In 1957, Stanley Kubrick’s fourth feature film, Paths of Glory, was released. This is a more typical length at about 90 minutes. It’s another anti-war movie, this time set during World War I, an apparently true story about French soldiers being court martialed for “cowardice”, punishable by death.
For me, this feels like Kubrick’s first fully realized movie. The story is more fully formed, and Kirk Douglas always adds gravitas. The scenes in the trenches are really well done, cinematically speaking. Apparently it was miserable to make this movie, which probably adds realism to what was an especially miserable war. It’s not a fun watch, either… it’s a sad story with an ending to match. But watching it is almost like reading a good classic novel; it’s sad, but somehow uplifting because it feels like worthy art, capturing important parts of the human condition.
Fool of Spirit 