Stanley Kubrick at LACMA: Scenes from Paths of Glory

Select shots from Kubrick’s 1957 masterpiece “Paths of Glory.”

Paths of Glory Battle

“For this sequence we had six cameras, one behind the other on a long dolly track which ran parallel to the attack. The battlefield was divided into five “dying zones” and each extra was given a number ranging from one to five and told to “die” in that zone, if possible near an explosion. I operated an Arriflex camera with a zoom lens and concentrated on Kirk Douglas.” – Stanley Kubrick

“After shooting a scene full of swirling camera movements, Kubrick told actor Richard Anderson that Max Ophuls had died that day and that the shots were in his honour. Clearly the smooth camera movements Kubrick uses throughout the film are an emulation of Ophuls’ style but they also serve a purpose. The camera is our fluid eye, following and anticipating the movements of the characters.” – Paul Duncan, critic