Stanley Kubrick: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

Paths of Glory is a brilliant anti-war film and it masterfully takes the muster out of the glory of war. This is the first collaboration between Kubrick and Kirk Douglas before they eventually went on to make Spartacus together. The movie sees Douglas play a French army colonel during the First World War tasked with the impossible, saving three of his men from facing the death penalty for the charge of cowardice.

This film has some incredible moments, most notably the lengthy reverse tracking shot which follows Douglas as he stalks the trenches. This theme of scale continues throughout the film as it contains some gut-tearing, gritty war sequences that deserved to be seen by every wannabe filmmaker.

Kubrick creates a fairly by the numbers hero for a by the numbers story. However, it proves the man’s eye for art as he takes the typical and turns it into something truly special. At the time of release, the film was nominated for several international awards and accolades. This only grew Kubrick’s burgeoning reputation. Even today, the film holds a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes with the site's critical consensus stating that “Paths of Glory is a transcendentally humane war movie".

In 1992, the film was deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Sadly, despite the obvious influence of this film and the massive fanfare that followed, it was completely snubbed at the Oscars.