Paths of Glory (1957)

The Killing was Stanley Kubrick’s first Hollywood picture, it may not have been a commercial success but it caught the eye of one of Hollywood’s biggest star at the time, Kirk Douglas. He agreed to star in Kubrick’s next project, Paths of Glory, if Kubrick would direct other projects for his production company. Douglas was also the one that made United Artist finance the film.

Paths of Glory takes place during World War I and follows Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) that is the commanding officer of three men that have been charged with cowardice, which sentence is death. Dax attempts to defend the men against this charge in a court-martial.

The charges against these men have been brought up by General Mireau (George Macready). Mireau symbolizes to me the old school of warfare. He has a distinct scar on one of his cheeks; we were told in class that this could be a dueling scar. This tells us that he is from a more privileged background which he shows in his gentlemanly way and therefore he feels more at home in the luxurious mansion than in the muddy trenches. This is important because World War I is to me the last “gentlemen’s war”. When I say that World War I is the last gentlemen’s war I mean that warfare changed after and during this war. When tanks were introduced to the battlefield it made it possible to storm the enemy’s lines without losing many men. Warfare also became a lot faster. Since the invention of the firearm till World War I, warfare in Europe had kind of looked the same. The two sides marches towards each other, one side shots then the other side shots and is then followed by a bayonet charge. The two sides looked like they were on equal terms. In World War I we can see similar traits. One side attacks and gets shot down by the enemy, after that it is the next sides turn to attack and they are also shot down. This type of fighting did that battles could last for months, since no side made any progress. The men in the movie know this and are therefore hesitant before going out on the battlefield. General Mireau sees this and demands that the men shall be disciplined.

“If those little sweethearts won’t face German bullets, they’ll face French ones!” 

Colonel Dax on the other hand is the opposite of General Mireau and thinks that the idea of killing their men is stupid. Dax knows how the men are feeling and understands them. He is down in the trenches with them and is not as comfortable as General Mireau is in the mansion. Dax has seen the true side of war. It’s brutal and horrible and it’s not as noble or honorable as General Mireau think it is.