Excellent movie. The first truly great film of Kubrick's career.

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2001)

Kubrick ventured into the realm of warfare three time in his film career, Full Metal Jacket, Dr Strangelove, and, in 1957, Paths of Glory. Paths of Glory definitely stand out as one of the best war movies ever made.

Paths of Glory tells the story of the French armies attack on the German held "anthill" during WW 1. The story focuses on the self serving and often ludicrous orders of the high ranking officer class and the attempts of Douglas's character to fight his superiors while at the same time fighting a war. when the attack is unsuccessful, several soldiers are picked at random for execution for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The second half of the movie focuses on the legal proceedings of a court martial trial of several soldiers of the attacking regiment.
The action sequences are very well done, especially for the era. The scenery and filming locations and cinematography are top notch. The dialogue is well written and read (perhaps Kirk Douglas's best acting performance ever). If you look back on movies contemporary with this one, Paths Of Glory definitely sticks out of the crowd for it's seriousness of the subject matter. The only other war movies that match it would be Kubrick's own Full Metal jacket, Platoon and, of course, Saving Private Ryan that blew everyone else out of the water. Like Full Metal Jacket, SK begins a story and delivers a side of it seldom told and tells it well.