Paths of Glory

"Wherein have I done wrong?"
– General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou)

"Because you don’t know the answer to that question, I pity you."
– Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas)

"One of the greatest antiwar films ever made."
– THE MOTION PICTURE GUIDE

Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Fast Facts:

Kubrick first read Humphrey Cobb’s 1935 novel Paths of Glory when he was 14.

Cobb based his novel on a true incident that took place in the French army during World War I, when five enlisted men were unfairly executed for mutiny. Years later the men’s families sued the army and won, but were awarded only two francs for damages.

Sidney Howard, the primary screenwriter on Gone with the Wind, adapted the novel into a play, which ran briefly on Broadway in 1935.

In 1956, Kubrick and producer James B. Harris bought the film rights to the novel from Cobb’s widow for $10,000.

Among the actors considered to play Colonel Dax were Richard Burton, James Mason, Gregory Peck and Kirk Douglas, who eventually won the role.

Early drafts of the script contained a happy ending, with Colonel Dax blackmailing General Broulard and freeing the condemned men. However, as filming neared, Kubrick and his collaborators agreed that this would undermine the film’s antiwar message and they returned to the book’s bleak ending.

Although the story takes place in France, the film was shot at the Geiselgasteig Studios near Munich, Germany.

The German girl who sings near the end of the movie was played by a young actress named Susanne Christian, who later married Kubrick.

Safe in their picturesque chateau behind the front lines, the French General Staff passes down a direct order to Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas): take the Ant Hill at any cost. A blatant suicide mission, the attack is doomed to failure. Covering up their fatal blunder, the Generals order the arrest of three innocent soldiers, charging them with cowardice and mutiny. Dax, a lawyer in civilian life, rises to the men’s defense but soon realizes that, unless he can prove that the Generals were to blame, nothing less than a miracle will save his clients from the firing squad.

>A compelling masterpiece from world-class director/writer Stanley Kubrick and screenwriters Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, Paths of Glory is a blistering indictment of military politics and "an unforgettable movie experience" (Newsweek).

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