We see front line solders at their best and worst and we also see the French officers under similar but a bit more sophisticated situations.
Paths of Glory is probably based on an event in World War I during the French Nivelle Offensive whereby the men on the front lines were pushed to remain on the offensive and overtake points of no strategic worth while losing considerable lives. The offensive objective here is tellingly called "The Ant Hill". The men refused to attack but remained on the offensive in the trenches. The French officers fired thier artillery upon their own men. This incredible historic event lays the groundwork for this fictitious film.
Wisely the film narrows down the number of characters to basic types and individual concerns and conflicts. Thus we have careerist incompetent leadership negligently wasting the lives of their men on poorly developed plans and objectives. The film is tragic in that after the men refused to attack, men were selected at random to be executed for cowardice and executed before the troops as examples and to encourage more enthusiasm in the future.
Kirk Douglas plays the moral center for the film, playing Colonel Dax, a public prosecutor who joined the army. He defends the three men selected to represent the troops in a military judicial kangaroo court. Douglas is in top form and top shape. His performance is powerful and made more powerful by the subtle performances of his canny superior officers and the simple basic emotional responses of the men under his command.
Kubrick's film-making is superb and the careful photography of interiors reveals his early mastery of this art form. Kubrick recognized the ability of the context of action to cradle the narrative and give added dimension. Thus his shots of the trenches with long twisting tracking shots give one of the best impressions of World War I front line. The scenes of the court martial are high drama, revealing a stage with all the high drama of Greek tragedy. The execution scene is perfectly developed, revealing how the symetry of the troops in a geometric courtyard contrasts against the injustice that is about to occur. The scene of a captured German girl singing in a cafe is a bit overplayed but makes its point about the amazing manner in which men can be swayed from wrong to right and back again for in the end we are vastly limited.
Movie Review: One of the finest anti-war films ever made.
Summary: 5 Stars
Kirk Douglas argued long and hard to get this film made. The studio felt it would not be profitable and it was not, but in retrospect, it turned out to be one of Douglas's finest performances and one of Stanley Kubrick's greatest achievements. This film was made almost fifty years ago, but time has not diminished its power and relevance. It is a classic!Kirk Douglas plays the role of Colonel Dax, a French regimental commander in World War I who is given a suicide mission to attack a German position, "the Ant Hill." The attack is a failure and a fiasco, with many soldiers losing their lives senselessly. The attack had no chance of success. Even so, the high command orders that three men from the regiment be selected by their officers and tried for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Dax is to be the officer who defends them.
The trial is a sham and Dax, a brilliant lawyer, realizes that he has little chance of saving the lives of his men. Even so, he perseveres and demonstrates the absurdity of the trial and the criminal intent of the French high command. The men are condemned to death by firing squad. None of this will come as any surprise to the viewer, who early on realizes the stupidity, ineptness, and evil intentions of the high command.
For the high command war (and the lives of the ordinary soldiers who must participate in its ultimate absurdity) is a game and the business of the generals is to get good press and enhance their reputations. Colonel Dax stands for all good people of courage and conviction who speak out at risk to themselves against lies and criminal behavior. Unflinchingly, he confronts Adolph Menjou, the commanding general, listens to his nonsense, and condemns him for the misguided fool that he is. All to no avail. The order stands and the condemned men die on public display for the troops and general staff to witness.
If the movie ended with the executions, it would stand as one of the darkest portraits of fallen human nature yet filmed. But one final scene remains. Dax goes back to his headquarters after the executions and on the way he observes his men in a tavern shouting derisively at a young German woman who stands on stage as an object of ridicule and scorn. Then she starts to sing and her song transfixes and then transforms the men who begin to accompany her as she sings. Her song moves them to tears. Kubrick shows us that common soldiers are not animals whose lives are expendable, but human beings who are debased by war and uplifted by simple acts of human dignity and kindness. This final scene is one of the unforgettable moments in the history of cinema. Few viewers will ever forget it.
