--- title: "Paths of Glory: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory" critics_score: 92 critics_reviews: 8 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Paths of Glory (1957): what the critics said Critics' score 92 from 8 reviews: 8 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are strongly positive, with praise centred on Kubrick’s attack on military hierarchy and the gulf between battlefield suffering and officers’ self-interest. Critics repeatedly single out his controlled camera movements, the contrast between chaotic combat and ordered military proceedings, and the economical storytelling. Kirk Douglas’s performance draws particular admiration, while several reviews find a capacity for tenderness that makes the film’s anger and horror more affecting. The differences are chiefly matters of emphasis rather than substantial disagreement: some critics stress the exposure of class divisions, others the emotional force beneath Kubrick’s formal control. The New Yorker admires the film’s bluntness but finds the rhetoric heavy at times, while Variety praises the performances and taut direction yet considers it dated and grim. These reservations sit within a broadly admiring consensus; neither amounts to a rejection of the film’s anti-war force. ## Radio Times — David Parkinson Rating 5/5. The review praises the film’s ability to capture the atmosphere of the First World War and the workings of the military mind, reading it as a lament for the French army. It singles out the outstanding performances by Kirk Douglas and Timothy Carey alongside Kubrick’s probing camera work. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-nx34v8/paths-of-glory/) ## Time Out — Tom Huddleston Rating 5/5. 29 April 2014. The review calls it Kubrick’s most vivid, emotional and humane film, and perhaps his best, a furious anti-military statement about authority and rebellion. It singles out the visual mastery, especially the great tracking shot over the top and the haunting final bar scene. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/paths-of-glory-2) ## Empire — Colin Kennedy Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic praises Kubrick’s piercing attack on military hierarchy in this re-release of the 1957 film. It highlights the brisk narrative from misconceived attack to court martial, the detached camera work, and the final flourish as perhaps cinema’s most fitting gracenote. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/paths-glory-review/) ## Sight and Sound Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2014. The piece hails Paths of Glory as Kubrick’s first film perceived as the work of genius, a powerful indictment of military hypocrisy and injustice in the First World War. It singles out the finely honed script, performances, production design and expressive camera movements for praise. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/paths-glory-stanley-kubricks-first-film-genius) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2014. The critic calls it arguably the best film about the First World War and one of Kubrick's best, praising its brilliant tale of macabre futility and horror in the trenches. The juxtaposition of battle scenes with petty tyranny behind the lines is masterly, with special note of the execution scene and the final redemptive sequence. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/may/01/paths-of-glory-review-kubrick-first-world-war) ## Little White Lies — Jeremy Carr Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 20 December 2017. The article celebrates the film’s masterfully coordinated depiction of wartime authority and bureaucracy as one of Kubrick’s finest achievements. It singles out the director’s precise visual control, contrasting chaotic battlefield imagery with ordered courtroom compositions. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/stanley-kubrick-paths-of-glory-the-rule-of-war) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 24 March 2008. Kubrick's 1957 film is an exception among antiwar movies for being blunt and scornfully brilliant rather than complicit. The critic praises its focus on class divides and grim battle scene while noting heavy rhetoric at times. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/31/the-first-casualty-2) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert 25 February 2005. Kubrick's film is a harsh, economical anti-war nightmare that established him among the great directors. The critic singles out the haunting final song scene for creating unexpected tenderness amid the horror. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-paths-of-glory-1957) ## Variety — Variety Staff 31 December 1956. The film offers a starkly realistic look at French army politics in WWI with strong performances and taut direction, though it feels dated and grim. The advance scene and lead actors are highlighted as effective. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1956/film/reviews/paths-of-glory-1200418282/) ## The Skinny — Tom Grieve Rating ★★★★★. 23 September 2016. Kubrick established his reputation with this fiercely anti-war film about French soldiers in WWI, where Colonel Dax defends three men scapegoated after a failed assault. The review praises Douglas's superb performance, the jet-black comedy in the officers' maneuvering, the pristine high-contrast cinematography, and the film's tension and mastery of form, calling it one of the finest war films ever made. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/paths-of-glory) ## Eye for Film — Stephen Carty 14 December 2008. The review describes it as a powerful and moving anti-war movie in its own right that skewers military hierarchy and class divisions. It singles out Kirk Douglas’s intelligent, intense lead performance and the film’s lean, accomplished plotting for praise. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/paths-of-glory-film-review-by-stephen-carty) ## Film Stories The critic calls it Kubrick’s first genuine masterwork and perhaps the finest depiction of the Great War in cinema history. It is praised as a resolutely anti-war film that shows war’s ugliness, terror and futility through its kinetic trench sequences and corrupt chain of command. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/movie/paths-of-glory/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/paths-of-glory.md