Review – Paths of Glory

This is one of the finest (if not in fact the absolute best) court-martial movie ever made. Kirk Douglas stars as a French officer in World War One who faces the grim task of defending three of his soldiers against charges of cowardice, an impossible task in light of the high command’s desire to make an example of the men. In addition to the interesting plot, excellent script and fine acting, this film was Stanley Kubrick’s first big break as a director. Even in this early stage in his career, his attention to aesthetic detail serves to make a good movie into a great piece of cinema art. My only gripes are that it occasionally gets a bit too sentimental (especially at the very end), and it seems almost too short to sustain the amount of dramatic content to be found between opening and closing credits. Buy the tape