Paths of Glory

1957 Stanley Kubrick film in which a French general seeking a promotion during World War I orders a small number of soldiers on a suicidal mission to take a hill.

Most of them die; of those who survive and escape back to their own lines, three are chosen arbitrarily and put on trial for cowardice, punishable by death. Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax, who leads the attack and defends the three men at their trial, and George Macready plays the general who orders the impossible assault. The movie is believed to be based on a true story.

The movie was banned in France until 1975.

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Paths of Glory is a book by Humphrey Cobb, first published in 1935 and inspired the film by the same name. Although it was a minor success at the time and a film was planned, it was soon forgotten until a young Stanley Kubrick decided to make a film out of it.

Paths of Glory is a card-driven strategy game covering World War I in Europe and the Near East, developed by game designer Ted Raicer and published by GMT games.