Paths of Glory
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Movie Reviews of Paths of Glory
Movie Review: "They died well."
Summary: 5 Stars
Two years into the First World War close to the French-German front in a well-kept château used as head quarters, General Paul Mireau (George Macready) receives an order to attack the Ant Hill at all costs. At first General Mireau resists the order as he knows it will costs a large amount of lives, but he gives in as General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) gives him a choice of dishonorably accepting another post together with one more star. General Mireau visits the front where he informs Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) about the upcoming assault. General Mireau puts Colonel Dax under a similar stressful situation as he was put in the previous evening. Consequently, Dax confirms that he is ready for the assault, which ends up in a suicidal massacre. However, General Mireau views the failure as an result of cowardly behavior and wants to set an example by executing a few chosen men from the battalion.Paths of Glory is an anti-war film that depicts a cold atmosphere experienced by men at war where officers are deciding the value of life and emotion is deemed as weakness. The officers arrogant and neglectful attitude stands out in several scenes throughout the film. For example, the initial scene where two Generals enter a magnificent room one of the General displays his preoccupation with self-importance and pride while men are dying on the front. Another example is how the officers address the death of a few men by saying, "They died well.", which displays their own arrogant beliefs. Overall, Paths of Glory is a brilliantly directed film as it presents logical reasoning supported with strong visual examples that are enhanced by great performances from the cast.
Movie Review: The Faint Hearts of War
Summary: 5 Stars
Paths of Glory is a masterpiece. It's one of the greatest anti-war films of all time. It shows a grim and disturbingly violent reality that, at the time, many other war films never dared to enter. Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas achieved this task, and they have done an extraordinary job with it.
There are few heroes and many cowards. These men that have fought against German artillery are rarely think of victory over the enemy. They mostly think of themselves, their families, their girlfriends, and their parents. So when they have been chosen to take the Ant Hill, many of them retreat without hesitation. As a result, Generals Mireau & Broulard order three men from each company to be brought to a court-martial. This ultimately leads to all three men being sentenced to death. Colonel Dax (Douglas), however, is not giving up on his own men, and he finds ways to give them their own reprieves. But will the solutions be enough?
I have been a fan of Kubrick ever since I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on VHS. Five of his films are among my favorites: 2001, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, and Paths of Glory. Paths of Glory was immediately added right after I saw this movie on DVD. This shows his masterful directing at an early age. The way he portrays war in a much negative light is something that has probably now been imitated ever since it was released in theaters. It's an almost flawless film, with great performances from Douglas, Menjou, Macready, Meeker, Anderson, Turkel, and others. Not to mention the unforgettable tearjerker ending. I'm glad that I discovered this film.
Grade: A
Movie Review: L'infamie
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a Stanley Kubrick fan, nor do I particularly care for Hollywood films. So I was surprised and delighted to discover what a gem of a film "Paths of Glory" is. Well directed, for the most part well acted, well directed, and conveying a great message: what more could one ask for?
The title is ironic. The plot revolves around a failed because impossible military assault on the German trenches in 1916. An oily, egoistic French general, superbly played by George Macready, orders the assault to further his career. When it fails, he furiously orders three men from the decimated 701st Regiment that attempted the assault to be selected as examples, charged with cowardice, and court-martialed. Their colonel, Dax, an attorney in peacetime, defends them, but the fix is already in. The general staff won't take the blame for the disastrous assault. So the dog soldiers must. The three are executed, and Colonel Dax's native cynicism about martial "paths of glory" is only reinforced. War is l'infamie.
In addition to Macready's great performance, Kirk Douglas outdoes himself as Dax, as does Adolphe Menjou as a general staff officer. The battle scene in which the doomed 701 launches its hopeless assault is one of the most terrifying ones I've ever seen, totally outclassing Spielberg's opening scene in the overrated "Saving Private Ryan."
It took only a few minutes to get over the dissonance of an all-American cast playing French soldiers and officers. Actually, I think the film's anti-war message was enhanced by getting it across in a "foreign" setting.
Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Military injustice
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an oft-times overlooked film in the Kubrick canon, and that's something that is unfortunate. At the base, the story is a satire on injustice in the military / injustice in war. It takes on a number of themes all at once, and does so gracefully without ending up looking like a rudderless plot.
Kirk Douglas plays a French colonel (Dax) in World War I. He is one of the few officers in the film who has genuine integrity. As such, he finds himself in conflict with the nefarious actions of his superior officers nearly as much as he is fighting with the Germans. Douglas delivers a fabulous performance as an officer who is torn between duty and honor (always a dubious thing when these two traits clash).
Dax must cope with generals who who are perfectly content to send young men (by the thousands!) to their death in order to secure a promotion & add decorations to their dress uniform. As such, they use their warfighters like pawns on a Chessboard with an utter dis-regard for the safety of the men under their command.
The film also details cowardice and brave men unjustly punished for it. Even worse, using the Roman Legion model of decimation, the French army gives 3 men the facade a courts-martial where the outcome has already been decided. The film is not short on the corruption of power!
This is a film that is as relevant today as it was 50 yrs ago, and is one that every general & admiral should watch - especially if they're on their way to a combat zone. It is a sobering reminder of what happens when officers get too big for their britches.
Movie Review: The most influential war film ever concieved
Summary: 5 Stars
Generally when we think of the war drama's of yester-yore, images of a patriotic John Wayne pops into our mind, or a high pitched whistle of Dave Lean's entertaining but falsely sentimental "Bridge on the River Kwai" forces itself in our ears. Both Hollywood and the most uncompromising film directors know that there are rules that seperate a propaganda picture from a Anti-War film. And these rules were doctored not from Lean, or Lewis Milestone, or anyone one else who earned profit for Sunset Boulevard, or Oscar bonus points, they were doctored in 1957 by the greastest of all AWOL-Hollywood directors: Stanley Kubrick.The influence of "Path's of Glory" is astounding. From the conflict between the General eating crumpets who orders the Captian to carry out a suicial charge (a theme later seen in great anti-war pictures such as Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" and Peter Weir's "Gallipoli") to the fact the Kubrick never allows the Germans to be seen (a frame of reference played out in countless movies based on Vietnam) until the antagonist side has seemed to have inverted an enemy of itself.
Like so many other Kubrick movies, "Paths of Glory" is a cinematic work of genius, that will probably be underrated because it has been so little seen (popular cliche's like "Private Ryan" will unjustly top the war film list of many-so-ingorant film critic, in the next decade).But those who have witnessed this masterpiece, will immediatly realize it's importance.