Paths of Glory [Criterion Collection]

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Overview

Adapting Humphrey Cobb's novel to the screen, director Stanley Kubrick and his collaborators Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson set out to make a devastating anti-war statement, and they succeeded above and beyond the call of duty. In the third year of World War I, the erudite but morally bankrupt French general Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his troops to seize the heavily fortified "Ant Hill" from the Germans. General Mireau (George MacReady) knows that this action will be suicidal, but he will sacrfice his men to enhance his own reputation. Against his better judgment, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) leads the charge, and the results are appalling. When, after witnessing the slaughter of their comrades, a handful of the French troops refuse to leave the trenches, Mireau very nearly orders the artillery to fire on his own men. Still smarting from the defeat, Mireau cannot admit to himself that the attack was a bad idea from the outset: he convinces himself that loss of Ant Hill was due to the cowardice of his men. Mireau demands that three soldiers be selected by lot to be executed as an example to rest of the troops. Acting as defense attorney, Colonel Dax pleads eloquently for the lives of the unfortunate three, but their fate is a done deal. Even an eleventh-hour piece of evidence proving Mireau's incompetence is ignored by the smirking Broulard, who is only interested in putting on a show of bravado. A failure when first released (it was banned outright in France for several years), Paths of Glory has since taken its place in the pantheon of classic war movies, its message growing only more pertinent and potent with each passing year (it was especially popular during the Vietnam era).

Product Details

Release Date:	10/26/2010
UPC:	0715515064019
Original Release:	1957
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	4,488

Special Features

New audio commentary featuring critic Gary Giddins; Excerpt from a 1966 audio interview with director Stanley Kubrick; Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas; New video interviews with Kubrick's longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christine Kubrick; French television piece about a real-life World War I execution that partly inspired the film; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kirk Douglas	Col. Dax
Adolphe Menjou	Gen. Broulard
Ralph Meeker	Cpl. Paris
George Macready	Gen. Mireau
Wayne Morris	Lt. Roget
Richard Anderson	Maj. Saint-Auban
Joseph Turkel	Pvt. Arnaud,Pvt. Pierre Arnaud
Timothy Carey	Pvt. Ferol
Peter Capell	Col. Judge
Bert Freed	Sgt. Boulanger
Emile Meyer	Priest
Kem Dibbs	Pvt. LeJeune
Jerry Hausner	Cafe Owner
Frederic Bell	Shell-Shocked Soldier
Harold Benedict	Capt. Nichols
John Stein	Capt. Rousseau
Christiane Kubrick	Deutsche S?ngerin
Paul B?s	Maj. Gouderc
Herbert Ellis	Small Role
Emile G. Meyer	Priest
Gerald Fried	Composer

Technical Credits

Calder Willingham

Jim Thompson

Stanley Kubrick

Humphrey Cobb

James B. Harris	Producer
Calder Willingham	Screenwriter
Jim Thompson	Screenwriter
Stanley Kubrick	Screenwriter
Erwin Lange	Special Effects
Humphrey Cobb	Screenwriter
Martin M?ller	Sound Effects
Al Gramaglia	Sound Effects
Martin Mueller	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Paths of Glory
1. France, 1916 [2:20]
2. Plans for the Anthill [3:58]
3. Touring the Trench [2:41]
4. Colonel Dax [2:21]
5. The Price of Patriotism [3:21]
6. Recon Patrol [2:01]
7. Split up [4:34]
8. The Lieutenant's Report [2:52]
9. Briefing the Troos [1:14]
10. Hurt or Killed [1:12]
11. Storming the Hill [5:31]
12. The Order [2:18]
13. Falling Back [1:26]
14. Setting an Example [4:05]
15. "I'll Ruin You" [1:47]
16. The Chosen Three [2:45]
17. Testimonies [8:03]
18. A Mockery [3:17]
19. The Verdict [:45]
20. Last Meal [1:54]
21. No Salvation [3:17]
22. Put in Charge [2:21]
23. Dax's Revelation [5:04]
24. Cracking Under Pressure [:01]
25. Firing Squad [2:33]
26. An Idealist [5:30]
27. A Little Diversion [4:09]
1. Peak of Stardom [2:20]
2. Casting and Chess Matches [3:58]
3. Stunning Slap-Down [2:41]
4. The Anti-Brando [2:21]
5. A Complicit Protagonist [3:21]
6. The Most Pathetic Figure [2:01]
7. Precision and Clarity [4:34]
8. Manipulations of Power [2:52]
9. Reflecting Wartime Reality [1:14]
10. Directly From the Novel [1:12]
11. Not an Antiwar Film [5:31]
12. A Career-Long Fascination [2:18]
13. A Strange Moment [1:26]
14. Contentious Credits [4:05]
15. Significant Solitary Exits [1:47]
16. Kubrick on War Stories [2:45]
17. Kubrick's Tremendous Humanity [8:03]
18. More on Music [3:17]
19. Photojournalistic Gifts [:45]
20. A Dozen Roaches Killed [1:54]
21. Simply Hopeless [3:17]
22. Embracing Melodrama [2:21]
23. A Central Scene [5:04]
24. Kubrick's Early Work [:01]
25. Scene Stealing/Capital Punishment [2:33]
26. Some Sense of Justice [5:30]
27. Altering the Pitch [4:09]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Paths of Glory
Play the Movie
Chapters
Color Bars
Commentary
Commentary: On
Commentary: Off
Index
Color Bars
Supplements
Stanley Kubrick
Play
Kirk Douglas
Play
James B. Harris
Play
Christiane Kubrick
Play
Jan Harlan
Play
Th?ophile Maupas
Play
Theatrical Trailer

Editorial Reviews

Paths of Glory is a remarkable anti-war film that retains its impact decades after its release. The story's horrifying, tragic inevitability combines with Stanley Kubrick's forthright documentary style to create a film of rare power, a stinging, pre-Vietnam indictment of the inflexibility of war-time decision-making. Kirk Douglas, who produced the film, seems an odd choice to play a French colonel in World War I, yet he fills the screen with his righteous indignation. Kubrick's indictment of a military elite out of touch with -- even openly antagonistic towards -- its own men is brilliantly vicious. Filmed in pristine black-and-white that mirrors the thematic emphasis on the battle between good (enlisted men) and evil (the officers), with Kubrick's keen eye toward detail, Paths of Glory is both an intellectual and a visual treat. The film touched many raw nerves, and it was banned in several European countries, with France the last to lift the ban in the late 1970s. The conclusion features the soon-to-be Mrs. Kubrick in a sentimental and melodramatic scene that has been criticized as out-of-step with the rest of the somber and gritty film.