Stanley Kubrick

Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is among the most powerful antiwar films ever made. A fiery Kirk Douglas stars as a World War I French colonel who goes head-to-head with the army’s ruthless top brass when his men are accused of cowardice after being unable to carry out an impossible mission. This haunting, exquisitely photographed dissection of the military machine in all its absurdity and capacity for dehumanization (a theme Kubrick would continue to explore throughout his career) is assembled with its legendary director’s customary precision, from its tense trench warfare sequences to its gripping courtroom climax to its ravaging final scene.


Paths of Glory was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1957
  • 88 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #538

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high definition digital transfer made from 35 mm film elements restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by the Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring critic Gary Giddins
  • Excerpt from a 1966 audio interview with director Stanley Kubrick
  • Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
  • New video interviews with Kubrick’s longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick
  • French television piece about a real-life World War I execution that partly inspired the film
  • Theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar James Naremore

    New cover by F. Ron Miller

Purchase Options

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New high definition digital transfer made from 35 mm film elements restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by the Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New audio commentary featuring critic Gary Giddins
  • Excerpt from a 1966 audio interview with director Stanley Kubrick
  • Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
  • New video interviews with Kubrick’s longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick
  • French television piece about a real-life World War I execution that partly inspired the film
  • Theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar James Naremore

    New cover by F. Ron Miller
Paths of Glory
Cast
Kirk Douglas
Colonel Dax
Ralph Meeker
Corporal Philippe Paris
Adolphe Menjou
General Geoge Broulard
George Macready
General Paul Mireau
Wayne Morris
Lieutenant Roget
Richard Anderson
Major Saint-Auban
Joseph Turkel
Private Pierre Arnaud
Christiane Kubrick (as Susanne Christian)
German singer
Jerry Hausner
Proprietor of cafe
Peter Capell
Narrator/Court-martial official
Emile Meyer
Father Dupree
Bert Freed
Sergeant Boulanger
Kem Dibbs
Private Lejeune
Timothy Carey
Private Maurice Ferol
Credits
Director
Stanley Kubrick
Producer
James B. Harris
Screenplay
Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay
Calder Willingham
Screenplay
Jim Thompson
Based on the novel by
Humphrey Cobb
Photographed by
George Krause
Camera operator
Hannes Staudinger
Art director
Ludwig Reiber
Music
Gerald Fried
American production manager
John Pommer
German production manager
George von Block
Editing
Eva Kroll
Makeup
Arthur Schramm
Sound
Martin Müller

Current

Paths of Glory: “We Have Met the Enemy . . .”
Paths of Glory: “We Have Met the Enemy . . .”
The ceremony of execution, seen against the background of the château, gains impact from Kubrick’s deliberate pacing and dynamic manipulation of wide-angle perspectives. The camera advances slowly and inexorably toward the three stakes where the m…

By James Naremore

David Simon Unravels the Moral Twists of Paths of Glory

Under the Influence

David Simon Unravels the Moral Twists of Paths of Glory

The creator of The Wire takes inspiration from the narrative and moral complexity of Stanley Kubrick’s war masterpiece.

At Work with Curtis Tsui on Paths of Glory
At Work with Curtis Tsui on Paths of Glory
I work in the editorial department here at Criterion, and I’ve recently taken it on myself to do a little poking around at the office, to find out what my colleagues have going on and share that with visitors to the Current. Producer Curtis Tsui is…
Pat Healy’s Top 10
Pat Healy’s Top 10

Pat Healy is an actor who has appeared in dozens of films, including Compliance, Cheap Thrills, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Celebrating Kirk Douglas’s Centennial
Celebrating Kirk Douglas’s Centennial
With a career spanning more than seven decades, Kirk Douglas has long since earned his place among the most luminous figures in Hollywood history. After cutting his teeth on the New York stage, he began his film career in the 1946 Barbara Stanwyck ve…
From the Kubrick Archives
From the Kubrick Archives

On what would have been the iconic filmmaker’s eighty-eighth birthday, we’re celebrating him with a selection of essays, photos, and videos from our releases.

Keith Gordon’s Top 10
Keith Gordon’s Top 10

Filmmaker Keith Gordon has directed the features The Chocolate War (1988), A Midnight Clear (1992), Mother Night (1996), Waking the Dead (2000), and The Singing Detective (2003).