Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick; US, 1957)

Coming into his own with Paths of Glory, Kubrick was well aware that “for all its horror, war is pure drama.” A pasture in the German countryside was converted into a realistic World War I battlefield: dug, detailed, and preemptively devastated for some of the most cringing combat scenes ever staged. The story is based on an actual incident in the French army involving the court-martial and execution of three soldiers scapegoated for a botched attack against well-entrenched German forces. To distract from the ill-conceived assault, the commanding officers—the pompous and unfeeling General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and the conniving General Mireau (George Macready)—insist on this lethal punishment. Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax is the obdurate officer who challenges their scheme. A grand entry in the pantheon of great antiwar films, Paths of Glory stands beside films like All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Grand Illusion (1937), and King and Country (1964) for its on-target treatment of the terrors of war, but it stands alone for its fearless flacking of the high command and its obvious rank. 

• Written by Kubrick, Calder Willingham, Jim Thompson, based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb. Photographed by George Krause. With Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready. (88 mins, B&W, DCP, From Park Circus)