Paths of Glory 4K UHD - Kirk Douglas

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USA 1957

Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory is among the most powerful antiwar films ever made. A fiery Kirk Douglas stars as a World War I French colonel 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.

***

This was Stanley Kubrick’s fourth movie, and he was still under thirty years old. It’s amazing that they let him shoot a film which so clearly stuck a knife into the absurdity of war, the grim realism of trench warfare, the horror of combat. Even at this early age we see his penchant for long tracking shots, dialogue which circles back and forth in gratingly absurd and meaningless phrases which would be comical in a cynical way were they not so grim.

Those who have seen the film will know that I am leaving out crucial information after the battle scene. In fact, I refuse to say whether or not Dax takes the hill and how that will affect the lives of his soldiers during the drawn out, endless, tension filled days which follow. I will say that Kubrick directs his gaze at the relationship between those higher up on the totem pole and the subordinate soldiers who are squashed like bugs underneath them. A gregarious general with a healthy appetite (Adolphe Menjou) exploits Mireau for his tin star, Mireau forces Dax to win that damned hill or have hell to pay, and Dax is seemingly blind to a cowardly lieutenant (sad faced Wayne Morris) who accidentally killed one of his own men, covered it up, and seeks to destroy the one corporal (Ralph Meeker) who knows the truth.

Excerpt from Jeremiah Kipp's film review located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 1st, 1957

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Review: Masters of Cinema - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Also released on 4K UHD by Kino in 2022: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Masters of Cinema Spine #155 - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Runtime	1:27:23.947
Video	1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 66,446,326,018 bytes Feature: 63,766,862,976 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.73 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Isolated Score: LPCM Audio Music and Effects 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 112 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 112 kbps / DN -30dB
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Masters of Cinema 1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 66,446,326,018 bytes Feature: 63,766,862,976 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.73 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc • Audio commentary with film scholar Adrian Martin • Video interview with Kubrick scholar Peter Kramer (14:33) • Video interview with filmmaker Richard Ayoade (23:34) • Interview with critic / author Richard Combs (9:58) • Original theatrical trailer (3:01) • Isolated music & effects track A collector’s booklet featuring writing by Glenn Kenny and Colin Young, illustrated with archival imagery Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow 4K Ultra HD Release Date: February 26th, 2024 Black 4K Ultra HD Case inside slipcase Chapters 9

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Masters of Cinema 4K UHD (February 2024): Masters of Cinema have released Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" 4K UHD. It is advertised as being transferred with "Dolby Vision HDR from a 4K scan of the original camera negative". Kino also released the film in 4K UHD in 2022 stating a "Brand New Dolby Vision HDR Master – From 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative". We compared the 2001, 1.33:1, MGM DVD with Blu-rays HERE. This Masters of Cinema package is one lone 4K UHD disc with extras (see below.) Without seeing the Kino 2160P my expectation is that it is very similar to this Masters of Cinema in terms of HD presentation. Typical for this video upgrade - the black levels are more pronounced, the overall image is darker, grain is consistent and more finely exported and contrast rises - notable in the battlefield and holding cell sequences. The 4K UHD transfers handily represent the best digital presentation of this masterpiece film.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 54 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages recently: Southern Comfort (software uniformly simulated HDR), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wages of Fear (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Roaring Twenties (software uniformly simulated HDR), Universal Classic Monsters Limited Edition Collection (software uniformly simulated HDR), Scarlet Street (software uniformly simulated HDR), eXistenZ (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (software uniformly simulated HDR), Conan the Barbarian (software uniformly simulated HDR), Django (no HDR), Lone Star (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspect Zero (software uniformly simulated HDR), Count Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Circle - The Haunting of Julia (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Warriors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (software uniformly simulated HDR), Blackhat (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mark of the Devil (software uniformly simulated HDR), Barbarella (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Last Picture Show (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Knew Too Much (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rope (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frenzy (software uniformly simulated HDR), American Graffiti (software uniformly simulated HDR), East End Hustle (software uniformly simulated HDR), Three Days of the Condor (software uniformly simulated HDR), Witness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fascination (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lips of Blood (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Others (no HDR), It Came From Outer Space (software uniformly simulated HDR).

On their 4K UHD, Masters of Cinema use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. "Paths of Glory" is filled with various types of violence; battle sequence gunfire and explosions, fighting, the firing squad etc. They can punctuate scenes but remain authentically flat. The score was by Gerald Fried (Kubrick's films Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss and The Killing, plus A Killer in the Family, The Baby, the Joseph H. Lewis' western Terror in a Texas Town as well as venturing later into work in TV - Star Trek etc.) and some will recognize La Marseillaise in the score during the opening credits, Johann Strauss' Künstlerleben (Artist's Life), Op.316 played as dance music at the party and the German folk song Der Treue Husar sung a cappella by Christiane Kubrick near the conclusion.. Masters of Cinema include an optional isolated music & effects track in linear PCM mono. It all sounds very clean and crisp while true to its monaural roots. The disc offers optional English (SDH) subtitles - and is, like all 4K UHD, region FREE, playable worldwide.

The extras on the 4K UHD disc duplicate the previous MoC Blu-ray starting with a wonderful 2016 audio commentary by, one of our favorites, film scholar Adrian Martin (Mise en Scène and Film Style: From Classical Hollywood to New Media Art) going into great depth on the film, Kubrick, production details, themes etc. There are also three video interviews - all recorded by Masters of Cinema in 2016; we get 1/4 hour with Kubrick scholar Peter Kramer (Stanley Kubrick: New Perspectives), a 23-minutes interview with filmmaker Richard Ayoade (Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey) and 10 minutes with critic and author Richard Combs (Film as Art: Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick) - all three expanding appreciation of Kubrick's fourth feature film. There is also a limited edition O-Card slipcase with new artwork by Scott Saslow and a collector’s booklet featuring writing by Glenn Kenny and Colin Young, illustrated with archival imagery.

Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" was based on by Humphrey Cobb's 1935 novel. He served in the Canadian Army for three years during World War I, including duty on the front lines at the Battle of Amiens in France in 1918 - when he would have been 19-years old. The title of Cobb's novel - loosely based on the true story of the Souain corporals affair when four French soldiers were executed in 1915 during World War I for failure to follow orders - came from the ninth stanza of Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"; "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." Kubrick decided to adapt it to the screen after he remembered reading the book in his youth. Kubrick, and his partners, purchased the film rights from Cobb's widow for $10,000. The well-defended German position was named Anthill ('Ant Hill') - reflecting it's miniscule value in the larger scope of life. The futility and senselessness of war permeate Kubrick's work from battle-related mental fatigue and failed war-planning in 1953's Fear and Desire, soldier conflicts in Spartacus, the War Room farce in Dr. Strangelove, human stresses and civilian crimes in Full Metal Jacket etc. - all, btw, on 4K UHD now. A fatal human flaw making humankind powerless against the illogic of the system. Critical thinking becoming extinct - mindlessly continuing the illusion that society has set in, seemingly irrevocable, motion. Is it our destiny? - as we head towards the brink yet again... sigh (reviewer steps off soapbox.) Masters of Cinema's 4K UHD release of Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" has a ton of value; an essential, masterpiece, film, brilliant commentary, interviews, booklet. Try and take it from me. Our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze

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Also released on 4K UHD by Kino in 2022:

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Masters of Cinema Spine #155 - Region FREE - 4K UHD

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