Paths of Glory (1957) on Netflix
In 1916 France, General Paul Mireau is ordered to capture a German strongpoint called the Anthill. Colonel Dax leads the assault, and when it fails, Mireau wants soldiers tried for cowardice.
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Plot summary
In northern France in 1916, Major General Georges Broulard gives Brigadier General Paul Mireau the task of capturing the Anthill, a German strongpoint. Mireau calls the attack impossible, but mention of a promotion changes his mind, and he leaves the planning to Colonel Dax, who objects. On a night scouting mission, Lieutenant Roget sends a man ahead; afterward Corporal Philippe Paris confronts him about the patrol, and Roget denies wrongdoing and gives Dax a false report. The daylight assault fails under German rifle and machine-gun fire, and the troops in the next waves refuse to advance. To explain the defeat, Mireau proposes trying a hundred men for cowardice. Broulard forces him to cut the number, and each company names one soldier. Dax, who practiced criminal law before the war, offers to defend them.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Paths of Glory (1957)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Kubrick and Thompson had added a happy ending in which the general saves the men from execution at the last minute, but Kirk Douglas demanded it be reversed. Douglas threw the script across the room, telling him: "We're going back to the original script, or we're not making the picture."- Kubrick made veteran actor Adolphe Menjou do the same scene 17 times. When Kubrick asked for another take, Menjou raged in front of Douglas and the entire crew about the director's parentage and his greenness with actors; Kubrick listened calmly, said "All right, let's try the scene once more", and Menjou went back to work.
- The film is based loosely on the true story of the Souain corporals affair, in which four French soldiers were executed in 1915 under General Géraud Réveilhac for failure to follow orders. The soldiers were exonerated posthumously in 1934.
- The only female character, the woman who sings "The Faithful Hussar", is played by German actress Christiane Harlan, credited as Susanne Christian. She and Kubrick met on that set, later married, and remained together until his death in 1999.
- Timothy Carey was fired during production, reportedly being extremely difficult to work with, even to the extent of faking his own kidnapping and holding up the whole production. He was replaced by a double in the scenes remaining to be shot.
- The Swiss government banned any presentation of the film until 1970, on the grounds that it was "incontestably offensive" to France, its judicial system and its army. It was also banned in all United States military establishments, at home and overseas.
- Around 600 German police officers, who had three years' military training, were used as extras. Kubrick hired 5,000 square yards of land from a local farmer and spent a month arranging props and tearing up the field, then divided the battlefield into five regions for the explosive charges.
- Stanley Kubrick decided to adapt the book after remembering reading it when he was younger, fulfilling what Howard had called a "sacred obligation"; Kubrick and his partners then purchased the film rights from Cobb's widow for $10,000.
