thunderbolt

One of the great pleasures of living in Los Angeles is being able to attend screenings of classic films, many shown in 35mm. I haven't taken full advantage of this in recent years, but I going to make an effort to start taking in more classic (and perhaps not so classic) movies that get screened throughout the area. Last night I went to see Paths of Glory, a brilliant 1957 WWI film directed in glorious black and white by Stanley Kubrick. The motion picture stars Kirk Douglas, who is never better, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris and Richard Anderson. The plot involves a French Army division sent on a suicide mission to take a German position called "Anthill." Douglas is regiment colonel in charge of the troops. Despite his protestations, he leads his depleted ranks into a bloodbath. Embarrassed by the mission's failure, Douglas' commanding general (Menjou) decides to make an example of the troops and calls for the court martial of three