criterionforum.org

Paths of Glory

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/3025/538_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img] [img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/3022/538_BD_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

A pivotal work by Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory is among the most powerful antiwar films ever made. A fiery Kirk Douglas stars as a French colonel serving in World War I who goes head-to-head with the army’s ruthless top brass when his men are accused of cowardice after being unable to carry out an impossible mission. This haunting, exquisitely photographed dissection of the military machine in all its absurdity and capacity for dehumanization (a theme Kubrick would continue to explore throughout his career) is assembled with its legendary director’s customary precision, from its tense trench warfare sequences to its gripping courtroom climax to its ravaging final scene.

DISC FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- New audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins
- Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas
- New video interviews with Kubrick’s longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick
- Excerpt from a French television program about real-life World War I executions similar to the events dramatized in Paths of Glory
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: An essay by Kubrick scholar James Naremore

Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

DVD
Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Feature currently disabled
Blu-ra7
Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Feature currently disabled

Kubrick in the modern CC! I haven't been into or seen much of Kubrick's films in years but I remember this being perhaps his most effective film.

Yes, yes. I knew this was rumored but I always thought of it as a distant pipe dream. I never, never expected to get it so soon.

I wonder if they will work on The Killing next in 2011.

Interestingly, the aspect ratio is listed as 1.66:1, so I suppose we're in for a veritable crapstorm of complaints from full-frame fans. The original MGM DVD release was "Standard" or full-frame, but I think it was clear from Kubrick's framing that he planned for the top and bottom to be masked during theatrical showings.

Put me down as one who is happy Criterion is choosing to go with 1.66:1 (although it would be kind of cool to have the full-frame version on there as well ).

Totally taken by surprise on this one. Great news!

As an aside, when I first read it I was thinking to myself "Oh man, Kubrick on bluray!" then remembered I already have the bulk of his filmography on said format. (I fully expect the same sequence of thought to take place when Barry Lyndon finally gets announced)

Please, please can we not do the Kubrick aspect ratio debate this time around? Nothing wrong with giving it a bye for once, right? Everyone can catch a breather that way and rearm themselves for the next release.

scotty2 wrote:Please, please can we not do the Kubrick aspect ratio debate this time around? Nothing wrong with giving it a bye for once, right? Everyone can catch a breather that way and rearm themselves for the next release.

I'm happy to never mention it again :-#

Said debate really only covers the last 3 films anyway, right?

Anyone have any reactions to the Giddins commentary? I'm not familiar with him at all.

I don't want to be the guy to keep the aspect ratio debate going ('cause I'm not as picky about those thinsg, film heathen that I am), but I saw this at a theatre last November, and it was definitely 1.33. But it was also an obviously foreign print, because it had French subtitles the whole way through.

Gary Giddins made his name writing about jazz for the Village Voice for about thirty years. His book Visions of Jazz and his new one co-authored with Scott DeVeaux, Jazz, represent some of the most thoughtful nonacademic writing on the music over the past few years. He has also written biographies of Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby. He has a book of film criticism out too. I believe he wrote an essay for Cassavetes's Shadows and was involved in the Elevator to the Gallows set (Miles Davis's music being prominent in that film).

I wish I could remember what aspect ratio the film was projected in when I saw it in Portland for a Kubrick retro, but the print was much sharper and cleaner than the pretty good (but kinda flat) MGM DVD. I think UCLA restored the film after that DVD was released, so this transfer should be improved.

Brian C wrote:Anyone have any reactions to the Giddins commentary? I'm not familiar with him at all.

In addition to what Scotty2 mentions, Giddis has a video interview on the recent Make Way For Tomorrow disc that I found pretty enjoyable. He's a great writer and a sharp critic, and I think he makes a really nice non-obvious choice for a dvd commentary.

U.A. was the one American major who was exhibiting lots of stuff in the U.S. at 1.66 from the mid-to-late 50s. The upcoming discs of Sweet Smell of Success, Night of the Hunter, and The Killing should all be framed at 1.66 too.

willoneill wrote:I don't want to be the guy to keep the aspect ratio debate going ('cause I'm not as picky about those thinsg, film heathen that I am), but I saw this at a theatre last November, and it was definitely 1.33. But it was also an obviously foreign print, because it had French subtitles the whole way through.

I know this forum hates first hand sources and original documentation on aspect ratio but I'm sure it was a relatively easy task for Criterion to find concrete proof of how the film was supposed to be projected, I trust they're doing the right thing with Kubrick.

movielocke wrote:I know this forum hates first hand sources and original documentation on aspect ratio . . .

That's a really unfair and inaccurate statement, not to mention unclear (what specific "concrete proof" are you referring to, and what relationship does it have to Kubrick's intentions?).
But don't worry, I don't plan to start any debates. God forbid there'd be a discussion that some members are not interested in having and would have to take all the trouble to avoid reading that thread.

I'm convinced that discussions of Stanley Kubrick's aspect ratios generate more internet traffic than anything short of porn. I believe that while residing Beyond the Infinite Kubrick watched with interest for some time, following the various arguments until his face contorted with the look Jack got in The Shining--then he reached an epiphany of sorts and smiled, because he understood for the first time that he had in fact gone to Heaven. "Ha! They'll never figure it out!" he sometimes chuckles to himself. "I died happy after all!"

Two great war films added to collection. The Thin Black Line and now this.

Cinephrenic wrote:Two great war films added to collection. The Thin Black Line and now this.

The Thin Black Line is one of my favorite movies, right up there with The Black Shoes, Black Desert, and Le Cercle noir.

I put it right up there with Red Narcissus myself.

He's clearly taking a swipe at Criterion's INDEFENSIBLE decision to not put a literal thin red line on the cover of the same.

Paths of Glory was recently broadcast in 1080i on C4HD in the UK - in 1.66:1 - and it was absolutely stunningly beautiful, nigh on perfection. Really looking forward to this.

Matt wrote:

Cinephrenic wrote:Two great war films added to collection. The Thin Black Line and now this.

The Thin Black Line is one of my favorite movies, right up there with The Black Shoes, Black Desert, and Le Cercle noir.

Yellow Brick Road of Glory

I take it you guys forgot their cover.