Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Paths of Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 27, 2022

Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" (1957) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by novelist and critic Tim Lucas as well as vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Awaiting orders

Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory is a war film with strong anti-war sentiments. It is based on Humphrey Cobb’s popular novel, which tells the story of five French soldiers charged with mutiny and executed during World War I. Kubrick bought the rights to the novel from Cobb’s widow for $10,000, and shot Paths of Glory for under $1 million. The film was released in the United States in 1957, but it was banned in France and Spain (the French government eventually allowed the film to be screened in 1975, while in Spain the film remained banned until 1986).

France 1916. Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas, The Bad and the Beautiful) a respected division leader, is ordered to attack Anthill, a strategic German stronghold. It is a suicide mission and everyone knows it -- except General Paul Mireau (George Macready, Gilda), who dreams of capturing Anthill and earning himself a promotion.

Colonel Dax leads his men during the attack of Anthill but most of them are annihilated by heavy machine gun fire before they could reach the German positions. Upon witnessing the massacre, an entire company, which should provide support to Colonel Dax’s men, remains in the trenches. Angered by the news that the attack isn’t producing the result he had hoped for, General Mireau orders the artillery to shell the men in the trenches. But a brave officer (John Stein) refuses to obey the order and the attack of Anthill fails. and a court-martial gathered.

General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou, The Front Page), a close friend of General Mireau, suggests that a dozen soldiers are tried by court-martial to set an example. Colonel Dax sarcastically offers that the entire division is punished, or at least its leader, which would be him. Realizing the absurdity of the situation, General Broulard asks that only three soldiers are selected to appear before the court-martial. A former lawyer, Colonel Dax volunteers to defend them.

The trial is a disgrace. Despite Colonel Dax’s attempts to convince the court that the soldiers are innocent and therefore should not be punished, they are quickly found guilty and sentenced to death.

Great anti-war films typically emphasize the fact that during war there are no victors. Kubrick’s Paths of Glory takes a slightly different approach, exposing the hypocrisy and arrogance of military leaders.

In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, Colonel Dax is seen contemplating General Mireau’s order to attack Anthill. He quietly attempts to explain that the attack won’t produce anything, other than a guarantee that his men will be killed in vain. Almost immediately, Colonel Dax’s patriotism and loyalty to France are questioned in a manner that strangely does not feel dated at all, prompting him to quote the great Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

The film is characterized by Kubrick’s favored long continuous shots and extreme close-ups, his camera following men and objects with equal devotion. Additionally, the tension throughout the film is unbearable but never marred by melodrama. Naturally, even the most passionate speeches the main characters deliver feel somewhat restrained.

Douglas is fantastic as the disillusioned Colonel Dax. He fights a battle that he cannot possibly win, but his determination to confront a corrupt regime is what makes Paths of Glory such a fascinating film to behold. Menjou and especially Macready are also very convincing as the coldhearted French generals.

Paths of Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1 and encoded with HEVC / H.265, Paths of Glory arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. Please note that this release does not have a Blu-ray copy of the film.

Please note that all screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and are downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual values and balance of the grayscale.

Paths of Glory made its high-definition debut with this Blu-ray release, which was produced by Criterion in 2010. Kino Lorber's 4K Blu-ray release is sourced from an exclusive new 4K master struck from the original camera negative.

I think that the new 4K makeover is excellent. It produces meaningful improvements in every single area we address in our reviews and gives the entire film a very stable, very attractive organic appearance. I viewed the film with HDR enabled and did some quick tests with Dolby Vision. On my system, delineation, clarity, and depth were equally impressive during daylight and nighttime footage, despite the fact that the cinematography produces various unique density and contrast fluctuations. (The nighttime footage from the battlefield around the 0:19:00 mark, for instance, looked beautiful). Close-ups, and there are many throughout the film, looked great as well. I thought that the HDR grade was quite subtle, or at least appropriately subtle in the right places. Obviously, the 4K master has a superior grayscale as well, so the subtle contrasts in darker areas where grays, whites, and blacks are expanded make the superiority of the visuals even more pronounced. Grain is nicely exposed and resolved. Fluidity is very good too, so the larger your screen is, the more impressive the upgrade in quality becomes when you perform direct comparisons with the Criterion release. My only criticism pertains to a few very dark areas where for some reason the encode struggles and produces very small artifacts. Interestingly, when I switched to Dolby Vision, the issue effectively disappears or becomes virtually impossible to spot. However, with HDR enabled, I could tell that something wasn't quite right. I took screencapture #16 to demonstrate what I saw (see the left side of the frame). There are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report in our review. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Paths of Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track is very healthy. Clarity, sharpness, and stability are always outstanding. I think that it has a really good dynamic range as well. Could the audio sound even better? Well, as far as its health is concerned, I don't believe so. I thought that even the lossless track on the Criterion release of Paths of Glory was outstanding. However, I always felt that this film likely could have benefited from a modern remix, like the ones that are now possible to do with Dolby Atmos.

Paths of Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Paths of Glory. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by novelist and critic Tim Lucas. It is a very well-researched commentary that provides a complete summation of the production history of Paths of Glory, the drama that is chronicled and its lasting relevance, the exact period in which the film was released, and the careers and work of some of the people that made it.

Paths of Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you purchase Kino Lorber's 4K Blu-ray release of Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory, you will get the best technical presentation of the film that has been made available on a disc to date. The new 4K master that was used to source this release offers significant improvements in multiple areas. However, you need to keep in mind that the 4K Blu-ray release does not have a standard Blu-ray copy of the film. Also, if you have Criterion's Blu-ray release of Paths of Glory from 2010, you should keep it in your collection because there are some very good bonus features on it that are not included on this 4K Blu-ray release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.