Paths of Glory
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Movie Reviews of Paths of Glory
Movie Review: Primo
Summary: 5 Stars
Kubrick's Paths of Glory uses the great Kirk Douglas as the Col. Dax in a moving World War I film. I won't go too deep into plot detail, but Douglas has to argue a court marshall hearing for three soldiers (picked at random) lives for cowardice in the French Army because of a bufoon general's mistakes. Filmed on glorious black and white, Kubrick's direction is absolutely brilliant as you would expect from the master, and on the other side of the camera, Douglas is equal to the task. The rest of the characters were brilliantly cast with each carefully crafted for impact. Atmosphere is second to none with Kubrick's pioneering use of the roaming camera during the quickly-paced trench walking scenes.....a groundbreaking moment in motion picture photography for its day and still looks fresh and clean. Paths of Glory takes a sobering look into the reality of a soldiers World War I army life, a forgoton Hollywood war with the exception of Sam Peckinpa's Cross of Iron. If you're a war buff, I urge you to see this magnificent film which should be enjoyed by all actually, even if you don't fancy war films. The ending is a truly sad experience that is sure to bring tears to your eyes. Paths of Glory gets better with each viewing.Movie Review: Sic transit gloria
Summary: 5 Stars
According to Roger Ebert, French New-Waver Francois Truffaut said it was hard to make an antiwar film because war was exciting even if you were against it. That's why "Paths of Glory" isn't an antiwar movie.Yet, it IS a masterful work. Why? Kubrick has been criticized for not being an "actor's director", that he was more concerned with composition and lighting than performance. Here, we benefit from early Kubrick, (before he became STANLEY KUBRICK) when perhaps inexperience and youth permitted the actors to bring their own artistry to his film. Because this film is ultimately about the people, not the warfare.
Here Kubrick shows us what happens when people collide in such violent, chaotic and absurd circumstances, when one man's reach for glory becomes other men's destruction, when honor and duty fail to bring an iota of good to the world. Despite all of that, the characters remain very human, sins and all.
Warfare is not a "thing", it's a collection of individual actions, the sum of which almost always is bleak, painful and unjust, made all the more horrible when we remember that all glory is fleeting.
Movie Review: Kubrick's Least Acknowledged Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
In my opinion, this is Stanley Kubrick's least acknowledged masterpiece. Not many people are familiar with this film and I don't know why not? I am convinced that any film about World War I will be excellenet, simply because the fact that the three I can think of off the top of my head: "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Grand Illusion", and "Paths of Glory" are all superbly brilliant films. No fan of war movies should miss this outstanding film! It won't thrill you with glorified heroism, but will rather make you detest and reel from the beaurocracy of the military machine. It is unpatriotic and anti-Nationalistic and that is why it is such an important work. If more of our world would educate everyone by portraying the hypocracy of warfare as realistically as this film does, then perhaps there might be alot less less wars altogether?
The DVD is a good, sharp print and fits neatly into your Stanley Kubrick DVD collection. In fact, no collection of Kubrick films (as well as movies about war) would be complete without it!
Movie Review: ONE OF THE BEST
Summary: 5 Stars
If Stanley Kubrick had not directed anything else, he'd still be lionized for this unrelenting look at the irony of war. Praise must also be bestowed on Kirk Douglas who had a big hand in getting this picture made. The trench scenes are realistic, the HQ drama is devastating and the 3 doomed soldiers are symbolic of the lost generation of WWI, picked at random and executed for cowardice to make up for lost honor and stupidity. The Humphrey Cobb novel sadly is out-of-print and how can this be? It is a classic on the level with Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet On The Western Front and Catch-22. I urge anyone who is interested in an intelligent war film (no oxymoron) to buy this for repeated viewings and to search out the book for a fuller appreciation of the artistic vision of Kubrick's masterpiece. The final scene where the German girl sings for the war-weary soldiers chokes me up everytime I see it. No other war film holds a candle to this one.Movie Review: Paths of Glory
Summary: 5 Stars
What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said in other reviews? It is a wonderful movie, full of thought and insight, one of Stanley Kubrick's finest if not THE finest movie he ever directed. Yes, it is anti-war, but it is not so much anti-war as it is an indictment of the aloof, faulty and utterly incompetent politicians and generals of the armies who are so willing to blame their failings on scapegoat underlings, which caused this war (WWI) to go on year after year in a stalemate of unprecedented bloodletting, and which led to this war being optimistically described as "The War to End All Wars" in its aftermath. In light of the injustices meted out to the three "heroes" of the story earlier in the movie, one can only feel hope for the French soldiers enjoying their last moments of revelry in the beer hall in the movie's final minutes that the same won't happen to them.
A film classic that is not to be missed!