February 2000

Paths of Glory
Reviewed by Ian White
DVD Format

Overall Enjoyment:
Picture Quality:
Sound Quality:
Packaged Extras:

Starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, and Richard Anderson

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Theatrical Release: 1957
DVD Release: 1999
Dolby Digital Mono
Full-Screen (Black & White)

When historians begin to look back at what was the "bloodiest" century in human history, they will without question focus a great deal of their time and attention on World War Two. The deaths of forty million people in a span of only six years is a rather difficult event to ignore; yet many of today's youth probably couldn't identify Normandy on a map. What they do know comes from what Hollywood has shown them, and few have probably delved any further than Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and The Thin Red Line. Sadly, what they know about World War One is even less, and I doubt that most of the under-25 crowd have ever sat through a showing of All Quiet on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Wings, or a masterful film like Paths of Glory.

In 1993, I took some time during a family vacation in France to visit the battlefields of the Somme and Verdun (where some of the bloodiest battles of our history took place), and I came away from the experience quite shaken. To walk through the once blood-soaked fields where close to 500,000 men (French, British, Canadian, German, Austrian) died in only a few short months of trench warfare ("1916" should be a mandatory course on its own), was something that one does not forget. Although being there some seventy-seven years later, renders one rather removed from those horrific days and nights when both sides bombarded one another relentlessly, it did make me realize how important a film Paths of Glory really is. Aside from All Quiet on the Western Front, I am hard pressed to suggest another World War One film with realistic trench scenes (Sgt. York has a few strong moments as well), such as those that are portrayed in Paths of Glory.

Paths of Glory details the events surrounding a failed French infantry assault on Ant Hill, and the lengths to which the French General staff were prepared to go to achieve victory and cover-up their blunders. When the fictitious General Miroux (George Macready) discovers that his advancement up through the ranks depends on an impossible breakthrough at Ant Hill, he decides to make the 701st Regiment and its Colonel (Kirk Douglas) Dax, his meat for the grinder. Colonel Dax, a noted French criminal lawyer, knows that his men are physically and emotionally spent and that most of them are sure to die during the assault. The assault begins poorly, as the French artillery proves to be ineffective against the German troops hidden behind the fort's walls on the heights above the pocked-marked terrain. Dax leads his men as far forward as he can before he discovers that the attack is futile and that more than half of his men are still hiding in the trenches. An enraged General Miroux (watching the battle unfold from behind the lines) orders his artillery to fire on its own troops. The battle turns into a rout as the dazed survivors stumble back into the trenches.

At this point, Miroux decides to save face and cover-up his atrocity by ordering a court-martial and execution of one hundred men from the Regiment, whom he refers to as a "stain on all of France." When three soldiers are selected to stand trial for their cowardice in the face of the enemy, Colonel Dax decides to represent them, even though there is little chance that the hastily convened tribunal (with ulterior motives) will allow him to unravel the truth. When Dax discovers that Miroux ordered an artillery barrage on his own men, he takes the damning evidence to General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) in an attempt to save the condemned men.

The acting in this film is superb from top to bottom. Kirk Douglas (he is better in this film than in Spartacus) throws everything that he has into this role and his performance during the tribunal and in the chambers of General Broulard, is extremely powerful and moving. George Macready and Adolphe Menjou (who made more than 100 feature films) are as evil and sadistic as they come. Menjou is one of the most underrated actors that I have ever seen, and he is convincing to the point of being almost gross as he tries to justify his support for the assault and the tribunal.

The picture quality of the DVD is good, but really only a slight improvement over the laser disc. I was hoping for more, but perhaps Criterion will find a way to improve on the copy of the transfer at a later date. I've seen Paths of Glory more than a dozen times and I would say that the DVD does look the best of all three formats. The cleaner picture and improved level of detail are all improvements in my opinion.

The sound quality of the DVD is not a huge improvement and I'm glad that some studio executive didn't try to add surround information to the soundtrack, as it would have been a crime to alter Kubrick's brilliant work. I did crank up the volume during the assault and I didn't feel that it really altered the experience all that much. Don't watch this film looking for special effects that will cause you to peer over your shoulder. The wonderfully written dialogue will hold you from beginning to end and I doubt that you'll be too disappointed in the sound quality.

The library of films about World War Two runs into the hundreds (with many of the best films having come out only recently), and one does have a lot of choices in that regard. When it comes to the "Great War," there are only a handful that really immerse you in the horror that was "the war to end all wars" and Paths of Glory should be considered the film to watch. It is without question, one of Stanley Kubrick's greatest films and a very chilling bit of history that should never be forgotten.

GO TO
[ Current Video Online Issue ] [ Video Review Archives ]