Movie Review: There is no such thing as shell shock
Summary: 5 Stars
Behind French lines in World War I, army generals are dissatisfied with their soldiers' lack of progress. The vain, scar-faced General Mireau (George Macready) is tempted with a promotion and taunted into ordering his men into a suicidal attack on a small German outpost, said to be of great significance to the war effort. Mireau in turn bullies his honorable lawyer-turned-corporal, Dax (Kirk Douglas) into carrying out the objective, even though the estimated casualties will be 65% of the regiment. Due to heavy German artillery, but more importantly, to poor communications behind their own lines, the objective is not taken. A furious Mireau wants 100 soldiers court-martialed, executed for cowardice. Dax bargains him down to three, and is confident that his criminal-defense prowess will save even those men. But what can he do, when the court-martial is a sham, without even a stenographer present?Although dated from a technical standpoint, "Paths of Glory" is still a film of exceptional power. The final hour of the movie is staged like a play: characters conceived well before the ironic-small-talk revolution of the late 20th century speak to each other in weighty, dramatic soliloquies. But before that, there's a tightly-photographed, cacophonous fight sequence, masterfully set up by Kubrick and rivalling the authenticity of the opening reel of "Saving Private Ryan". Kubrick's film cameras prowl the trenches until you feel the claustrophobia.
The script doesn't have a single ounce of fat. Even though it's a war film set in the trenches, we don't see a single German combatant. Dax's regiment has more than just the German army to contend with, you see. The names are all significant: the first soldier killed in combat is named Lejeune, and the innocent corporal court-martialed to satisfy Mireau's bloodlust is named Paris. The objective for which the regiment must sustain 65% casualties is nothing less monumental than "the Ant Hill". And when the film's lone German finally appears, the French soldiers are, to a man, moved to tears.
87 minutes in length, "Paths of Glory" is half the size of "Pearl Harbor". There is something to be learned from that. Unfortunately, the DVD is just 25% the size of the "Pearl Harbor" box set. The only extra feature here is the original trailer. There is a "4-page booklet" accompanying the disc, but only two of those pages contain trivia. At least one of the facts in the booklet is clearly wrong, informing us that Wayne Morris's character is "killed early in the film". This is not so.
Movie Review: SCOURGE OF WAR".........
Summary: 5 Stars
Awesome and powerful movie this, "Paths of Glory"...I surfed into Kirk Douglas on an interview show, and he made a statement about why he wanted to star in this movie...his reasoning was because of the Korean War [as well as WW1]...with the clashes between Truman and MacArthur pertaining to positional warfare and static warfare [the attrition of trench/bunker mentality]...Actor Kirk Douglas admired Gen. MacArthur for taking on his President who wanted this "old trend"....to talk peace; yet, wage war with delibating results of years and years of neither side advancing or getting the advantage for a clear/cut victory...Gen. Mac Arthur, all though his illustrious 50 yrs of dedicated service to the American people, fought to perpetuate the American fighting/warrior spirit to achieve VICTORY before appeasement to any enemy...so it unfolds in Kubrick's masterpiece as the French High Command 'fights' the war from the fine-dining and opulence venues of Paris while their loyal troops get chewed up into little bits at the Grinder [ The Ant/Hill]...what is the life, of but 3 'insignificant' soldiers to be scapegoated and executed for returning to their trenches after sustaining prolific/horrendous casualties from withering German machine guns registered-in fields of fire out in No Man's Land...anyone, yes, anyone would withdraw staring at your last day on earth under such lethal fire power...the final scene: as the French troops mock and leer at a young captured German girl...she shows grit/courage as a frighten virgin amongst the enemy French...she turns her sentimental song in their faces so innocently, that the French soldiers start crying at the whims of what war brings to friend or foe...Kirk Douglas is immense as a combat officer who gives a good darn about his enlisted troops and puts his miltary career on the line [exactly like Mac Arthur]...no matter what...at any cost of decency to save his troops lives instead of the luxuries of the Chiefs of Staff Officers where they indulge, oblivious, to the slaughter of their men in the dank-rat-infested trenches and bunkers for years of no gain..no win...[1914-1918]....this was repeated in Korea by President Harry S. Truman until Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur decided to get in Truman's face...by don't scapegoat our brave troops for appeasement!!...ever think, it might be your son/daughter who dies for nothing!!....this is a cerebral film to ponder....want to compare it to Korea, Vietnam and today in Iraq??.....Semper Fidelis....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF