The film originated from a book by Thomas Cobb who, in turn, had chosen the title from a line in Thomas Gray's poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751): The paths of glory lead but to the grave. It is too glib to say it is an anti-war film; rather, it is an attack on a major component of human nature. Kubrick himself, in a later interview made the point: Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. He is irrational, brutal, weak, silly, unable to be objective about anything where his own interests are involved. The impossibly Selfish Gene?
1957 Poster - directed by Stanley Kubrick
From the first moments of the movie - with its 1916 scenes of Major George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) entering an opulent chateau (filmed at the Schleissheim Palace near Munich) to talk to his 'old friend' Brigadier General Paul Mireau (George Macready) - one senses there is a likely polemic coming. George says Paul must order his men to advance on, and capture, the Anthill. Paul refuses, until it is suggested command of the 12th Corps and another Star awaits him if successful. The bribe outweighs any prior feeling for his men.
The interior of the Chateau - with its Old Masters pictures and its valuable furniture - then cuts to the grim realities of trench warfare. Mireau marches through one trench, with a 'hail fellow well met' attitude until he meets a soldier who will not answer him. The man is shell-shocked, but the General immediately launches into a vituperative attack on him, accusing him of cowardice and stating there was no such thing as shell shock.
Enter Kirk Douglas (Colonel Drax),commanding officer of the 701st Infantry Regiment. Accepting the assault was 'pregnable' (!), he also pointed out over half of the French force would be wiped out. Drax sends a three-man reconnaisance team to check the No-Man's Land area. The leader, who had been drinking heavily, not only retreats in fear but lobs a grenade to kill one of the other men whom he had sent further on. Again - the ignoble savage. The following morning, the attack on the Anthill fails, as it was bound to. A furious General Mireau orders his artillery officer to fire on his own men. The officer refuses without written confirmation. To deflect blame, Mireau decides to court martial 100 men for cowardice; Broulard persuades him to cut this down to three. Mireau regards his men as scum. The whole rotten regiment. A pack of sneaking, whining, tail-dragging curs.
Court Martial of Corporal Paris, Private Ferol and Private Arnaud
The rest of the film details the three men at a court martial (Mireau is portrayed reclining indolently on a divan); Drax, who chooses to defend them, is blindsided on every issue; there is no formal written indictment, there is no stenographer. Drax says to find these men guilty would be a crime to haunt each of you till the day you die. To no avail. The men are accused of being a stain on the flag of France. Drax's appeals to the two generals are also ignored.
Generals Mireau and Broulard
The night before the executions, Dax tells Broulard of Mireau's order to shell his own trenches. Again, seemingly to no avail. The next morning the three men are executed by firing squad.
Execution of Arnaud, Ferol and Paris
Broulard then breakfasts with a gloating Mireau; Drax is also invited and Broulard tells Mireau he will be investigated for the order to fire on his own men. The latter storms off. Broulard then offers Drax the vacant position! Drax refuses and calls him a degenerate, sadistic old man. The film ends when Drax pauses to listen in to his men carousing in a nearby bar. A German girl sings a sentimental folk song to them - there are close-ups of many of the men shedding tears. Drax leaves, not telling them they are to return to the Front.
2017 DVD edition
Amazingly, Kirk Douglas was still alive when the above DVD was issued. He died, aged 103, in February 2020. It was thanks to him that the film got made. He managed to get an advance for $1 million from United Artists - more than a third was allocated to his salary! Kubrick wanted the film to end happily, with the men being reprieved; Douglas demanded they stick to the original ending. Around 600 German police officers were used as extras, the film being shot entirely in Bavaria. The only female in the film, the German actress Christiane Harlan who sang the song, later married Kubrick and was his wife until his death in 1999.
The Music - or, sometimes, complete lack of it - played an important role in the film's success. The strains of La Marseillaise at the start, heralding Broulard's arrival at the chateau; the use of military drumming; the absolute silence when the three soldiers engage in the reconnaisance; the song at the end; all are very effective. The film's targets are clearly the officer class - and the church (?) Father Dupré's ineffective comment We do not question the will of God, my son borders on the mind-boggling.
The film was premiered in Munich on 1st November 1957. It was, inevitably, criticised heavily by the French military, active and retired. It was not shown in France until 1975. It was also banned in all USA military bases, both at home and abroad. To my mind, it did show up the seamier sides of war, but main at the expense of the top-brass: Lions led by Donkeys, and the donkeys were bound to dislike its screening.
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