Paths of Glory

As Colonel Dax is running through the trenches after General Mireau gives his order, a supposedly-dead soldier blinks.

During the first tracking with Dax in the trenches, the shadow of a boom-mike is visible.

In the scenes of the men's executions the sky repeatedly shifts between gray and overcast in some shots to bright sunshine in others, noticeably changing the natural light, causing shadows and sun glare to appear and disappear from shot to shot.

Near the beginning of the film Private Ferol, when asked by General Mireau, states that he has no wife - but while walking to the firing squad is crying on the shoulder of the priest that he will never see his wife again.

After General Mireau slaps the soldier in the trench, he continues on to Colonel Dax's dugout and and three soldiers carrying a machine gun pass him.

The same three soldiers still with the machine gun pass him again when he and Colonel Dax are looking at the Ant Hill through the binoculars.

The priest says "et spiritui sancti" instead of the correct "et spiritus sancti".

Camera wire visible in few shots where the prisoners are being taken to their execution spot.

After the court martial, as the sergeant is addressing the guards describing the procedure and discipline required of the firing squad, the last guard in the rank has a "710" regiment number collar pin whereas all of the others (and those in Colonel Dax's regiment) have a "701".

At the end of the film, when the German girl sings, there are modern (1950s) metal music stands on the stage.

The French soldiers are shown using a British Vickers machine gun in one of the trench scene.

They should have been using a Hotchkiss weapon, or some other firearm of French design.

I thought this was an interesting film, albeit agenda-driven, but one that kept my attention. The characters are interesting, the story moves along well considering its mostly talk, and it's nicely directed by a young Stanley Kubrick.

"Why didn't you attack the anthill single-handed?"This is the story of...

When the bulk of our generation thinks of black and white movies, we instantly imagine a largely boring experience, filmed on a set with a painted background, with tiresome monologues given by stiff actors and actresses. The movie Paths of Glory (1957) proves these stereotypes wrong and is perhaps more enjoyable than many modern films.

Kubrick's Paths of Glory, as has been reported by other reviewers, is a masterpiece of film making. The acting is excellent.

I'm not a fan of Kubrick. Not sure why all the critics fawn all over him.

The ending had me dang near tears. War is truly an awful endeavor and it's sad to see all those men who had gone through so much.

This is not just a successful sports film, it also successfully transplants historical issues and social ideology to all aspects of the film story, so that the film has a tenacious force beyond the plot in the Hollywood dream.

I just saw this film again on AMC for maybe the 35th time. It is truly a work of art!