Vanity fails

Rating: 7/10 (7 September 2014)

As 2014 is the centenary of the beginning of The Great War, many television channels are showing some of classic war films.
Paths of Glory deals with the French side of the war and contrasts with All Quiet on the Western Front which dealt from the German perspective.
This was the second feature film from director Stanley Kubrick and this might the only film where Kirk Douglas is at his most heroic, the straight up Colonel Dax who realises that his men are being sold down the river.
A General promised a promotion ruthlessly orders a tired battalion to charge up a hill and then looks for scapegoats when it fails. He wants to shoot a 100 men for cowardice but this number is whittled down to 3. One of them is chosen by his superior officer because he knows that officer is a drunk, a coward who killed one of his own soldier and so takes the opportunity to get rid off him. Another was drawn by random chance. Colonel Dax defends these men passionately but to no avail because its a kangaroo court.
The film has a very effective battle sequence and before it starts you see Douglas walking up the trench with a determined grimace, its Kubrick showing his early promise.
After the battle scenes, the film turns into a courtroom film and then it morphs into a film dealing with death as the men are sentenced and await their fate.
The film has a raw edge, unlike other Kubrick films its not very long, its well acted with some hiss-able villains such as the dastardly General Mireau but it will also make you angry as the soldiers are used as fodder whose lives are cheap.