Later, in a meeting with Broulard, Dax informs him that Mireau had ordered the artillery to fire onto French trenches to dislodge the soldiers refusing to attack.

[11]Paths of Glory is based loosely on the true story of the Souain corporals affair when four French soldiers were executed in 1915 during World War I under General Géraud Réveilhac for failure to follow orders.

"[15] Although Kubrick's previous film The Killing had failed at the box office, it had managed to land on several critical top-ten lists for the year.

After reading the script, Kirk Douglas was impressed and managed to get an advance for a $1 million budget from United Artists to help produce the film.

[18] Prior to the involvement of Douglas and his Bryna Production Company, no studio had showed interest in the seemingly noncommercial subject matter and filming in black and white.

[28] Paths of Glory employs both camera-work and audio cues to create a sense of realism, thus making it easier for the audience to sympathise with the plight of the accused soldiers.

[36] In the tavern with the French soldiers of Dax's regiment, a young woman sings a traditional German folk song of that era, "Der treue Husar".

[39] Frank Gordon, reporting from the Bavarian capital for the widely read New York trade paper Variety, describes the earlier presentation in the paper's September 27 issue:Munich, Sept. 18.Three hundred specially invited local VIPs, Army brass, Radio Free Europe staffers, German stage and film luminaries mingled with Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine to see a "not for review" showing of Jim Harris' Munich-filmed "Paths of Glory.

[38][40] The American trade journal Motion Picture Daily explained at the time that "Paths" was being shown in those cities before the end of 1957 to ensure the film would qualify for nominations for the next Academy Award ceremonies, which were to be held on March 26, 1958.

[43] Kubrick himself received on February 17, 1959, in Rome the Italian critics' Silver Ribbon, an award recognizing him as "the best foreign director of 1958 for his movie 'Paths of Glory'.

Despite the film's harsh reception in Europe by various governments, French war veterans, and media outlets, in the months after the motion picture's initial screenings in the United States, reactions to Kubrick's production featured in American newspapers and trade publications were generally positive.

[48][49] In a follow-up discussion about the "controversial war picture", in a commentary subtitled "Question of Foreign Accents Raised by 'Paths of Glory'", Scheuer cites the style of speech used in the film and the screenplay's "weak" ending as two reasons he omitted the production from his "selection of 1957's best".

In its March 18, 1958 edition, the Chicago Daily Tribune summarizes the release as "a grim, forceful story, presented in blunt, unvarnished fashion, entirely lacking in the customary cliches, deftly directed.

Even with the Kirk Douglas star name to spark its chances, outlook is spotty at best and will need all the hard selling United Artists, which is distributing the Bryna production, can muster.

[51]Harrison's Reports, an independent and advertisement-free film review journal in 1957, agreed with Variety's critic and in November expressed doubts too that the "World War I melodrama" would be successful commercially after its general release in January 1958.

The following day the newspaper published Schallert's evaluation, which begins by classifying Paths of Glory as "A minor contribution but an interesting one to the war effort on the screen".

[54] Next he describes the drama's storyline in some detail before addressing specifically the film's final scene, which he found odd and disconnected in its presentation so soon after "the grim gray execution".

"Susanne Christian", Schallert writes, "is seen as the German girl forced to sing to a huge body of [French] troops right at the end of the picture – a peculiar sort of payoff for the miscarriage of justice to which the whole gathering of men seems to be oblivious.

"[54] The review in Harrison's Reports addressed the ending as well, maintaining that it was the "picture's one weak spot", was "difficult to understand", and "leaves one with a feeling that it is inconclusive".

[55] After viewing what he termed "a brilliant and arresting film" only a few weeks after its world premiere in Munich, Gertner highly recommended it to his readers, many of whom were theater owners.

But it also has deeper and stronger elements under the surface that will attract customers who like strong drama....Just as exciting as the physical events are the ideas about war and men that Kubrick trenchantly puts across – about military discipline, the [fallibility] of those who carry it out and the futility of attempting to fight [it].

[55]Finally, in contrast to Philip Scheuer's omission of the production from his "selection of 1957's best",[49] Gertner ends his appraisal emphatically: "No doubt about it – 'Paths of Glory' is one of the strongest dramas of the year.

"[55] In spite of issues being raised in various reviews about the film's manner of dialogue, its anticipated marketing challenges, and its ending, in the United States in 1957 and 1958 there was near universal admiration expressed for the directorial abilities and technical expertise that the 29-year-old Kubrick exhibited in the production.

[56][57] At the New York Herald Tribune, critic William Zinsser judges the film to be "outstanding" in his December 26, 1957 review and describes Kubrick's direction and editing as first-rate.

"[58] Even at this relatively early stage in Kubrick's career directing feature films, he had already gained a reputation in the motion picture industry for commanding all aspects of his projects and being, as one colleague described him, "'meticulous with everything, from scripting to editing'".

[53] More than three decades after the release of Paths of Glory, American director Robert Zemeckis paid homage to the film with the 1991 Tales from the Crypt episode "Yellow".

[62] David Simon, creator of the critically acclaimed television series The Wire (2002—2008), has said that Paths of Glory was a key influence on the HBO crime drama.

[64] Years earlier, on a 1987 episode of the televised film review series At the Movies, critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune debated with co-host Ebert about the respective merits of several Kubrick productions.

Siskel in their discussions declared Paths of Glory to be "a near perfect film," one that in his opinion was surpassed in overall quality only by Kubrick's dark comedy Dr.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Paths of Glory is a transcendentally humane war movie from Stanley Kubrick, with impressive, protracted battle sequences and a knock-out ending.