PATHS OF GLORY 239
Palace outside Munich, and the execution scene was shot in the palace’s baroque
gardens. UA wanted to film the battlefield scenes on Geiselgasteig Studios’ backlot
but it proved too small. Eventually a cow pasture 25 miles west of Munich was
rented from a German farmer, and some 60 crew members worked long hours for
three weeks to create a muddy, debris- strewn World War I battlefield, complete
with trenches, barbed wire, ruined buildings, denuded trees, and huge shell cra-
ters. World War I trenches were four feet wide but Kubrick’s trenches had to be
made six feet wide to accommodate the camera dolly for the film’s famous reverse
tracking shots in the opening sequence. For the main combat scene Kubrick used
a half- dozen cameras set up sequentially on a long dolly that ran parallel to the
assault. The battlefield was divided into five “ dying zones,” and each extra (all Ger-
man policemen) was given a number ranging from 1 to 5 and told to “die” in that
zone, if pos si ble, near an explosion. Hedging his bets on the film’s commercial
potential, Kubrick wanted an upbeat ending, but Kirk Douglas insisted that the
movie stay true to Cobb’s somber vision. Fortunately, Douglas won out.
Plot Summary
The film begins with a voice- over describing trench warfare up to 1916. At his head-
quarters in an elegant château, Gen. Georges Broulard (Adolphe Menjou), a mem-
ber of the French General Staff, asks his subordinate, Gen. Mireau (George
Macready), to send his division against a well- defended German fortress dubbed
the “Anthill.” Convinced the attack is doomed to fail, Mireau initially refuses, but
when Broulard mentions a potential promotion, Mireau reverses himself. On an
inspection tour of the trenches, Mireau asks several soldiers, “Ready to kill more
Germans?” Encountering a dazed, shell- shocked private (Fred Bell), Mireau ejects
him from out of the regiment for alleged cowardice. Mireau then meets with the
701st Regiment’s commanding officer, Col o nel Dax (Kirk Douglas), to plan the
attack. During a recon mission before the assault, an inebriated lieutenant named
Roget (Wayne Morris) sends out a scout to check the terrain, but panics and acci-
dentally kills the man with a grenade upon his return. Another soldier— Corporal
Paris (Ralph Meeker)— discovers the scout’s body and later confronts Roget, who
does not admit to the crime and provides a false report to Dax. The next day, Dax
leads the first wave of soldiers on the attack on the Anthill amidst intense fire, but
the assault fails. None of the troops make it to the German trenches, and the B men
of Com pany decline to leave their trenches. Mireau commands his artillery to open
fire on the “cowards” to encourage them into battle. However, artillery commander
Rousseau ( John Stein) won’t fire without confirmation. In the meantime, Dax comes
back to the trenches and attempts to spur B Com pany into action. In the aftermath
of the failed attack, Mireau chooses to court- martial 100 of his own soldiers for
alleged cowardice, as he does not want to take on any blame for himself. Broulard
urges him to reduce the number to three: one from each com pany. Mireau chooses
Corporal Paris, Private Ferol (Timothy Carey), and Private Arnaud ( Joe Turkel).
Dax, who served as a criminal defense lawyer before the war, volunteers to defend
the men in court. The trial soon devolves into a farce. Despite Dax’s best efforts,
the three hapless soldiers are found guilty and handed a death sentence. Captain
Rousseau the commander who had earlier refused to shoot at Mireau’s own men,