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.

Okay, I'll just come out and admit my bias now: This is one of my top five favorite movies. And Kubrick is my favorite director.

That being said, this is one hell of a morality tale. Three French soldiers are chosen to be put on trial for cowardice during a suicide raid on the German Ant Hill during World War I. The problem is that the only one who knows of their innocence, Col. Dax, is outnumbered in his opinion of the men on trial. He decides to be their lawyer and defend them. Can Dax save the three innocent soldiers?

The ending is the best part of the movie, it's moving and heartfelt. It exemplifies in a single scene what the entire movie is about-humanity and all of it's moral complexity, seen objectively through film.

Great, great movie. Deserves more attention...

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.

Kirk Douglas' portrayal of the heartbreakingly courageous Col. Dax is a portrait in heroic futility. Dax is an French officer in the most pointless war, but most portentous war, of the Twentieth Century. His men are ordered to take an impregnable German position. Many men in the front ranks don't even get fully out of their trenches before they are slaughtered by an impenetrable hail of German lead and steel. The surviving rear ranks cower in the trenches rather than face inevitable death. The French General, who had pictured himself covered with medals, orders his artillery to shell his own lines. The artillery officer refuses to take verbal orders and demands them in writing. The General, who is more cowardly than the men he sent to death, refuses to put it in writing.

The General has a better idea--decimation. It's an ancient Roman custom. Should your army fail, execute every tenth man. Col. Dax, at the risk of his life and own reputation, refuses to obey such an incredible order. He can't, however, prevent it entirely. Three men--men dripping with combat medals--are to be shot for cowardice. Men who'd shown themselves to be heros in previous battles are shot as cowards.

Kirk Douglas is great. His character literally seethes with indignation and anger. The telling moment, however, comes at the end of the film. A terrified but lovely German girl--a captive of the French--is forced to sing in front of leering, jeering French soldiers. She sings a song of home. The words are German but every man understands. The ribald shouting dies down and rugged warriors openly weep. They are all truly the same and they're murdering one another. No one knows how to stop.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Just now got to watching this oldie Pro-War movie of the 50s. It wasn't as good as I had heard, but the pro-war stance makes me want to go back to serve. Kirk's colonel Dax makes all officers proud of wartime service. Enlisted soldiers all could do much worse than Dax. You can tell he cares so much for this men, that it almost physically hurts him to follow through with absurd orders from up top. While this movie showcases the sometime ridiculous choices higher ups make in the name of wartime offense, it also more than makes up for it by making Dax the hero that populates the armoed forces.

This Pro-War movie of the 50s is labled as antiw-war, but there is no hiding the values and honorable service of the soldiers and officers portrayed in the movie. While it does give little screen time to the generals in the back, the real story highlightes the selfless, duty-bound service of the troops in the trenches. The 3 unlucky soldiers who get randomly picked to make up for the failed attack, are the usual sympathetic duty-bound conscripts of the time. They all don't like being there, but they are because of their patriotism and love for their country. Even if this is France, that country can be pround it had people like Dax and the 3 who are eventually punished. The pro-war aspect of this movie makes it all the more gung-hoie. Duty, honor, and comraderie are the top themes highlighted in this feature. I especially liked Dax's committment to his men and to the chain of command. He does an excellent job of following the rules and still coming out on top and alive. Overall, one of the greats of the PRO-WAR movie of the 50s. Worth a look, at least once, to showcase patriotism and duty to country.