Paths of Glory

Although Kubrick's films are marked by their massive variation of genre and tone, one theme that crops up again and again is a strong anti-war sentiment, and this was never stated more strongly than in Paths of Glory. A relatively early Kubrick picture and, despite coming before what is considered his classic period, it is one of his best.

In contrast to his previous picture, The Killing, a definite Kubrick style is beginning to emerge now. One notable example is the scene in which General Mireau tours the trenches, walking towards the audience with the camera retreating away from him. This technique would be repeated years later in Kubrick's other war film, Full Metal Jacket. There is also something about the arrangement of objects in the frame, as well the tracking and dollying which hints towards his more familiar later style. His recurring chess motif appears as well, albeit subtly. At the court martial the floor is chequered, and the soldiers on trial are seated with guards standing behind them as if they are pawns about to be sacrificed.

The light and contrast in this picture is put to good effect. The palatial officers' headquarters is light and airy with few shadows. The trenches are gloomy and cramped. Kubrick was becoming a real master at contrasting locations and getting the look of a place just right.

The use of music in Paths of Glory is bold and brilliant. The pre-recorded score is almost entirely percussive – all rhythmic sounds with no melody. A weird kettle drum track is used to help build tension in the night patrol scene, while in the climactic scene the funeral march drumming instills a sense of dread, further heightened by having the shots edited in time to the beat. In the emotional final scene we get the complete opposite – a beautiful vocal melody. This has all the more impact after hearing nothing but militaristic drums for the rest of the film.

The casting is absolutely flawless. While there are no big names apart from leading man Kirk Douglas and the now elderly Adolphe Menjou, there isn't a single weak performance. The despair and resentment of the condemned soldiers feels so absolutely real. In contrast the smugness and fake sympathy of the upper class officers is brilliantly portrayed.

Throughout his career Kubrick never seemed to be particularly keen on blatantly emotional moments. Paths of Glory is the exception. The later scenes are incredibly poignant and moving, and the final moments in the soldier's bar are what makes it a masterpiece more than anything else – the icing on the cake. However it's quite probable that Kubrick regretted this as an overly sentimental approach, as woolly sentimentalism was a major gripe of his when he worked on Spartacus. Whatever the case, he certainly reined in the stirring stuff considerably after this, to the point where his later films became characterised by their understatement of emotions.

An arrogant French general (a superb George Macready) orders his men on a suicide mission and then has the gall to try to court marshal and execute three of them for cowardice in the face of the enemy. A former lawyer turned colonel (Kirk Douglas in his prime) is the voice of reason against gross injustice. This excellently staged and wonderfully acted production is as much an acting showcase for Douglas as it is a directorial masterstroke by a young Stanley Kubrick who adapted this to the screen from a novel based on actual accounts.

Kubrick displays a great control of sound effects and camera movement in the brief but effective battle scenes that expertly depict the controlled chaos that was trench warfare during WWI. Things get juicier during the ensuing courtroom battle where the deafening disparity between the elite who propagate and profit from war and the common citizens who suffer and die in war is shown with great lucidity.

Unlike later Kubrick epics, this runs at a crisp 90 minutes, though suffers briefly from a slow and awkwardly staged opening ten minutes before Douglas comes on screen. Ultimately, this holds up very well to modern scrutiny thanks to the flawlessness of Kurbick's craft, the amazing ensemble acting, and the surprising depth of its philosophical and psychological pondering. "Paths of Glory" is more anti-arrogance than anti-war, and is unapologetically sentimental and pro-soldier. As such, much can still be gleaned from its message.

How well I remember the audience of 1958 sitting in stunned silence as the daring iconoclasm of the film washed over us like a bucket of cold water at a snoozer's convention. Post-war generations had seen nothing like its brutal honesty before. Instead, Hollywood had taught us that soldiers don't bawl like babies before being shot, that chaplains aren't part of a murderous war machine, that military justice really is about justice, and that generals however far removed are ultimately good and honorable men, (and that cameras always look away from execution scenes). Sure, the movie was not about our army, but the power of its message could not be missed, and no one from that era, having seen it, could again accept Hollywood's platitudes at face value.

Now, fifty years later, the film is still timely, having lost none of its power to illuminate. Thanks be to Kirk Douglas for taking a chance on an unproven Stanley Kubrick and getting Allied Artists to finance what was so clearly a non-commercial project. I suspect too, that it was at AA's insistence that Hollywood veterans be cast, even though the movie was shot to great advantage amidst the majestic settings of old Europe. Given the film's message, I think Kubrick would have preferred no-name principals, but then, who could have surpassed the oily charm of Adolphe Menjou's diabolical general, or the pathetic repulsiveness of Timothy Carey's sacrificial dog-face. (It's ironic that the part of the cowardly lieutenant went to an authentic war-hero, naval air-ace Wayne Morris, then only two years away from an untimely death.) This many decades later, I still have mixed feelings about the celebrated final scene. On one hand, it's so clearly manipulative (someone once called it a "male weepie"), that I try to steel myself against its undeniable force; on the other, it's so superbly well done that the humming chorus of universal brotherhood never fails to move me, even after this many viewings.

Researchers digging into origins of 60's counter-culture should check out themes and characterizations of the screen-play, particularly Timothy Carey's social outcast and Fred Bell's absolutely stunning thirty seconds of emotional break-down. For this is one of the few films from the conformist Eisenhower era to cast a shadow forward in time and serve as a reference point for future generations. The film's abundant cynicism may no longer be as revealing as it once was, thanks to Vietnam. Yet the emotional honesty remains as fresh and compelling as ever in its search for a gut-level depiction of real human anguish. Above all, Kubrick's anti-war classic points toward a more civilized potential amidst the barbarities and passions of combat, whether French or American, and given present political realities, still has many lessons to offer.

I consider Paths of Glory as one of the most memorable of Kubrick's entire output. The most remarkable aspect of this pioneer anti-war film is the complete absence of any persons depicting the "real" enemy. Therefore, the significance of the film lay not so much in its anti-war message, but in its brilliant expose of the "monsters within" the general staff, superbly acted by Adolphe Menjou and George Macready. The message here is that the enemy lurks much closer to home. In most war films, whether they glorify or condemn the carnage, there is rarely any venturing at all into the darker side of the politics. This film is a tour de force in its unabashed depiction of just how misguided is the quest for glory as an end in itself; and in the portrayal of the leaders who would shamelessly sacrifice others for their own self aggrandizement. Truly, one of my all time favourite movies.

Paths of Glory is one of the best movies ever made, and possibly the best "war" movie, period. Paths of Glory does not portray war as conflict between armies or individual soldiers arrayed against one another on the battlefield. Nor does it portray the acts of great leaders and heroes of war. No this film takes a different tact.

The setting is the Western Front of 1916 in the trenches with French soldiers faced off against an invisible German force across a barren No Man's Land. The German's are never seen and the dramatic "combat" is between vain French officers as they vie for prestige and honors. The victims are the innocent French soldiers under their command who suffer miserably because of their arrogance and ignorance.

Brilliant, gripping, and definitely a "must see".